Reading journal: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Hello there!

As you can see, we’ve got a new read journal. This was not as great for myself as the Atomic Habits in the previous post, but still it was a good read.

Now, let’s check the quotes I saved from this one.

A confident man doesn’t feel a need to prove that he’s confident. A rich woman doesn’t feel a need to convince anybody that she’s rich. Either you are or you are not. And if you’re dreaming of something all the time, then you’re reinforcing the same unconscious reality over and over: that you are not that.

The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.

Negative emotions are a call to action. When you feel them, it’s because you’re supposed to do something.

These men both chose how they wished to suffer. Hiroo Onoda chose to suffer for loyalty to a dead empire. Suzuki chose to suffer for adventure, no matter how ill-advised. To both men, their suffering meant something; it fulfilled some greater cause. And because it meant something, they were able to endure it, or perhaps even enjoy it.

Choose your suffering.

We all get dealt cards. Some of us get better cards than others. And while it’s easy to get hung up on our cards, and feel we got screwed over, the real game lies in the choices we make with those cards, the risks we decide to take, and the consequences we choose to live with.

Parkinson’s law: “Work expands so as to fill up the time available for its completion.”

Murphy’s law: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.”

Manson’s law of avoidance on them: The more something threatens your identity, the more you will avoid it.

Making money, by itself, was a lousy metric for myself. You could make plenty of money and be miserable, just as you could be broke and be pretty happy. Therefore, why use money as a means to measure my self-worth?

Just as one must suffer physical pain to build stronger bone and muscle, one must suffer emotional pain to develop greater emotional resilience, a stronger sense of self, increased compassion, and a generally happier life.

Basically, the more options we’re given, the less satisfied we become with whatever we choose, because we’re aware of all the other options we’re potentially forfeiting.

Sometimes it was a bit too vulgar for me, but it was an enjoyable book.