find your unicorn space. finding time to be creative

From the New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play and “the Marie Kondo of relationships” comes an inspirational guide for setting new personal goals, rediscovering your interests, cultivating creativity, and reclaiming your Unicorn Space.

“Magnificent! Eve Rodsky illuminates the importance of investing in the creative pursuits that make your life more deeply fulfilling.” -Reese Witherspoon

With her acclaimed New York Times bestseller (and Reese’s Book Club pick) Fair Play, Eve Rodsky began a national conversation about greater equality on the home front. But she soon realized that even when the domestic workload becomes more balanced, people still report something missing in their lives-that is, unless they create and prioritize time for activities that not only fill their calendars but also unleash their creativity.  

Rodsky calls this vital time Unicorn Space-the active and open pursuit of creative self-expression in any form that makes you uniquely YOU. To help readers embrace all the unlikely, surprising, and delightful places where their own Unicorn Space may be found, she speaks with trailblazers, thought leaders, academics, and countless real people who have discovered theirs everywhere-from activism to artistic endeavors to second careers.

Rodsky reveals what researchers already know: Creativity is not optional. It’s essential. Though most of us do need to remind ourselves how (and where) to find it. With her trademark mix of research-based, how-to advice and big-picture inspirational thinking, Rodsky shows you a clear path to reclaim your permission to have fun, manifest your own Unicorn Space in an already too-busy life, and unleash your special gifts and undiscovered talents into the world.

Duffy’s Thoughts On Find Your Unicorn Space

January is peak “time to get your sh&t together” season. We sign up to the gym, we go on stupid daily mental health walks, we listen to some meditation, try and lay off the alcohol and spend a fortune on healthy meals. We also take a look inward, some quiet reflection in that strange time between Christmas and New Year where we think about how we can look after ourselves, and also be a little kinder.

I have suffered some hefty burnout this year. Work was a hard slog, particularly the last quarter, and even though I spent more time at home in 2021, I lost the will to read. I just couldn’t focus and scrolling my phone and doing a Buzzfeed quiz whilst half-watching Netflix, was all I could muster some weeks. I was putting off the important stuff, the creative stuff, and it really wasn’t good for me. So, when I saw Find Your Unicorn Space was up for reading and review, I signed up straight away.

Available from Dec 29th published by Hachette

And… you know it’s pretty good! Eve Rodsky has an upbeat voice and there are certainly some truth bombs delivered on the pages. However, Rodsky keeps it positive, which is a departure from recent ‘tough love and sweary’ self-care reads which seem to dominate the self-care section these days.

“Despite the fact that, pre-pandemic, women outnumbered men in the paid workforce, women did almost twice as much unpaid work in the home than their male partners.”– Find Your Unicorn Space

I spoke to plenty of females who were experiencing this in lockdown. Whilst their partners just went to the kitchen and logged on for the day, or headed out for a morning run, it was the women who were getting the kids logged onto their various devices and getting them breakfast. Then they began work ever keeping one eye on the kids.

Time For A Reset

Find Your Unicorn Space is heavily focused on the traditional family dynamic of husband, wife, and kids. So, some chapters I skipped over. I don’t need to worry about kids and could not resonate at all with the thoughts and feelings of working mums (which seems a really tough gig btw!). However, I could resonate with the feeling of being overlooked, burnt out, and stretched far too thin. I realised whilst reading Find Your Unicorn Space, that my life had become overwhelming, with zero time and mental space for the things that brought me joy. I love social interaction and banter with my friends. That was lost in lockdown and work from home. I lost going out to nice restaurants. I also lost live music, dancing, the gym and the love of reading. Pretty crappy eh? Sounding familiar?

If I had one criticism, the cringe-worthy phrase “dance in the rain” was made far too often, in fact, it should be edited out completely. Every time I read it, I thought of those Live, Laugh Love framed artworks from the dollar store and it threw me off balance.

That aside, finding the inner energy to pick back up has been tough and Find Your Unicorn Space has helped me to shift my mindset back into a more positive space. So, let’s see what the new year brings for me and my creativity! Let’s face it if Find Your Unicorn Space is good enough for Reese Witherspoon, it’s good enough for me.

Kick start the new year with some good habits and check out some of Duffy’s favourite self-care reads