Contemporary life can be categorized as stressful, unpredictable and overwhelming — and that was before the pandemic. And while many people would love a straight-forward guide to teach them how to navigate the travails of existence, Hana Shafi’s new book, Small, Broke and Kind of Dirty, is not that guide. Shafi is an award-winning writer, poet and artist living in Toronto; her family immigrated from Dubai in 1996. In 2017, Shafi began a series of animated affirmations on Instagram under the handle @FrizzKid. Many of Shafi’s drawings and affirmations explore themes like racism, feminism, body politics, and pop culture. She received the 2017 Women Who Inspire Award from the Canadian Council for Muslim Women. Her debut book, It Begins With The Body, was listed as one of the best poetry books of 2018 by CBC Books. In Shafi’s book, whose full title is Small, Broke and Kind of Dirty: Affirmations for the Real World, she expands upon the popular affirmation series by adding new dimensions. In addition to the striking images and the uplifting messages of the affirmations, Small, Broke and Kind of Dirty also features anecdotes from Shafi’s life. Shafi reflects on her upbringing in her anecdotes, bringing the reader along on a journey into her childhood through the eyes of a self-proclaimed “weird kid.” The essays are intimate, thoughtful and as colourful as the drawings they accompany. Shafi manages to talk about challenging social issues like allyship, mental health and gender inequality while sharing harrowing moments from her own childhood with admirable levity. Throughout the book, Shafi encourages the reader to maintain a positive outlook on life and to “not let the bastards grind us down.” But despite the comfort and the outpour of motivation that readers are bound to get from the book, Shafi insists that she is not trying to give advice. One of the beautiful things about this book is that it never feels like Shafi is moralizing to the audience. Rather, Shafi aims to highlight the complicated nature of our modern existence and encourages us to uplift ourselves and each other by practicing self-acceptance and empathy. Small, Broke and Kind of Dirty reminds us to remember our own worth even when it’s difficult to do so. I had the pleasure of talking to Shafi ahead of the virtual release of her book. I think the one that I say to myself most regularly but that I’m not the best at following is not to compare myself to others. Sometimes I get my friends to remind me of that because it’s hard; especially with social media you kind of see what everyone else is doing, which can make you feel like you’re falling behind or you’re not good enough or you don’t have that skill. So I have to remind myself that a lot. You shouldn’t compare yourself to others and you don’t even really know what their life is like or what they’re going through. I have to remind myself a lot that there’s enough success to go around. It doesn’t have to be hoarded by one person, and if one person is successful that doesn’t mean that it reduces your chances because I feel that that’s really ingrained in us, that things are all competition and they are always trying to, like, beat the other person out for the big opportunity. I do remind myself a lot that just because someone else received an opportunity or if you got rejected, for example, for a job or a gig, and someone gets it, don’t worry, you’ll get your chance too at some point, and you don’t have to be resentful of another person’s success, and I have to remind myself of that a lot. Because sometimes if I don’t get a gig, I feel sad or I feel jealous or bitter and I have to kind of check myself in those moments, and that can be really hard. I think that art is inherently political and I don’t like shying away from political messaging in my art. We don’t need apathetic art right now. But we need art that motivates people because the world is in a really bad state and if no one cares, nothing is going to change. We do see the way that symbols and slogans can rile people up, for good or for bad, right? These are powerful things. And I think it is important to use art as a way to not just inform people about things happening in their community or in a global context but also to kind of let people know that, like, even though there’s things that are obviously not completely in our control, we should all be doing, even on a personal or like really small community base level, some type of work to benefit our world, the place we live, in our family, our friendships, you know? You may not necessarily be changing the entire planet, but when we do community-based things like when we take care of each other, that’s a really radical thing.