The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*CK By: Mark Manson
Why hello there….June. Well this one is going to ruffle some feathers. In my experience with mental health as a professional the idea of accepting truths, realities and certain life experiences is one of the more difficult concepts for clients. This has me curious about the resilience one has and truly utilizing the shrug emoji (welp) in real life. Talk about having a real understanding in life of “You win some and you lose some”. Acceptance, understanding and moving forward are key aspects in managing your mental health. This doesn’t mean that we can’t acknowledge the hard but more so learning how to face adversity and become confident in handling the hard. In our arena of mental health, we are sometimes the first person to validate, understand and empathize with those struggling in certain areas. I will offer one aspect of attending therapy or other services and a big component in how I personally operate as a professional is holding people accountable and challenging concepts. The goal is not to upset people but yes make uncomfortable and challenge concepts that have not been considered before. This is a key part of a person’s growth.
Mark Manson truly dishes out this concept in his writing, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*CK: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life. This book tells the hard truth that not many want to hear. Simply, not everything is going to be perfect, not everything is going to be amazing and that life is not going to be great day in and day out. Isn’t it also important when we have bad days that we learn to accept the bad days? My life is beautiful but surely not everything is perfect. That is acceptance. A key note from the book, “…improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but learning to better stomach lemons.” Yes we can make the effort in our daily choices and encourage positive impacts from those healthy choices made but we can also learn to be empowered by our limitations. When you confront the hard, acknowledge the hard, you develop a tolerance and inevitably the courage and confidence to live a good life.
-Jenna Kagarise, MA, NCC