Gmorning, Gnight

GMORNING, GNIGHT!
LITTLE PEP TALKS FOR ME & YOU
A RECOMMENDATION

It all started on Twitter, like many things these days do, but against all odds it wasn’t something horrible and rude. It was uplifting and pure, relatable and true – They were little pep talks from Lin Manuel Miranda to me and you.

Most people know Lin Manuel Miranda as the eloquently wordy master mind behind the hit musical Hamilton that took Broadway by storm in 2015. I would probably be preaching to the choir if I started to tell you all how absolutely magnificent this musical is lyrically, musically, and even thematically. Lin Manuel Miranda’s unique way of expressing the all-American immigrant rags to riches success story through the sound of hip-hop is truly a work of art that has been rightfully so praised and awarded in abundance. However, this article is not dedicated to praising Lin Manuel Miranda’s arguably most popular work, but to showcase the power of kind words –something that Miranda is exceptionally generous with.

GMORNING, GNIGHT! – LITTLE PEP TALKS FOR ME & YOU

Gmorning, Gnight! – Little pep talks for me & you is a book filled with encouraging and inspiring wishes of good mornings and good nights written by Lin Manuel Miranda and illustrated by the talented Jonny Sun. This book begins with a rhymed introduction where Miranda explains how these greetings came to be bound into a book. These greetings, according to Miranda, grew from a want to wish his Twitter followers good morning and good night. Pretty wholesome, eh? It gets better. Miranda admits that Twitter became rather addictive, as he puts it “The biggest distraction for someone like me? An audience up in my pocket.” This is no surprise, as anyone with a way with words knows, there’s nothing like having those words seen and heard, knowing that they have the potential to touch and change the fabric of people’s lives. Miranda describes these greetings as a way of formatting a routine, a “safe guard” to his life off of Twitter. A way of signing on and off of sorts.

The greetings vary from theme to theme; some silly, some touching, some simply mind boggling. But what they all have in common is that they don’t read like hallmark cards or famous quotes that have lost all meaning in their imposing status. Miranda explains that the inspiration for these greetings came from simply writing what he’d like to hear himself. These tweets went on for years and became a part of his followers’ lives – a reliable pick me up twice a day. Some printed them out, some saved them as screenshots, some simply locked them in their hearts. Eventually the demand for Miranda’s tweets to be printed on page became overwhelming and the wheels started rolling as Miranda and his creative team, which included names such as Kassandra Tidland and Jonny Sun, began working on something, that in my humble opinion, ended up being diamonds tucked between the covers of a book.

My personal relationship with this book is that of admiration. I had never bought a book that was not a book with a story with multiple chapters. I’d never even ventured to the self-help aisle of any bookstore. Yet, something about these tweets printed into a book, an actual object you could hold in your hands, had me excited. This was during a time that I was hitting my lowest lows, experiencing the slippery slope of my brain chemistry slowly transforming into an absolute useless heap of neurotransmitters. Needless to say, at a time like that, the opportunity to hold happiness in my hands was rather appealing. So, when the book finally arrived, packaged in thick cardboard and zip ties, I was hesitant to open it. Would it be everything I’d hoped? Would it really be able to reach me? To help me? To cheer me up?

I opened the package and set the book on my bedside table.

That night I crawled into bed, dead tired, just waiting for that sweet moment that my head would hit the pillow. However, something urged me to open the book that had patiently waited for me during the troubles of the day. It was and still is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The first Good night greeting read:

Good night now, and rest
Today was a test.
You passed it, you’re passed it.
Now breathe till unstressed.

That’s a set of pretty simple words put into order in a way that managed to fix something that had cracked during that day. It wasn’t that the greeting cured my fowl mood or the constant nagging of worry and anxiety, but for a moment, it was those words that made me feel like I was not alone in the world. And that, I believe, is the magic within this book, and dare I say, the magic within Lin Manuel Miranda. He creates joy, he connects with his words, he shares and gives the world his thinking, his writing, and its honest.

So, if you’re feeling down or just looking for a pick me up, or if you want to feel joy in reading simple words on white paper, or if you’re looking for routine or dreaming of drowning in creative goodness, pick up this book and you won’t regret it.

And last but not least,

A greeting from me,

The world is really big,
and kindness underrated.
It’s really shitty, but it’s only what we make it.
So, here’s a sparkle of happy,
and a sprinkle of good,
nights and mornings,

From BTSB to you.

Photo by Danielle Amorim.