Find your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky

FIND YOUR UNICORN SPACE by Eve Rodsky is another interesting self-help text designed to help readers “Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World.” Encased in the beautiful cover are a dozen chapters, divided into three sections: Time for a Reset, the Rules of Permission, and Cultivate the 3C’s of Creativity (curiosity, connectivity, and completion). Rodsky pushes readers to embrace life’s storms by “dancing in the rain,” or “the active and open pursuit of self-expression in any form, … an activity that you lose yourself in.” She bases her arguments on research (a Bibliography is provided) and contends that this activity is “essential and fundamental to your physical, emotional, and mental health as a whole person.” Pause for a moment and think about applying that to the upcoming course selection process for our students. Do they have time in a very structured school day to carve out the Unicorn Space of which Rodsky writes? Her text and numerous examples are actually geared more to young adults, particularly to young women and young parents with so many competing claims for their time in roles as partner, parent, and professional (whether for pay or as a caregiver). Throughout Rodsky provides personal exercises – a series of questions (e.g., Who had I always imagined myself becoming?) and pop quizzes that should be very helpful to her adult readers and could possibly be modified for adolescents. Take some time to pursue this book and, as Rodsky would advocate, to think about giving yourself permission to reclaim, discover and nurture creativity.