Brighter By The Day

Brighter By The Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams is a feel-good, autobiography from Good Morning America anchor, Robin Roberts. The book has a mix of personal and professional stories that teach lessons about channeling positivity, gratitude, and living life more optimistically. One of the lessons that stood out most to me was to “Make your mess your message,” meaning use your struggles as your “why” to push forward and keep going.

Make your mess your message.

The author has a unique perspective as a Black woman from the South who’s queer, Christian, and a survivor of cancer. Her stories were inspiring and triggered a lot of self-reflection, but it wasn’t always vulnerable. Roberts is very much a conservative, Black Christian woman whose perspective almost tips the line of toxic positivity.

For example, she highlighted a story she covered as a news anchor where a mother forgave the man who kidnapped her daughter (and I think murdered her?). Instead of using her example of forgiveness, she used this crazy example that felt very toxic. Overall, I appreciated the lessons from this book but also recognized the emphasis on Christian-conservative values may not be for everyone.