On Saturday, I finished reading Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation by Aisha Tyler. Let me start this off by saying I have a bit of a girl crush on this lady. While I may have seen her in some random show (she was Jake's mom on Glee?!), I really became a fan just from her voice (she is Lana in Archer). From there, I found her comedy act, which is hilarious. (As a warning, her act is a bit on the risque side but, in my opinion, that just makes it better.) From there, I found her podcast. And that led me to her books. Yes, she has more than one. But this is the one I chose to read first. Self-Inflicted Wounds is a comedic re-telling of Ms. Tyler's life. Each chapter is a story. Each story is always funny and always has a moral to learn. Generally, the moral is "If you don't even try, you will never succeed." I wish I could name my favorite story but they are all too good to compare. Though I do admit I fully laughed out loud when she broke her arm snowboarding after her husband told her not to. ("Don't tell me what to do!") I also found myself chuckling at her stories of her college a cappella group days. Mostly because, despite the 6 year age difference between us, a cappella groups were still the same when I was in college. My school didn't have an a cappella group though or I probably would have joined.
When I finished the book on Saturday afternoon, I was actually a bit sad that it was over. However, I did recommend the book to my almost-12-year old daughter. Yes, there are a few references to binge drinking and sex but there isn't anything particularly graphic in the book. Some people might think it makes me a bad mother. I think the message of "Work Hard - Try Everything - Don't Give Up Easily" is something that needs to be handed down to the next generation. Kids don't look at their parents and see how hard they have worked to attain what they did. Heck, they can't even look at most celebrities to see the hard work. Here is someplace that she can read about the failures and the successes. Here she can learn that one failed attempt doesn't make you a failure. It just means you get to fix your mistakes and try again.