Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, 240 Pages

Let me start off with this- I despise the idea of “Think happy thoughts and you’ll be happy.” Like, literally despise. The thought of it makes me cringe. I come from a background of mental illness, and specifically struggle with social anxiety myself. I know that I can’t just think happy thoughts and then everything will be butterflies and rainbows. Hollis definitely hits on that mindset, but in a way that makes sense. She makes sure to point out that mental illness is real. So, she earned points with me for that one. While yes, she’s privileged. She lives a nice life with her seemingly cookie-cutter family, she also has worked her you-know-what off to achieve all of her goals. She is self-made, and she is real. This book actually did give me a wake up call. I can’t count how many times I’ve told myself that I’m a bad mom. (I just did last night, actually.) I’ve considered myself too fat, not pretty enough, not successful enough, etc. But when I think about it, as Rachel recommends, none of these things have been said to me by other people. I’m the only one that is spewing this nastiness. I really enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it.