Oh, my gosh, you guys! Self-help books are SO LAME! I mean, come on- what is this going to be:
I'm good enough; I'm smart enough; and gosh darn it, people like me? Give me a break. But, a friend picked You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero for a reunion of an old book club, so I said, "Fine. I'll read it. I won't like it, but I'll read it." Actually, in an effort to waste the least amount of time possible, I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Cheese Fest, here we come.
[Turns on audiobook. Listens for a little while.]
Holy crap, you guys! This book is amazing! Okay, I'll try not to sound like I was just completely brainwashed through my earbuds, but really, this book far exceeded my expectations. At the beginning I did a LOT of eye rolling- there was a lot of You're awesome! You're amazing! You are the only YOU there will ever be! It was just so cheesy! And then I started to wonder "how would I feel if this was directed at my daughter?" Well, I think my daughter is awesome and amazing and all of those wonderful things and I really want her to feel that way about herself. Why can't I feel that way about myself? Why do we have such a hard time seeing our own awesome?
Sincero admits that she herself used to feel that the self-help genre was "unforgivably cheesy: it reeked of desperation, rah-rah churchiness and unwanted hugs from unappealing strangers." And yet, before I was half a dozen chapters into this obligation read, I was laughing, nodding along, saying "huh" a lot, and at least once having the breath knocked out of me.
Or how about all that If you can dream it, you can do it baloney? There's plenty of that nonsense floating around in the world and I don't really need more of it. And yet...
I listened to the audio version of this book, but I also checked out the print version, you know, so I wouldn't look like a jerk when I showed up for the book club reunion. I got to the point that I had the book nearby while I listened just so I could put little sticky tabs on the good points. And SmartGirls, this book I thought was going to be so cheesy and dumb- well, I have almost thirty tabs sticking out of it right now! Here are just a few, chosen at random:
During our little sojourn here on earth, we need our bodies more than they need us. Say nice things about your body; dress it up, and take it out. Give it hot sex, luxurious baths, and massages. Move it, stretch it, nourish it, hydrate it, pay attention to it- The better our bodies feel, the happier and more productive we are.
If you had an unlimited supply of cash, what would you spend your life doing? Our fantasies are the most revealing peepholes into who we are and what we think is awesome. No matter how out-there and ridiculous they may seem, they mean something to us, and usually represent our biggest and best versions of ourselves.
There is nothing as unstoppable as a freight train full of fuck-yeah.
If I kept going, I'd have to transcribe the whole book here. Just go out and get your own copy. Or at least borrow it from the library. The audio version is great (it's read by Sincero herself), but I recommend a print version as well. This is one of those books you're going to want to underline and make notes in the margins and refer back to over and over again.
...At least that's what the brainwashing is telling me! Ha!
Either way, this book is worth your time because you, SmartGirl, really are a badass!
I listened to the audio version of this book, but I also checked out the print version, you know, so I wouldn't look like a jerk when I showed up for the book club reunion. I got to the point that I had the book nearby while I listened just so I could put little sticky tabs on the good points. And SmartGirls, this book I thought was going to be so cheesy and dumb- well, I have almost thirty tabs sticking out of it right now! Here are just a few, chosen at random:
During our little sojourn here on earth, we need our bodies more than they need us. Say nice things about your body; dress it up, and take it out. Give it hot sex, luxurious baths, and massages. Move it, stretch it, nourish it, hydrate it, pay attention to it- The better our bodies feel, the happier and more productive we are.
If you had an unlimited supply of cash, what would you spend your life doing? Our fantasies are the most revealing peepholes into who we are and what we think is awesome. No matter how out-there and ridiculous they may seem, they mean something to us, and usually represent our biggest and best versions of ourselves.
There is nothing as unstoppable as a freight train full of fuck-yeah.
If I kept going, I'd have to transcribe the whole book here. Just go out and get your own copy. Or at least borrow it from the library. The audio version is great (it's read by Sincero herself), but I recommend a print version as well. This is one of those books you're going to want to underline and make notes in the margins and refer back to over and over again.
...At least that's what the brainwashing is telling me! Ha!
Either way, this book is worth your time because you, SmartGirl, really are a badass!
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