This is not a book of charts.
This is a book of questions. Questions I’ll attempt to answer and over-answer with the help of charts, graphs, and physical objects. Questions like: Which wine should I bring? How should I start this email? Do I really need more plants?
This book is a window into my anxieties, and maybe some of yours, too. In it, I try to capture the infinite mind maps we, as overthinkers, create when we attempt to make even the most insignificant of decisions.
This book has dreams of being on your coffee table, but hopefully never as a coaster (more about book lending etiquette on page 69). It dreams of being a gift to your friend with the plant problem hobby. It hopes to be a reminder that there isn’t always one right answer—and that, sometimes, the only answer is to pick a path and keep moving.
This book is a work-around. It’s a response to a long struggle with chronic pain that eventually limited my ability to work as a graphic designer. I’d spent years creating dense digital charts and infographics, accompanied by an endless cycle of flare-ups. I eventually left my job as a senior designer at a fun media company with great snacks, very aware of all that I could no longer do. Eventually, and thankfully, I shifted my focus to what I could do—charts—but they had to be simple. I switched to pen and paper, adding the occasional object when my hands were too achy from drawing. With these simple charts, I could tell the story of my many anxieties in just a few lines.
This book didn’t cure me, but it did give me a reason to keep going.
But maybe I’m overthinking it.
It’s also a book of charts.