You know those annoying people who read a certain book or watch a super lofty, award winning documentary and then can’t shut up about it? They think they’ve learned some great, life-changing wisdom and then are super annoying because they want to tell everyone else about it. And you’re like, yes, shut up! I know all about visualization! I’ve been visualizing a Snowflake bracelet from Van Cleef & Arpels for ages and it still hasn’t materialized! Yeah I know it isn’t how you really read The Secret! It was just a joke!
Well I’ve become one of those people. Over Thanksgiving I read The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck, by Mark Manson, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I would recommend the entire book, but the part that really stood out is this idea of “the struggle” (which luckily, for you people who can’t make it through a few hundred pages, is covered in the beginning). It’s the idea that all good things in life are worth a struggle, and that it’s better to list out the things in life that you are willing to struggle for, rather than just the things you want. Because when you just think about the things you want in life, the list can be endless, but when you think about the work in actually getting and achieving them, and what it takes, you really hone in on what’s important to you. And the key lesson is accepting that to get good things in life, you have to struggle. You have to feel pain, and despair, and exhaustion, to get to the great things in life. So the next time you feel like you’re really having a tough time of it, you are comforted in the understanding that it’s part of the path towards the good. Continue Reading
