Lost on Mars

A few weeks ago, I was scanning a blog post on Best Business Books when I noticed a lack of female authors–out of 64 titles, one was written by a woman.

This finding, while saddening, didn't surprise me much. I had come across such discrepancies before.

Mason Currey, the author of Daily Rituals, acknowledged a similar imbalance in his sequel, Daily Rituals: Women at Work. In the foreword, he regretfully notes that his first book included only 27 women among 161 figures.

Similarly, in Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers, Tim Ferriss featured 13 women out of 105 interviewees. Notably, in the "Wealthy" category, not a single woman is mentioned.

This time, though, I was spurred to revisit my own blog–only to confirm what I already suspected: my reading list didn't include many more women, either.1

That was when I came up with my first resolution for 2024: To immerse myself, as much as possible, in perspectives shaped by women's voices.2

I make sense of my world through reading (and writing). However, if I've done that by pursuing a mannish blueprint until now, I can't help but question just how lost I am.

Hi, All! How are you? 🌲 Last month, G and I purchased a house. It's our dream home, located right at the beach. Our Christmas tree has been up for weeks, and we're melting into December (my absolute favorite month) with peace of mind, hot beverages, and the soothing crackling of a YouTube fireplace.

Words

While I didn't discuss my birth experience much beyond G, it was a happening that I thought about often. Now, I've written down the story as the first chapter of a series I've titled Morphing Into Motherhood.

Lying on my left side, I gaze into G's waist, counting slowly from 1 to 8. As a surge builds, I roll onto my back, drawing my knees in, and push with all my might. On my side, it's just G and me, rolling in my oxytocin high, together moving towards meeting our boy. There's calm, surrender, and a sense of dignity and control. On my back, however, all the drama I've read about and desperately wished to avoid threatens us: If Dylan doesn't appear after the next push, She will bring the pump. I will not let her use the pump. – The Birth Experience

🍹 Maybe start with preparing a Rum Hot Toddy.

Code

Last year, I decided to retire the domains of my old projects and migrate their content to this site. It's a process that I worked on in phases, and this month, I completed designing the archive for The Spin-Off Project - PR.

Plus, a few other updates:

  • Generating and hosting Lighthouse reports - PR
  • Implementing a workflow action for automating the above process - Commit
  • Creating a workflow action to check for broken links - Commit
  • Developing the UnavailableLink component - PR
  • Adding a map placeholder to address a layout shift issue - Commit
  • Introducing a loading state for the map - PR

Quote I'm Pondering

The result of this [our] deeply male-dominated culture is that the male experience, the male perspective, has come to be seen as universal, while the female experience – that of half the global population, after all – is seen as, well, niche. – Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women

Wrapping up,
With love,
Mirha
🪐

Notes

  1. I can't say I'm surprised. I wrote my bucket list a decade ago when I started blogging. This endeavor was inspired by Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek. As previously mentioned, with Ferriss's tendency to predominantly feature men, this influence inevitably traces back to my own bucket list item – Read 100 Business Books – and accompanying reading list. ↩

  2. I originally planned to focus on reading books by female authors. However, I've broadened this idea to include other mediums, like art, music, podcasts, courses, and more. Additionally, I want to commit to supporting women-owned businesses. Beyond financial support, I also intend to dedicate my time exclusively to helping women prosper. ↩