Three books that might inspire you to change mindset and slow down.

Photo Nadi Whatisdelirium on Unsplash

Writing a blog is a way to define and spread my philosophy of life-long learning and enjoying life as much as I can. I've always lived trying to be a good girl, make people happy, and accomplish all my duties. Saying "no" has always been difficult for me. I've always hated contrasts and avoided arguments. But these habits often lead to frustration. I realised that, like many people, I procrastinate happiness, waiting for the right moment. But everybody knows that the right time never arrives, or, better, the right time is now. As soon as I became aware of this, I started making small changes in my routine, to cut useless habits and tasks, to make more space for what really matters. It's an endless work in progress.

First of all, I silenced social media, especially Instagram. It's unbelievable how much time we waste on social media. Sometimes we find excuses, thinking that we need to spend time on them to understand how it works and promote our business. We believe that If we understand how social media work, we could use them more wisely and they will be at our service rather than the opposite. The truth is that once we open one of them we are immediately hooked and captured by an endless amount of contents that seem useful but only waste our time and feed the social media industry. 

I'm constantly looking for new sources of inspiration and these three books might also interest you. Of course, they are not the Bible and the suggestions are general and might not entirely apply to your situation, but the goal is to make us think out of the box and maybe find an original solution to our problems.

John Williams: F**k Work, Let's Play: Do What You Love and Get Paid for It. This book aims to demonstrate that our destiny is not to suffer all our lives, working 24/7 with a job that we hate. There could be a way to gain money doing something that for us is like a game and for this reason, enjoy life to the fullest. The problem is to define your dream game. This might be a real dilemma, especially if you are an overthinker like me. But this book also offers a variety of strategies that can help to find your dream job.

Mark Manson: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Yes, the word f*ck is quite common in that kind of book and I imagine it could be liberating to say it from time to time, especially when you feel trapped in a situation, a job or a life that is not what you dreamed of. As a matter of fact, sometimes we really feel trapped in an unhealthy philosophy of positive thinking.  We are also constantly brainwashed with the idea that we all have to be extraordinary and that ordinary life always sucks. But if our priority is to be happy, we should learn to accept our limitations and give value to the things that really matter. And these things are often free. True wealth is about experiences, emotions, and what we are instead of what we have. Pain does exist in life, we have to accept it and fight for what really matters, avoiding wasting energy to reach "false wealth".

Timothy Ferriss: The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated. I still need to read the updated version. The first version guides us in discovering how we could work less and gain much more: who wouldn't do this? Some suggestions and strategies are interesting but others might need to be simplified. Moreover, if you don't live in the US, there could be different laws and taxation issues. Anyway, good ideas to be adapted to your situation, especially if you are a mother.

Have you already read these books? Let me know what you think!