I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would
"Because in the end, you're holding on to the fear only because you're afraid of the rigor involved in living a meaningful life."
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Celadon Books and BookishFirst for a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
content warnings: mentions of terminal illness, parental death, parental abuse, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, spousal abuse, parental abandonment, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, chronic illness, cheating
I requested this book coming out of 2020 and a year of living in a two-story house alone with far too much clutter, and was very excited to read it. After receiving it, I looked up the authors on Twitter, and really didn't like a post by one of the authors mocking the love language of gift-giving. I ended up putting this book off for a year before getting to it.
I can now report that I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would, and it ended up being in my best interest as I read it while living in my new home without all of my household goods for nearly a month. What better time than a forced packing party!
Disclaimer: I have not read any other books on minimalism yet, and rarely read self-help books, so what I enjoyed about this book may have been repeated in many other books. This book talks about minimalism in many aspects of our lives and, having taken a Dave Ramsey course in high school, I can say that the finance section was mostly just regurgitated information from Ramsey books.
I am torn on my thoughts on this book, as many of my opinions on a single aspect are both positive and negative. For example, while reading some of the sections, I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking the authors really didn't know whether they wanted this book to be a memoir, relationship book, general life self-help book, or actually about minimalism. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed a few sections (especially the one on creativity!) and wrote down a plethora of quotes! I'm not sure if I've saved more quotes in any other book this year.
I don't think I would read this book again, and there are some parts I didn't agree with (such as saying to stop getting others physical items as gifts while their publisher sends me this copy -- should I recycle it instead of gifting it? [I am being facetious and will put it in my local little library box]) or found to be common sense, but I appreciate that it has inspired me to:
• Donate/sell items I have not actively missed during my move
• Keep a document of notes of rules of minimalism and adapt them to my own life
• Schedule time for creativity and prioritize it over mindlessly consuming social media/tv shows
• Keep up with my efforts to prioritize my health and set boundaries in my relationships
• Read more self-help books
• Seek out others who want to live a life that values community, creation, and people instead of celebrities, things, and excuses
I will say that the author did often add qualifiers for things such as mental/chronic illness, poverty, etc. but I would recommend this book to people who already enjoy self-help books/the idea of minimalism, are actively looking to make a change/improvement in their life, and who have a high internal locus of control (people who in general believe "things happen to me" > "I make things happen" will probably not enjoy this book).
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Celadon Books and BookishFirst for a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
content warnings: mentions of terminal illness, parental death, parental abuse, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, spousal abuse, parental abandonment, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, chronic illness, cheating
I requested this book coming out of 2020 and a year of living in a two-story house alone with far too much clutter, and was very excited to read it. After receiving it, I looked up the authors on Twitter, and really didn't like a post by one of the authors mocking the love language of gift-giving. I ended up putting this book off for a year before getting to it.
I can now report that I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would, and it ended up being in my best interest as I read it while living in my new home without all of my household goods for nearly a month. What better time than a forced packing party!
Disclaimer: I have not read any other books on minimalism yet, and rarely read self-help books, so what I enjoyed about this book may have been repeated in many other books. This book talks about minimalism in many aspects of our lives and, having taken a Dave Ramsey course in high school, I can say that the finance section was mostly just regurgitated information from Ramsey books.
I am torn on my thoughts on this book, as many of my opinions on a single aspect are both positive and negative. For example, while reading some of the sections, I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking the authors really didn't know whether they wanted this book to be a memoir, relationship book, general life self-help book, or actually about minimalism. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed a few sections (especially the one on creativity!) and wrote down a plethora of quotes! I'm not sure if I've saved more quotes in any other book this year.
I don't think I would read this book again, and there are some parts I didn't agree with (such as saying to stop getting others physical items as gifts while their publisher sends me this copy -- should I recycle it instead of gifting it? [I am being facetious and will put it in my local little library box]) or found to be common sense, but I appreciate that it has inspired me to:
• Donate/sell items I have not actively missed during my move
• Keep a document of notes of rules of minimalism and adapt them to my own life
• Schedule time for creativity and prioritize it over mindlessly consuming social media/tv shows
• Keep up with my efforts to prioritize my health and set boundaries in my relationships
• Read more self-help books
• Seek out others who want to live a life that values community, creation, and people instead of celebrities, things, and excuses
I will say that the author did often add qualifiers for things such as mental/chronic illness, poverty, etc. but I would recommend this book to people who already enjoy self-help books/the idea of minimalism, are actively looking to make a change/improvement in their life, and who have a high internal locus of control (people who in general believe "things happen to me" > "I make things happen" will probably not enjoy this book).