Serial Hobbiest
Refused to decide, so I'm doing it all
‘Year of Yes’ by Shonda Rhimes
| Read 2-6 Jan 2020 Shonda Rhimes is a successful woman. A strong, hardworking, successful woman and her book is about all the ways in which that didn’t change who she was on the inside or how she felt about herself or even how she felt about her place in the world. She writes about the same fears I have when dealing with friends, family and life. She writes about the same challenges and emotional self-sabotage I, and so many around me, deal with. She writes about the way in which self-criticism is so subtle, we don’t even realise we’re doing it. And she did all this writing in an eloquent, funny, accessible, thought-provoking and moving manner. She told bits of her story, all relatable, and spoke about how she overcame her greatest challenges and fears. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that she has been privileged in her life, rather embracing what she’s been given and appreciating it for all it’s worth. I was learning while reading – about what it means to be successful and how difficult it can be to accept success when it happens. I was learning about what it means to let myself be and why it’s important to walk away from those that do not want you to let yourself be. I think I’m likely to be more aware of the stories I make up for people to excuse their behaviour or their negative influence on my life. This was the first honest to god book read and finished for 2020 and, to be honest, I might have started a new New Year’s tradition for myself. I love the beginning of the year. More often these days, I’m finding there are those that no longer think New Year is worth its salt in resolutions. The ‘why make goals, if there’s no way I’d stick to them’ mentality. Each to their own, though, because I love it. I love the idea of a clean slate to try again and having the year stretch before me, full of possibility gives me a genuine sense of what could be. All things considered, the past few years have wrought a whole lot of … shit. It’s been rough. But for a brief time over the new year period, that seems ok. It seems like a leaf can be turned, like time can do a bit more healing a bit more quickly because before you know it, it will be a completely different year, a new decade perhaps. This is all to say that this is the mental space I was beginning to lose again when I picked up ‘Year of Yes’, because for all my optimism and my new outlook, it is often fleeting as anxieties and work and life settle back in. ‘Year of Yes’, though, blew past my lack of motivation and challenged me to look at everything just a little differently, including myself. Perhaps especially myself. All in all, it became a four-day reading period of drastic self-discovery and internal adjustment. I love it. I love the challenge and sense of self that came from reading it. I love the idea of personal power and how to use it. I love having read this book now. And I would recommend it to any and all who feel like they need just a little something to be a little different. |
Serial Hobbiest 