Happy belated new year wheee!

Started reading "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" again, and here's my takeaway from the first chapter, Don't Try.

People, like me, think indifference means to not care about anything -- void of emotions, to say the least. Yet Mark Manson (the author) says that's not it, that we're not trying to emulate a psychopath; a psychopath is someone who is void of emotions and meaning. The indifference he is talking about is 2 things: (1) "Being comfortable with being different" -- I don't want to go into his examples, but basically people who seem (or act) indifferent are the ones who care the most, and I mean caring-about-what-other-people-think, kind of care; and (2) choosing what to care about -- truly being indifferent is to put your time, effort, and emotions into things that matter, like getting mad for your family and friends, not because the barista made your drink wrong. Things like that.

And that's something Robin points out a lot: why do you get mad at the little things? I'm sure there would be "woke" people who get annoyed that others brush off "the little things," like sure, sometimes these "little things" mean a lot to someone in some ways, but I think most times, they truly are just little things -- minor inconveniences. Another thing Manson brings up is, people who get riled up easily usually (1) don't like that things didn't go their way or (2) don't have other more important things to give their f*cks to. A lot of other things he said makes me think, huh, that must be me.

The book basically gives insight on life, to achieve a happy life (he does say that the book isn't a guide to being happy and stuff like that), but I mention "happy life" because I wanted to touch base on social media and glorified lives, first-world problems, etc. He says this really well, but to not quote him and to summarize his point, we are always looking for the thing that will bring us happiness and make our lives amazing, but in this pursuit, we make our lives miserable because the "thing that will bring happiness" just reminds us of everything our life currently lacks. Does that make sense? And the growth of social media just exacerbates this problem even more.

At the end of this chapter he says that the book will "teach you...how to lose and let go," and honestly, life is difficult when you hold on to all the negativity, right?

Labels: book review, Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

Happy belated new year wheee!

Started reading "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" again, and here's my takeaway from the first chapter, Don't Try.

People, like me, think indifference means to not care about anything -- void of emotions, to say the least. Yet Mark Manson (the author) says that's not it, that we're not trying to emulate a psychopath; a psychopath is someone who is void of emotions and meaning. The indifference he is talking about is 2 things: (1) "Being comfortable with being different" -- I don't want to go into his examples, but basically people who seem (or act) indifferent are the ones who care the most, and I mean caring-about-what-other-people-think, kind of care; and (2) choosing what to care about -- truly being indifferent is to put your time, effort, and emotions into things that matter, like getting mad for your family and friends, not because the barista made your drink wrong. Things like that.

And that's something Robin points out a lot: why do you get mad at the little things? I'm sure there would be "woke" people who get annoyed that others brush off "the little things," like sure, sometimes these "little things" mean a lot to someone in some ways, but I think most times, they truly are just little things -- minor inconveniences. Another thing Manson brings up is, people who get riled up easily usually (1) don't like that things didn't go their way or (2) don't have other more important things to give their f*cks to. A lot of other things he said makes me think, huh, that must be me.

The book basically gives insight on life, to achieve a happy life (he does say that the book isn't a guide to being happy and stuff like that), but I mention "happy life" because I wanted to touch base on social media and glorified lives, first-world problems, etc. He says this really well, but to not quote him and to summarize his point, we are always looking for the thing that will bring us happiness and make our lives amazing, but in this pursuit, we make our lives miserable because the "thing that will bring happiness" just reminds us of everything our life currently lacks. Does that make sense? And the growth of social media just exacerbates this problem even more.

At the end of this chapter he says that the book will "teach you...how to lose and let go," and honestly, life is difficult when you hold on to all the negativity, right?

Labels: book review, Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck