Okay you’re going to love our next Candlelight Chat guest.
If you aren’t already familiar with the wise and hilarious Kate Bowler, I’m going to let her introduce herself to you in her own words:
“Writer. Professor. Small talk survivor.
I am a Duke professor, podcaster, and author with a single mission: giving you permission to feel human. (And letting you have whatever weird or boring hobbies you can’t explain to strangers. Do I love roadside attractions and exotic potato chip flavors? Yes. More than I should say.)
I believe that the world would be a gentler place if we took apart the well-meaning clichés we use when life is hard. (What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Maybe what doesn’t kill you might try again tomorrow. 🙂 )
I am determined to create a gentler world for everyone who wants to admit that they are not always “living their best life.” After years of being told I was incurable, I was declared cancer-free. But there’s no going back. I am forever changed by what I discovered: life is so beautiful and life is so hard. For everyone. And while we can’t always be happy, we can be joyful, anyway.”
We’ll be discussing Kate’s life and times and new book, Joyful, Anyway, including:
*Kate’s experience with cancer
*How to feel joy even when life isn’t going well
*The self-help and wellness industry
*Resentment, sadness and barriers to joy
and much more.
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If these topics (and Kate’s unique way of being in the world) resonate, this Sunday’s Candlelight Chat is for you. Please join us on Zoom, from 1-2 pm ET. We’ll send log-in instructions this Saturday. To participate, you must be a paid or scholarship member of The Quiet Life. Members can participate either live, or by watching the video replay, which we’ll send the following week.
As usual, we’ll also invite you to ask your questions of Kate. You’ll be able to talk to her either via the written chat, or by “raising your hand” and coming online to chat with her.
I really hope you join us!
I won't be able to make this one because I'll joyfully be in rehearsal for our show Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors with our backyard non-profit theater company.
Megan Falley (Things That Don't Suck) just wrote a beautiful post on her phrase "If you cant' be happy, be funny" followed by the phrase "If you can't be happy, make a dog happy." I think these are ways we can be joyful when we can't be happy -- a totally overrated emotion, IMO.
I hope to make a candelight chat some day, but as the saying goes: "If you can't be at a Susan Cain Candlelight Chat, be at a play rehearsal in the backyard."
I hope I can make this one. It seems my family always wants to go out to lunch when you have one of these. I certainly have weird interests such as exploring old cemeteries and decaying urban areas. When I told my MIL that I want to visit Gary, Indiana, she said I like the places that everyone else wants to get around. A therapist I know scolded me for exploring and photographing East St. Louis. When people say things to me like that, it actually encourages me instead of it being discouraging. I like roadside attractions too and my favorite is Uranus Fudge Factory & General Store in Missouri.