Issue #190: sweatpants, strega nona, and soup season 🍁

Hola  ,

I’m Arianna Davis. By day, I’m the digital director for O, The Oprah Magazine. But I’m also gearing up to release my first book, What Would Frida Do? A Guide to Living Boldly, on October 20. Eep! It’s an ode to the legacy of the iconic Frida Kahlo. Part self-help and part-biography, in addition to telling Frida’s story, it reflects on the many lessons we can learn about the Latina artist’s incredible life—and how she lived so boldly way ahead of her time. 

That said, I’m very happy that I wrote a book about living fully and boldly...before the pandemic hit. Like many of you, I’m sure, I’ve needed all the inspiration I can get to just make it through each day these last few months.

Luckily, while writing and researching about the life of a woman who managed to create some of the greatest art that history has ever known—despite enduring a horrific accident, a tumultuous marriage, and many other life obstacles—I learned a thing or two about living life fully. There are many more takeaways like these in the book, on topics ranging from creativity to love, heartbreak, and friendship. When it comes to taking care of yourself, though, there are three that immediately come to mind: 

1. Love yourself, flaws and all. It was because of circumstance that Frida ended up painting, drawn to the new hobby out of boredom while recuperating from surgeries after a horrific trolley accident at age 18. But after her parents set her up with a mirror and an easel, Frida would go on to paint dozens of self-portraits of herself throughout her lifetime. As the painter of her own portraits, she very easily could have depicted herself through the lens that would have shown a more traditional Eurocentric beauty. Instead, in all of her work, Frida showed off her unique features, including her (what would become infamous) unibrow and mustache. And she wasn’t shy about celebrating her own self, because that was who she knew the best. That’s where that well-known quote comes from: “I paint self portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” 

2. Channel your pain into creativity. In these months where many of us are spending a lot more time than usual at home and/or away from loved ones, I think a lot about how Frida would be handling the feelings of sadness, anxiety, and general malaise many of us have been experiencing over the last 6 months. But it’s from exactly those kinds of feelings—felt most deeply while she was stuck in bed recuperating from various illnesses and surgeries for weeks or months at a time—that Frida painted many of her most moving works. Whether you’re a painter, a writer, or just looking to redecorate your apartment, remember that Frida would have channeled all the negative energy into something beautiful.  

3. Remember: Love is in the details. One of my favorite things I learned about Frida while working on this book is how carefully she curated every single thing in her life. Everything from her dinner table to her body was a canvas. Before serving dinner for herself and Diego, she’d go to the market to find just the right tablecloth and flowers, and carefully arrange the table just-so before serving a meal. And every morning, she’d spend time pulling beautiful flowers from her garden to braid through her hair as the perfect accessory to her outfits (which were often full of symbolism and homages to her Mexican roots). 

I hope these tidbits will inspire you to viva la vida, as Frida put it, and that you’ll find more inspiration in What Would Frida Do? In the meantime, if you need a few other recommendations, here are some things that I do personally to make myself feel a little more cared for: 

🛁 Taking a bath with this bath tray. It holds both your wine glass and a book, and has been responsible for many of my most stress-relieving baths! Throw in some candles and you’re in spa heaven.

📺 Re-watching Girlfriends on Netflix. I have a whole new appreciation for this show now as an adult, and every episode fills me up with delight and laughter.

🧶 Knitting. It’s not just for abuelitas! It’s a stress-reducing hobby that also leads to great Christmas gifts for family and friends (or just yourself!), and it’s something I look forward to breaking out whenever the temperatures begin to turn crisp. If you’re a newbie, I highly recommend trying Wool and the Gang’s chunky blanket kits, which have everything you need to make your first cozy creation. 

‘Tis the season to take care. Enjoy, readers. 

xo, 
Arianna Davis 

Follow Arianna on Instagram and Twitter as she prepares to release her book. You can pre-order it here.