Say NO to the Self-Improvement Movement
Is it just me or are we all dreading the upcoming "New Year, New Me" posts, tweets, snaps, Insta pics and conversations? Fear not, this is not that!
I was listening to CBC radio when Svend Brinkmann came on talking about his new book, "Stand Firm: Resisting The Self-Improvement Craze" and I thought to myself: YES! Maybe it's that I'm getting older or perhaps it is my terrible track record with sticking to resolutions, but this upcoming year I say #YouDoYou.
Truth be told, I am guilty of talking about self-improvement and News Year's resolutions as recently as last year ...on this very blog! This year, I say we should all embrace who we are. That does not mean give up. That means we should try to be our best self, find time for self care and focus on self-realization over self-help.
Not sure how to say no to the self-improvement movement? My view is a little less bleak than Svend Brinkmann so here are my tips:
- Don't set unrealistic goals for yourself
- Relax (any way that works for you)
- Feel free to say no to things you don't want to do
- You're awesome, so take time to revel in that!
If you're looking for a little more support, here are some great titles for getting started on your journey to saying no to self-improvement and embracing the greatness that is already you.
You are a Bad Ass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Bestselling author, speaker and world-traveling success coach Jen Sincero cuts through the din of the self-help genre with her own verbal meat cleaver in "You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life". In this refreshingly blunt how-to guide, Sincero serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, life-changing insights, easy exercises and the occasional swear word. By the end of "You are a Badass", you will understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can't change, how to change what you don't love, and how to start living the kind of life you used to be jealous of.
Authentic: How to be Yourself & Why it Matters by Stephen Joseph
Stephen Joseph presents his fresh and inspiring perspective on the psychology of authenticity alongside practical advice and exercises for the reader. Drawing on the wisdom of existential philosophers, the insights and research of psychologists, and case studies from his own and others' clinical experiences, he shows how authenticity is the foundation of human flourishing -- as well as how the ideas relate to debates about the importance of happiness.
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Life Doing Things You Don't Want to Do by Sarah Knight
Are you stressed out, overbooked and underwhelmed by life? Fed up with pleasing everyone else before you please yourself? It's time to stop giving a f*ck. This brilliant, hilarious and practical parody of Marie Kondo's bestseller "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" explains how to rid yourself of unwanted obligations, shame and guilt -- and give your f*cks instead to people and things that make you happy.
Emmet's Guide to Being Awesome by Ace Landers
Emmet, the main character from "The LEGO movie", outlines his philosophy of life and reveals what he has learned from his adventures and his relationships with the Master Builders about friendship, travel, identity and other topics.
F*ck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice for Managing All Life's Impossible Problems by Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett
The only self-help book you'll ever need, from a psychiatrist and his comedy writer daughter, who will help you put aside your unrealistic wishes, stop trying to change things you can't change and do the best with what you can control -- the first steps to managing all of life's impossible problems. Need to stop screwing up? Feel like you're under a loser's curse? Work with an ass? Want to clear your name or get justice, rescue an addicted person, get closure after childhood abuse, get a lover to commit, not ruin your kid? Although other self-help books claim to reveal the path to happiness, "F*ck Feelings" warns that convincing yourself that there is such a path will actually lead you to feel like a true failure. What the Bennetts can promise you is that you can manage any situation life throws at you if you can keep your sense of humour, bend your wishes to fit reality, restrain your feelings, manage bad behaviour and do what you think is right. Life is hard.
Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu
A bold and inspiring memoir and manifesto from a renowned voice in the women's leadership movement who shows women how to cultivate the single skill they really need in order to thrive: the ability to let go. Once the poster girl for doing it all, after she had her first child, Tiffany Dufu struggled to accomplish everything she thought she needed to in order to succeed. Like so many driven and talented women who have been brought up to believe that to have it all, they must do it all, Dufu began to feel that achieving her career and personal goals was an impossibility. Eventually, she discovered the solution: letting go. In "Drop the Ball", Dufu recounts how she learned to reevaluate expectations, shrink her to-do list and meaningfully engage the assistance of others -- freeing the space she needed to flourish at work and to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships at home.
Stay healthy friends and remember
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