BOOK REVIEW: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

"You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact."

GENRE: Self-help, Psychology

PUBLISHER: Harper

PUBLISHING DATE: September 13, 2016

ORIGINAL REVIEW DATE: August 8, 2020

*Thank you to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*

┈ overall thoughts ┈ 2.5/5

That was honestly one of the best things I've ever read. I just need to say that my notes for this review is 4 screens of my phone long but I'm still not sure if I'll be able to string the right words together to make a comprehensive review without outright ranting. There are just too many messages placed in this crash course of a book, but I guess that's what made it amazing for me. Anyway :) ....

“you will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of”

the overall message of this book is basically to place your attention on the most true, immediate and important parts of your life.... and something about that just made me feel like a happy little tree 🌲

the fact that it wasn't SO serious 100% of the time made me comfortable?? and since I read this as an audiobook it literally felt like a friend was talking to me the whole time. Like my best friend giving me advice. It made me open up my mind more, which I think was the point.

I can't formulate paragraphs right now so here's a bulleted form of some of what translated into my head:

● avoidance in itself is a struggle -> so just solve problems that you enjoy

● no one who is actually happy has to convince themselves that they are happy

● who you are = what you are willing to struggle for

● admit that life just sucks sometimes

● EMOTIONS are just FEEDBACK -> you're allowed to be angry at someone but it doesn't justify you punching them

● blaming others hurts you the most

“nobody makes it through life without collecting a few scars on the way out”

some of the most life-changing choices that we are going to be given is simple but it's going be really really hard to choose that.

As a service-oriented person (even though they were probably talking about something else) I kind of associated myself with that part saying "acts of love are only valid if they are done without conditions or expectations".

I needed to hear these words so bad at the point in my life right now and it was just the right words to reassure me. And the words weren't so profound that you need to think so hard to get the message which allows for even a younger audience than the usual self-help book.

I was able to relate to it a lot and reminded me that even though we are all different people leading different lives... we all struggle just the same. Acknowledging our mistakes means that we've grown past them.

“the last person I should ever have to censor myself with is the woman I love”

We choose what is enough for us. The book also said this somewhere but I feel like repeating here that it's just saying what we already know but making us face them and saying it straight up.

I mean I didn't even think I really needed a self-help book right now so READ THIS!!

At the end of the day we are already great people simply because we can CHOOSE what to give a f*** about.

thanks for reading my somewhat unfiltered thoughts

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Have you read this book? Did you like or hate it? Comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts!