Acclaimed author Yung Pueblo opens up about putting words to the journey of self-healing.
These days, social media can feel like a black hole, an endless wave of anxiety-inducing news posts and humblebrags that can trigger feelings of shame and self-doubt. But in the midst of their doom-scrolling, 2.8 million individuals have found the powerful words of meditator and New York Times-bestselling author Diego Perez, known to his readers and Instagram followers as Yung Pueblo. And if that following is anything to go by, his messages are clearly resonating.
Focusing on the power of self-healing, the keys to building healthy relationships, and the wisdom that comes from putting in the work to truly know yourself, Perez’s succinct, illuminating writings manage to feel at once both universal and deeply personal. Take, for example: “Falling in love will not fix your life, healing your emotional history will.” His ability to see and articulate these common yet often isolating human experiences comes from his own journey, which has seen him struggle with — and finally confront — his demons.
Born in Ecuador, Perez moved to the U.S. with his family when he was four years old. Once in the States, they struggled immensely with poverty, sparking fights between his parents as they tried to figure out how to survive, he recalls.
“I had no real way to process it all, and when I got to university, these emotions would keep coming up, and I ran away from them through drugs and alcohol,” Perez says. “I ended up pushing my body to the ultimate edge and almost lost my life in 2011 due to over-intoxication. I wondered how I got to this point, and when I had no other choice but to really observe myself and befriend what was inside of me, that was when my personal wellness journey began.”
He began meditating, inspired by a friend from college who had a powerful experience with the practice during a silent retreat. He recalls his first Vipassana (a type of meditation) course as “the most challenging thing I’ve done in my life.” “Not only are you putting yourself in a whole new environment, but you’re also learning this new paradigm of thinking where you’re trying to develop the feeling aspect of your mind, which is like an untrained muscle,” says Perez. “But when I left, I knew I’d received some really big benefits — my mind felt lighter, and I’d never felt that way before.”
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When he realized internal healing was possible, Perez says he felt the need to start writing about it. Soon enough, he was sharing his poetry and short prose with the world via social media.
“In the beginning, I had no voice as a writer; I just felt like my intuition was pushing me in that direction,” he says. “Even though I wasn’t fully healed, I’d overcome so much, and it was shocking to me that healing in that way was even possible. Sharing online allowed me to see over time if what I was saying was making sense and how I could explain myself better.”
Not that his writing is limited to the online world. His first two books — 2018’s Inward and 2021’s Clarity & Connection — were instant hits. His third, Lighter, debuted as a #1 New York Times Best Seller in 2022. And last October, his fourth and most recent book, The Way Forward, hit shelves. With each work, Perez is able to reflect and articulate the new stages and learnings from his personal journey — and the changes he sees around him.
“As soon as I wrote that first book, I knew it was just the beginning,” he says. “Inward is just about you and your personal growth. But what I saw in my own journey was that this growth was changing all of my relationships, which is why I wrote Clarity & Connection. Now, in this book, I wanted to explore the idea of intuition and developing your own value system as you’re navigating a world that’s constantly in flux.”
My approach is: How can I make my writing a gentle invitation to an individual’s mind so they can reflect a little bit during their day?
In all of his writings, Perez maintains that familiar voice — stripped back and concise, yet masterfully articulating the seemingly inexpressible.
“I trained myself to write through the lens of minimalism,” he explains. “To be clear and succinct feels especially relevant in our time, when we’re so inundated with information and demands on our attention. My approach is: How can I make my writing a gentle invitation to an individual’s mind so they can reflect a little bit during their day?”
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But what does he want readers to take away from his words?
“My work is meant to start as a point of inspiration — reading can be motivating, but the work really starts with yourself and the tools you pick up,” he says. “I hope it inspires someone to see a therapist, or start meditating, or start journaling — basically taking advantage of any of the tools we have available to us to help us more deeply connect with our emotions.”
Perez is well aware that the start of a new year feels like an especially energizing time to wipe the slate clean and commit to making a change. But, he points out, it’s the commitment to keep going that matters. And he’s the proof — he’s kicking off 2024 with a 45-day retreat, phone locked away, and the work of self-healing still ongoing.
“It doesn’t matter when you begin, what matters is having the determination to keep going even when you don’t want to,” he says. “Whether you’re thinking of starting a new business or developing healthier eating habits, the determination is critical. Each day you start again, and you take all these micro moments to create a giant mountain of victory.”