Trying "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" for a week

Oof! I keep forgetting to write a blog post on time so here I am writing it now. I am reading a book called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck", and so far I am really enjoying it. I can't say I love the writing style, since it sounds like the author just learned what a swear word is and just constantly drops F bombs to enforce his point, but I am learning a lot nonetheless. I picked up the book kind of already thinking I had mastered the art of not giving a f*ck. I am a pretty confident person and I am never really afraid to be myself or be different and weird. But this book talks more about happiness, comparison, and the bullshit that everyone tells you about always being positive. It basically tells you that it is a completely normal part of life to be depressed, anxious, lonely, and self conscious. There are so many self help books and podcasts that preach positivity and a constant good outlook on life. The goal is happiness. But the goal shouldn't be happiness. Because we will always be trying to achieve this goal of "happiness" when obviously we can't achieve some final destination of "happiness" so we will always be somewhat unsatisfied. By chasing happiness, we make ourselves unhappy. We are always thinking about trying to be happy, which makes us wonder why we aren't happy enough. The book mentions something called the "constant feedback loop from hell" which is basically a phrase to describe when we think about how we are feeling, which only makes us feel that feeling more. Being sad about being sad just makes you more sad. Being anxious about why youre anxious makes you more anxious. Being angry about why you are angry makes you more angry. And so on. I've been trying to utilize this recently. I typically get in my head a lot when I feel depressed or lonely, but I've been trying to just acknowledge how I feel and move on. This isn't to say ignore your emotions though. I have found it tricky to not ignore my emotions while also not thinking about them too much. You have to acknowledge why you are feeling a certain way, give yourself time to feel that, and then accept that emotion. Accepting that you are going to feel different shitty emotions and that you shouldn't try to fight it is pretty hard actually.

What I have noticed this week after trying to not give a f*ck:  Definitely less stress. It feels like a weight lifted off your shoulder when you truly accept and welcome all emotions, including the negative ones. I find myself being more happy and at peace with my current life because I am trying less to change how I feel. Being depressed or angry or anxious are all parts of life and it feels better to try to accept these things as normal parts of your life than try to hurdle over them in some bullshit search for ~happiness~.

Everyone should go read this book! It's super short and very helpful!!!