How to Be a Better Human

How to break bad habits (w/ Edith Zimmerman)

November 3, 2025

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  • The process of creating honest, personal art, as discussed in the episode of "How to Be a Better Human," often involves establishing a time buffer between the experience and publication to maintain integrity and silence the pressure of an audience. 
  • Overcoming deeply ingrained habits, such as heavy drinking, often requires a shift in perspective from feeling deprived to viewing the change as gaining something better, as exemplified by Edith Zimmerman's experience with the book *Stop Drinking Now* by Allen Carr. 
  • Self-discovery and breaking bad habits often necessitate actively testing long-held beliefs about oneself, as many perceived personal constraints or truths may not hold up when re-examined or when new activities, like running, are introduced. 

Segments

Edith’s Artistic Beginnings
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(00:01:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Edith Zimmerman transitioned from careful, realistic pencil portraiture in college to using pen for drawing to avoid the pressure of perfection.
  • Summary: Early art training involved hyper-realistic portraiture using pencil, requiring extensive erasing and careful layering. To restart drawing recently, she deliberately chose pen to embrace imperfection and immediately accept mistakes. This led to rudimentary stick figures that slowly evolved into her current distinct style.
Honesty and Public Art
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(00:03:52)
  • Key Takeaway: For Edith Zimmerman, publishing art requires the content to be true, but she filters out entries that are ugly or unflattering to others.
  • Summary: Her published comics are often pulled from daily journal entries, which she reviews weeks later to decide what to share. Honesty is imperative, but she actively avoids publishing anything negative about other people. This selection process helps inform future journal entries based on what she feels compelled to share.
Journaling for Audience vs. Self
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(00:05:37)
  • Key Takeaway: The compulsion to share journal comics publicly created a conflict where Edith Zimmerman began writing for an audience rather than for herself, leading to burnout.
  • Summary: Initially sharing comics with a small group, the audience grew, leading her to charge for the newsletter and feel obligated to produce content. This commercial pressure caused her to run out of authentic stories and eventually refund subscribers and stop publishing for two years. She restarted the newsletter without a paywall, using it instead as an advertisement for her art prints.
Sobriety and Self-Honesty
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(00:10:46)
  • Key Takeaway: The clarifying moment for Edith Zimmerman to stop drinking was recognizing the dissonance between how she felt and the behavior she continued to engage in.
  • Summary: She drank heavily for years, knowing it was problematic but feeling it was the only enjoyable activity she had. The realization that she was continuing a destructive pattern despite knowing it was bad was the turning point. She found the book Stop Drinking Now by Allen Carr helpful by reframing sobriety as gaining a better gift rather than losing something loved.
Post-Sobriety Life and Creativity
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(00:17:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Quitting alcohol freed up significant time, forcing a self-discovery process to find meaningful activities beyond drinking, which ultimately benefited her creativity.
  • Summary: After quitting, she literally Googled ‘what do people do besides drink,’ initially finding boring suggestions like visiting cafes. The most dramatic change was gaining time by going to sleep earlier, which provided clear-minded hours for creative work. She notes that the constraints of her current sober life are more interesting than the constraints of her life when drinking.
Finding Time for Creative Work
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(00:28:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Carving out time for creative work is often dictated by compulsion and habit, with early mornings being essential for Edith Zimmerman before external demands interfere.
  • Summary: She suggests that if one is truly compelled to create, time will be found, often by waking up early or staying up late. For her, working early in the morning before anything enters her mind is essential, a habit established when childcare made daytime work difficult. She emphasizes that artists create because they feel compelled to, not just because they have time.
Running as a New Pillar
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(00:33:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Edith Zimmerman discovered running years after sobriety as a new physical activity, overcoming initial resistance by focusing on small, achievable steps and social logging.
  • Summary: She initially believed running was physically wrong for her body and avoided it until COVID closed her preferred exercise studio. She started by walking and using the Strava app for positive feedback on her exercise logs. She eventually reached a point where she could maintain a trot indefinitely, which felt like a significant new phase of life.
Rethinking Self-Perception
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(00:41:43)
  • Key Takeaway: A key to personal growth is continuously testing assumptions about oneself, as the person you are now is likely different from the person you will be in the future.
  • Summary: She finds that good things happen when she is realistic about her motivations, even if those motivations include spite. She advises being open to new experiences and retrying things, as the situation or the individual may have changed significantly over time. The dull answer to finding what you like is to keep testing everything you think you know about yourself.