2018 really hasn’t been my year. I try to not to whine and moan too much because nothing extremely life-altering has changed. But, I lost my mojo, my purpose, and my drive. I kind of felt like I was just hitting the repeat button day after day after day. Get up, work, come home, do the nightly duties of dinner and homework, and repeat.
Maybe it is a mid-life crisis. Is that what they call those? I haven’t gone nuts and bought a Ferrari, and I thought that was the definition of mid-life crisis. I don’t think it is. I think it’s this quest of are we who we wanted to be, who we were meant to be? And that’s harder to answer in this day and age of social media perfection and a world where it seems like there’s no room for error.
I found a few books along this ridiculous monotonous year that have helped me tremendously and put it back into perspective.
Not just some books. Life changing books. The kind of books that made me put some highlighter tape in my grocery checkout app. (I mean that’s pretty serious.)
Seems only fair to share them with you.
Three Life-Changing Books to Empower You
Carry On, Warrior
First of all, full disclosure, I’m a Glennon Doyle Melton fangirl. I’ve seen her twice (soon to be three times) in person. I love what she’s about. I love that she loves. And I love that she doesn’t try to hide her flaws. She takes her flaws and says “Yep, that’s exactly who I am.” I love that she says we can do hard things, and she means it. (Except for hard things like Whole 30, but that’s another story for another day!)
Her book is honest and raw. She takes the worst of herself and just puts it out there for the world to see.
Then, she tells us, the readers, to embrace their messy, beautiful life.
Truth is I’m not even remotely glorious when I’m rolling out of bed with the smeared eye makeup I never take off despite my good intentions and making Eggo waffles cause I’m just too tired to make real ones. It doesn’t mean my life isn’t beautiful. It’s a good life. It is a life where I wake up to my family every day – people who love me because of and in spite of. It’s a beautiful life.
And we can do hard things.
Don’t wait to read this book. Read this book NOW and learn to love and embrace the life you have. Cause it’s a good one. And you don’t get another.
Girl, Wash Your Face
First of all, the actual title of this book is: Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant To Be. Shew, that was long.
She divides the chapters into lies that she [the author] has believed. And they are lies we have all believed at some point. Which I love. So find your favorite lie and read it out of order if you want. The lie that resonated with me the most is the lie that I need to make myself smaller. (In fact, I think I need to read that chapter once a week until it sticks in my head!)
Hollis refers to each year of life as a chapter. She urges us not to read the same 75 chapters and call it a life. That hit me hard. Don’t let life be monotonous – don’t let your life just be stuck on repeat.
We hold ourselves to such ridiculous standards. Let’s quit believing the lies. Let’s quit being afraid. Go live your life the way you want, and don’t apologize.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
This is another one with a long title. The real title is The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. Whew.
Yeah, it’s got a bad word in the title. It also repeats the bad word about a trillion times. So, if you don’t like curse words, this isn’t for you. But, if you can lighten up a little and tolerate the big bad word, you’ll love it. It’s seriously FUNNY. But oh so true.
My biggest problem is that I do care what others think. (Really… I almost deleted the paragraph above because I was afraid I’d offend someone.) I have always been this way. Once, in third grade, I had a complete meltdown because I got a bad grade on a math assignment because I straight up didn’t understand it. I was the straight A student, the student who knew it all – I was mortified someone would think I didn’t know how to do something.
I also go out of my way to please people or make people like me, only to be let down in the end anyway.
It’s so hard for me to NOT care. But I’m working really hard on it. The book isn’t really telling you not to care about anything, but choose what you care about. As he says – you only have so many f*cks to give.
Those are my big three. Will they completely give you the skills to change your life? No, they aren’t going to give you a step by step guide on life. It will, however, give you the inspiration to go forth and make your own life something you want to live. It’ll make you empowered to live your best life and embrace the person you are. Go forth with your highlighter tape and soak it up!
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