YIKES!
Can you believe that I even picked up a book with a title that is *arguably* so offensive?
Seriously, what WAS I thinking?
^^ I’ll tell you what I was thinking, I was thinking I’m fricken’ stuck, I’ve had big dreams, loads of goals, I’ve prayed and planned and started about a million and one things and nothing, NOTHING is sticking. I am tired of being stuck and I need something that will slap me out of it.
The title alone was enough to get me to slow down long enough to read the back, and – well – when I did, I knew that this would be something worth reading. If not for the straight forward, no airy fairy bologna, than just for the reality check I was desperately hoping for.
The name says it all, Unfu*k Yourself: Get out of your head and into your life is all about dealing with the most common barriers that prevent us from progressing, from making real gains on our goals and going from dreamer to do’er.
It didn’t take long, two chapters maybe, for something to hit home, to resonate with me so deeply that I knew I would have to eventually write a review of the book.
Gary takes the idea of self help and personal development out of the “secret”, just change the way you say things to yourself, into begging you to consider what you are *truly* willing to accept, or – on the flip side – what you are NOT willing to put up with any longer.
There is none of the “change the script from I will to I AM”, bologna, it’s plain and simple. What are you WILLING to do to change your life? What steps are you willing to take to start implementing a plan that will work. And, if that is not motivating enough *because momma, let’s be honest, we would be willing to do a LOT of things if we could only summon the energy or find a caffeine that facilitated the BOOST to actually DO it …* what are you NOT WILLING to continue accepting as “your lot”.
To be honest, I have to admit that it was the latter that really hit me. Like, sure – I am a big talker sometimes and I am willing to do a lot of stuff to get the job done, to grow and to see my big dreams become reality. But *DANG GIRL* I’m stinkin’ tired at the end of the day << not even the end, like 10 am, I am pouring the last of my first pot of coffee.
So, for me, it wasn’t resonating, every time a self help book asked what I would do to see my dreams come true.
But when I was smacked in the face with the idea that I am currently STUCK in the life I am willing to PUT UP WITH, and that I have to be UNwilling to put up with it any longer …
BAM
That’s when the shift started!
And I’m not saying that I read something and jumped right out of my seat and started putting the petal to the metal, making tracks, kicking @$s and taking names (dude! I’m like 30 weeks pregnant with my fifth in as many years … I’m a whale, there is no jumping off anything unless you include the stumble the other day trying to get out of my car).
What I am saying is that this notion that I need to NOT be willing to simply accept this life as the status quo, was enough to start the wheels and the small steps I needed to be taking to tackle the overwhelm and the chaos in my home, to start getting into my Bible every morning, and to actually DO something with this space on the inter webs that I am occupying.
If you only got THAT from the entire book, I would argue that you’ve set in motion something worth the $15 it costs on Amazon. But – if you ventured further into the no BS thinking and action the other affirmations and chapters build the “let’s do this” attitude as you demolish your previous notions of hard, what is “just the way it is” and what you are capable of if you just stop STOPPING.
Now, I will tell you … there is some questionable language in this book – I mean, if it wasn’t obvious by the title. But the narrative is straight to the point, it isn’t another “will it into the universe and you will be a millionaire one day” type of book. This is a cut the crap and get down to business, easy read that I would recommend to anyone willing to skim the harsh words and actually evaluate what they have been WILLING to accept all these years,
I know that, from this tired, constantly pregnant or breastfeeding, self described HORRIBLE homemaker, reading this and reflecting on what I have been accepting to that point in terms of my OWN opinions of what I was capable of … it was the wake up call I needed.
Let me know what YOU think! And, if you are looking to pick up your own copy *which you TOTALLY should* – consider using my associates link by clicking the pick above *because it doesn’t cost you any extra and this stay at home mom with a big dream might get a little something as a thank you from Amazon*.
