“This book will not teach you how to gain or achieve, but rather how to lose and let go.”
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckis full of adult language to discuss a very adult topic – being an adult. Being an adult is all about setting priorities, making decisions and living with the consequences of those choices. The book is full of solid advice – not about how to not care about things, but about how to care for the right things. Once you set priorities, much of life doesn’t need as much time and attention. If the book had a subtitle, it would be “But Learning to Give a F*ck About the Right Things.”
I don’t remember where I first came across The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, but I started seeing it everywhere. It looked interesting and was being read by a lot of people, so I added it to my to-read list. A few weeks ago, I was adding books to my library hold list and put this one on there. It was available after only two weeks or so and when I told my husband I was reading it, it read it, too.
I was expecting a self-help book about how to not care so much about what other people think and expect of you, but The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckturned out to be so much more. It quickly said it was not about not caring, but about caring about the right things. Here are the three key rules:
- Not giving a f*ck does not mean being indifferent; it means being comfortable with being different.
- To not give a f*ck about adversity, you must first give a f*ck about something more important than adversity.
- Whether you realize it or not, you are always choosing what to give a f*ck about.
There are chapters on relationships, on choosing priorities, having right values and finding real satisfaction with life. The author talks about how two men reacted in very different ways to being cut from very famous bands – one sought more fame and fortune and the other sought family life and only one was happy with his life.
I would highly recommend this book to any adults (maybe some high school students). There is a lot of language. The book seems like it’s a life talk at a bar between an older man and a younger man. “Here’s what life is about,” the older one says. My husband and I were both greatly surprised with how good The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckwas to read.
Have you ever read a book that surprised you by being better than you expected? Share on the blog!