Minerva Alumni Book Review: "The Art of Self-Care" by Charlotte Juan

In our Alumni Book Review Series, Mira, Class of 2025 will be digging into alumni-written works and then interviewing the authors. The aim of this series is to encourage others in the community to delve into the literary creations of Minerva alumni.

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Imagine where you were and what you were doing three years ago. It’s the advent of the pandemic and you’re just starting to realize that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, this situation isn’t going to be temporary. Many people went back home to live with their parents, left university campuses, packed up their work laptops, and began to work remotely, essentially rewriting their daily routines overnight. It was an isolating, challenging time, and this was precisely the moment that alumna, Charlotte Juan started nurturing the idea of writing her first book, The Art of Self-Care. 

“We found out during our calls that a lot of our friends were struggling because of the lockdown. It was really tough. We wanted to do something about it. In the beginning, this project was actually not a book,” notes Charlotte. Instead, she and a friend from her year, Sofia Villa, began collaborating on sharing anonymous journeys of mental health struggles and triumphs on social media so that their friends might find hope and commonality. Their Instagram account started off with custom drawings for inspirational and motivational quotes, but then quickly turned into something else: “We started talking to more people and we realized that the kind of problems people are facing are not problems people are willing to share… It can be stigmatizing, even if  it’s a very inspirational journey.” The team then began to source interviews and present them anonymously, attempting to share stories that others might see themselves within, without divulging the name of the person attached to the story. 

Eventually, Charlotte compiled and continued to add stories to what would become her Capstone project - Minerva’s version of a Bachelor’s thesis. The Art of Self-Care, a small book that includes stories of inspiration, motivational materials, and science-backed suggestions for navigating one’s way to better mental health, was published in 2023. As Charlotte herself describes it, the book is “for young women, by young women.” The story is paired with one-line drawings that reflect life's interconnectivity, inspired by the narrative it accompanies.

Stemming from the Instagram page and after writing the book, Charlotte then went on to found the organization, Intertwined Lives, with a similar mandate as the initial project. Its focus is preventative mental health care and sharing the mental health journeys of women all around the world. Charlotte relied on three of her passions to build Intertwined Lives. She combined her double major in psychology and business, her interest in mental health, and her courses on early-stage business into one venture. She pulled research from her Capstone project, her interest in physical health and spiritual well-being, and interviews from her travels to sustain the organization’s work. From what was originally meant for an audience of young female friends, has now become Charlotte’s occupation and focus as she expands Intertwined Lives. Ultimately, Charlotte aims to raise awareness about the importance of taking care of one's wellness preventively back home in Taiwan, bringing the concepts and practices into middle and high school.

When asked about her favorite mental health practices, Charlotte underlines the importance of simple practices like staying hydrated and maintaining physical activity which can be anything from salsa dancing to weight lifting. A particularly transformative practice for her has been mindset shifts, which are rooted in simply recognizing the power of how we choose to perceive our circumstances. “The phrase might be I have to clean the room and instead of saying I have to, you can say, I get to or I get to make my place prettier and cleaner. This approach provides you with a kind of toolbox,” explains Charlotte. Charlotte uses the toolbox to transform potential negativity into empowerment: “...for the things out of your control, you can use this mindset shift. So when you see everything as a neutral event and that whether it's good or bad is due to our labeling, then you regain the power of the narrative of your life”.

If you’re curious about other ways to stay on top of your mental health, and you want to read a book written by a Minerva alum, we recommend giving The Art of Self-Care a read. You might just learn something new, and your mental health will surely be better for it!

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Learn more about what Minerva University alumni are up to on our blog.