Push yourself to places you’ve never been. Be a better you, for you.

Each year on my birthday I pick a theme or idea to focus on for the year. I believe that part of the human experience is one of self-transformation. We’re constantly improving, changing, progressing. Change can bee hard. I find having intentional purposes helps. I try to focus my actions around the theme. I’ve been doing this yearly theme for a while, but I did recently come across blog written by Dean Bokhari around the power of the practice.

Last year’s theme was “fitness” – thus my year of CrossFit.

This year, my theme it “Educate and Expand.” I will focus on educating myself and expanding my awareness.

Most books I read feature characters and are written by people who look like me. What does that mean in terms of my empathy and understanding of those who don’t look like me? What stories and viewpoints am I missing?

I’ve been trying to add authors of color to my reading list for some time now, but this year I want to be extremely deliberate about it. As part of my Year of Educate and Expand, I plan to only read books by authors of color.

If you want to follow along, see my list on GoodReads.

Okay, I will say there are a few exceptions:

• Historical books about racism – while I will try to make sure I pick books written by authors of color, there are a few I plan on reading outside of that (White Fragility, The Color of Law, etc.)
• A book by my favorite author that I’ve been waiting for for a year