I study how we can understand ourselves, connect with others, and build systems that respect human values.

Hey everyone, the name is Erik Thor and on Monday I'm releasing my first ever book, Why I Care, and you can be one of the first to back and support the book before it even goes into print.

First of all, Why I Care is a book about letting go of masks and labels and finding who it is that you really are. What is important to you and what do you want from your life? Not what other people want from you, but what you want from your life if you go your own way and do the things that mean something to you.

The psychologist Carl Jung spoke a lot about masks. When we think about masks, we often think about people like politicians, people that are fake, or people that pretend to be something they're not. But we all carry masks and social roles. And the expectations we put on ourselves about who we are supposed to be at work, with friends, or with family can become silent prisons. The truth is everyone gets stuck in masks, and it can be hard to find who it is that is you outside of the role.

How many times do you tell yourself when you wake up in the morning: "I should go to the gym today," "I should do the laundry," "I should, I should, I should"? Where does this word "should" come from? Where do these expectations come from? And where does wanting come from? How do we learn to want? How do we learn how to care about something that for us right now feels like a chore, a must, a requirement—something we're doing for the sake of somebody else, or to please somebody else, or to make our parents proud?

It's exhausting, isn't it? But it doesn't have to be that way. That's why I tell people to develop and find their own inner compass—to learn to reflect on your own values, wants, needs, desires, and what is inside of you.

In my book, I speak about eight core human values. And I speak about eight things we should care about, because to me, we need to learn how to care. We need to learn to overcome our cynicism and tap into our own heart.

I speak about authenticity and the importance of caring for yourself and your innermost thoughts and feelings. I speak about the importance of caring for your work, caring for your future, and caring for nature. To me, nature is really, really important.

But the key goal for you is to find out what is important for you. And you can use this book to reflect and reason about what really matters to you in your life for yourself.

Thank you all for supporting and being a part of this launch.