What I am reading
As someone who loves to write, it is probably no surprise I love to read. I am reading no less than 2 books at a time. I have been on a big self help/development/business books for a while. I also enjoy trash & garbage to give my brain a rest. I wanted to share a book I just finished and would tell you to RUN to the store (or Amazon) to get. I have had Present to Perfect by Shauna Niequist for over a year. After reading it, I now know why it took me so long to pick it up, and finish it. I was afraid what this book might make me assess in my own life. I started it on our flight home from Europe. It moved me but I put it down when we got home. I was about halfway through. It has been sitting by my nightstand since. I have read two other fiction books in the meantime but I couldn’t seem to pick this one up and finish it. Fear was holding me back. We went home at the beginning of the month and with plane time to kill, I decided I was packing Present to Perfect to finish up.
Essentially, Present over Perfect is about just that. It is about challenging our personal and worldly desires to curate, & be perfect. The image to the outside is that everything is under control, lovely, happy, and well perfect. But on the inside we are crumbling, decaying because we are not being who we are at the core. That is heavy folks.
This really struck me: “ I don’t want to miss the actual fabric of the interior of my life & the beautiful children growing up right this second because I am working to please people somewhere out there. I’m afraid I’m missing it. I’m afraid I’m doing it wrong, and I want to know that I can change”.
Talk about hitting me like a ton of bricks. As a chronic people pleaser(hello first born, girl, type A person), this was a hard pill to swallow. While we don’t have children yet, I am trying to be very aware of the habits we have now, as they will grow into the habits we will adopt as our family grows. Being present while I am with the people I love has to be the top priority. As a business owner, there is about 1000 things at any given time pulling at my attention. Learning when to prioritize what, when, is a big part of maintain some “balance”. That particular quote was from the Legacy chapter. “The legacy I care most about is the one I’m creating with the people who know me best-my children, my husband, my best friends. And I have to make a change." Whew. That’s a mouthful right there sister. I could use about a 2 hour therapy session to unpack my feelings around that. The legacy we are creating, that you are creating—who are you creating it for? There are so many more good, deep, heartfelt words in this book. I wish I could share all my favorite nuggets with you. As I get older, and certain things in my life are occurring, I have such a strong desire to grown, improve, change, with God at the center of it all. Age actually does bring wisdom(mental note when I have a 17 year old daughter who thinks she knows it all). If I have learned anything about this particular season of life, is that I know very little. If I am open, I can grow & learn so much more. I will leave you with this: “Addiction to motion-or faking or busyness or obsessive eating or obsessive dieting or whatever it is for you-builds just a tiny, luscious buffer between you and…everything. So words that would hurt you when you’re stone-sober just don’t bother you after a glass of wine or two, or after you’ve lost three more pounds, or as long as chocolate or pizza can keep you company, keeping you safe and distant. But you take away those things and all of a sudden, you find many of your relationships very different than you originally believed. You feel everything. Everything”
Grab your copy of Present over Perfect here. If you have read it and want to chat more, or share you favorite takeaway—let’s chat in the comments!
xoxo
