Description: To Live Boldly Even in a Cold, Indifferent World This book began with the author's own sense of unexplained shame. Growing up into adulthood, she found the world to be a cold and indifferent place—one where people drew unnecessary lines between each other, and even ordinary people seemed to enjoy discrimination and contempt whenever given the chance. Unable to understand why she, who had done nothing wrong, should feel inferior or ashamed, she turned to books and eventually found her own answers in sociology and social psychology. She came to the conclusion that personal unhappiness and anxiety don't arise from some internal chemical process, but from our relationships with society and others. The insights she gained became the essays that make up 'I Decided to Live as Myself.' In this book, the author expresses—with warmth and precision—why we should embrace ourselves exactly as we are, and how to actually live that way. At the end of each essay, a playful and endearing illustration adds an extra layer of meaning, helping her message land even more fully. This revised and expanded edition carries forward that same distinctive charm. With five years having passed since the original publication, outdated writing and illustrations have been removed and replaced with new ones, while the remaining original content has been carefully refined and polished to improve overall quality. In the closing 'Acknowledgments,' the author confesses that this book, published five years ago, became a guiding compass for her own heart as well. Having tried to live by its message, she says it has since become part of who she is—and that her inner world has grown much healthier as a result. Reading this book, you can experience the same refreshing sense of relief the author once felt. The countless reader reviews already speak to that truth. A Book for Every Modern Adult Exhausted by Making a Living and Growing Up in a Cold World 'I Decided to Live as Myself'—a book that cheers you on with its whole heart—has been beloved for so long because it precisely identifies why our hearts suffer. It tells the everyday stories we've all experienced at one point or another, in work or in relationships, taking the small things we usually brush past and putting them center stage, asking 'why?' again and again. In doing so, it reveals the emotional undercurrents hidden beneath the surface of everyday events, helping readers clearly understand what has been weighing on them all along. More than that, the book doesn't stop at simply acknowledging and empathizing with your feelings—it also offers real ways to work through these struggles, giving readers both comfort and clarity at once. It offers quiet encouragement and support to ordinary people living in these times, and because it feels like it truly understands you, like it's exactly the story you needed to hear, readers find themselves deeply moved. "100% relatable! It's like this book was written just for me." "The author's writing is so clear and refreshing, yet so delicate—it's genuinely comforting." "Is this what they mean by feeling like a weight has been lifted?" "Reading it makes my heart feel healthier." It's no wonder reviews like these are everywhere. Above all, many readers say it feels like 'being cheered on with someone's whole heart'—and that's because the author truly wrote this book with sincere care for readers who might be struggling with feelings similar to her own. That same spirit remained completely unchanged throughout the work on this revised and expanded edition. Now sturdier and even more thoughtful, 'I Decided to Live as Myself' will stand by you and cheer on your life.