Girl, Wash Your Face // book review

I assume I’m right in categorizing this book in the “self-help genre”… regardless, that’s what it was to me. And admittedly, this was the very first book I’ve ever in my life read from that category. And, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’d say I dove into that realm of books with a great start!

Rachel Hollis does such a tremendous job of openly saying “Okay, so here is what I did in situation X Y Z, and here’s why it didn’t work, or here is how it affected me” and then flipping that coin to show you how she could have done it better, or let it affect her differently — in turn, teaching you those skills. Or at the very least, giving you some food for thought.

I caught myself more than once straight up laughing out loud — like, full on, head back, huffing sounds with no real giggle coming out (which, if you know me, you know that’s when I’m really laughing the hardest). Rachel has an impeccable way of infusing humor in even the most dire situation, and that right there is one of my favorite things about ANY human on this planet. It’s a SKILL y’all — to find joy, and light, in the darkest of times or situations, and it’s a skill I myself aim to keep a grasp on so that I can pull it out any time I need it.

Rachel’s writing style is simply on point, and this entire book made me want to push even harder for my own personal dream of writing a book. Did y’all know I’ve dreamed of writing and publishing a book since I was around 13 years old!? FACTS. And Rachel’s writing style is pretty dang close to what I’d hope to achieve, that off-the-cuff, brutal honesty, good humor, and extremely well used italics. Though I don’t imagine a book of mine could be categorized as a full on, cover-to cover self-help book….at minimum, perhaps it’d help someone feel heard or seen, understood. TIME WILL TELL, FOLKS.

Typically, in every book I read, I underline sentences or paragraphs that really grab me, and I’ll then make a list of my favorite quotes of the book in my blogpost — I’m going to do that for this book too, but I’m only choosing a few. Firstly because I basically used an entire ink-pen while reading this book. Secondly because this book and all its self-help ways are truly personal to me, and I think you should read it and gather your own sentences/paragraphs etc that speak to you for your own reasons.

SO, a few things that really stood out to me (or smacked me in the face TRUTH BOMB style) —

You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for who you become and how happy you are.
Every single moment is preparing you for the next.

Instead of quoting what I underlined in the book, I’m just going to explain one thing she mentioned that I personally think we ALL should be doing. She talks about finding a word that you need a reminder of in any particular season. Love, joy, patience, kindness, peace, goodness, etc etc - whatever your word may be. And then write that word down on multiple Post-It notes and stick them around your house, home, etc — so that you get a constant reminder. Love, love, love this idea.

Another time, she’s talking about achieving your dreams, and she says something that resonated with me SO DANG WELL, and I realized it is exactly a huge part of my own personal belief system, but I’ve never been able to so eloquently explain it as she did. Rachel writes — “I think my ability to imagine my dreams in intricate detail is one of the biggest reasons I’ve been able to achieve them. Seriously. Don’t rush by that statement. Sit with it for a minute. A huge part of my success is built into my imagination.” — SO. MUCH. YES. If you can dream it, you can do it. If you have daydreams that consume your mind, that you see so vividly, you WILL work to achieve them, trust me, I speak from personal experience — praise hands, y’all.

More quotes I loved —

When it comes to your dreams, no is not an answer. The word no is not a reason to stop. Instead, think of it as a detour or a yield sign. No means merge with caution. No reminds you to slow down — to re-evaluate where you are and to judge how the new position you’re in can better prepare you for your destination. In other words, if you can’t get through the front door, try the side window. If the window is locked, maybe you slide down the chimney. No doesn’t mean that you stop; it simply means that you change course in order to make it to your destination.
The difficult seasons we walk through are how we learn to build up strength to manage any situation.