We cannot see that there are whole and multidimensional beings around us who have experienced heartache, and we become ignorant to the fact that we can be supportive to one another during these painful times. But even as their audience has grown, Zhu says they are still primarily writing their missives to and for themself. Zhu’s generosity to delve into their own life and circumstance to speak to the necessity of investing in love, in finding it in oneself, is such a tender and ripe offering.

I think now is a time that I was actually ready to use that story, but then also intertwine it with a lot of the other lessons I’ve learned in the past few years, especially being in community, actually living instead of just theorizing my experiences, actually being really present in them, going to monasteries and being on dance floors with my queer families or going through my intergenerational healing process with my mother. These precious chapters are a nourishing constellation of hope, truths, new light, and the words on love and fellowship that we need; have always needed. What makes Zhu’s work so special is that they learned to stop fearing love, not by following constructs and norms, but by destroying them. How do you think we should be navigating the kind of on-going grief we’re all processing, seemingly all the time?In a culture that’s so often focused on productivity and transaction, Zhu’s work stands out for its centering of relationships beyond the narrow binary of traditional romance. I’m grateful for the journey Mimi went on to share her story, but I think I have found this book at a time when I don’t need this book, so it resonates just a little less. Be Not Afraid of Love is a stunning collection of interconnected essays and affirmations that follow Mimi Zhu's journey toward embodying and re-learning love after a violent relationship. At times, it can tug at your heart and break it, especially on days when you feel vulnerable and tender.

But people were paying attention, including pop icon Britney Spears, who reposted one of Zhu's quotes about the importance of community care and wealth redistribution during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.This amount includes seller specified domestic postage charges as well as applicable international postage, dispatch, and other fees. This is a book written for the community in an effort to help us all tend to ourselves in a deeper and more honestly profound way. Because sometimes the grief is about planet earth, and it’s about watching global warming or the trees dying, et cetera. Haines closely studies the iterations of each reaction, explaining that “these protective responses are well beyond our conscious capacity to control them. We’re spoon-fed ideas about relationships—how they’re supposed to look or be, how we’re supposed to feel and act.

It was ultimately sold to American singer Skylar Stecker and included on her debut studio album, This Is Me. I already knew of them through mutual friends — the queer Asian community runs tight in our part of New York — and knew vaguely that in 2020, Britney Spears was accused of being a communist after she shared one of Zhu’s Instagram posts about wealth redistribution.

zhu does an amazing job of writing in a sincere voice that also gives credit to the sources and organizations they turned to in a time of need. I think of the beings I grew up with: observant stray cats, green tree frogs, towering prickly succulents, and shy mimosa plants. Be Not Afraid of Love brings forward wisdom teachings like impermanence and the law of karma in a way that is accessible and relatable to a new generation. And at first I think I wrote a little more surface level than that, more general, but as I’ve kind of been running this account and doing my newsletters for a while, I’ve really found that people resonate the most with when I reveal how messy my emotions are and how insecure I can be, how complicated my healing has been instead of me portraying some kind of picture-perfect reality of myself.

I am grateful for the ways that I have protected myself in the past, for that tells me that I want to live. With incredible strength they lay out not only the darkness of their experiences with assault but also their path to love, to full acceptance of their past, of their emotions, and in the end, themself.Then again, considering Zhu has taken everything that’s sacred to them and put it out into the world, it’s understandable. Change country: -Select- Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Vietnam Virgin Islands (U. And never treating anyone like they're disposable, and understanding how complicated we all are as people.