Head for the
book shop.
One of life’s
pleasure activities is browsing in a book shop, looking at the new releases, recommendations
from staff and identifying trends in the various categories of books.
Two trends
were evident as I absorbed the array of titles in front of me at Canberra Airport.
Both are
examples of correcting what might be called the failure of current lifestyles.
They may also be a sign we are desperately looking to solutions to our increasingly
unbalanced, high pressured lifestyles.
More than
ever, there is pressure to be all things to all people and in all circumstances.
Social Media
is full of Instagram photos of magnificent happiness, updates on Facebook showing
what wonderful activities are filling our life and Tweets of entertaining wisdom.
Add the exercise pressure of Strava, MyAssics, Garmin Connect and whatever
other fitness App you choose to share your active life via and we have a recipe
for unrelenting competition with largely little known friends and acquaintances.
The new car,
amazing weekend escape and master chief meal prepared after a day’s work
mesmerising the innovation committee with our latest creation.
The school
event and our highly engaged children are shown excelling at all things academic,
sport and music. We hear with monotonous regularity how the minds of children
are being “mashed” by way of the time spent in from of screens however there is
hardly a photo of a 12 year old playing games on their IPad> Does that seem
strange, or perhaps the “screen time” problem is non existent?
We must show
off our new gym gear, light weight running shoes, and if you are a cyclist, any
new piece of gear or clothing will get a showing
“Quick, I
need a photo for Facebook – and one for Instagram too”.
Our Social
Media profile may well be described as a version of “The very, very best off
the Days of our Lives”. However, we then measure the worth of “This life of
ours” by way of the number of “Likes” are clicked, re-tweets made or comments
received. And, if we pick up a new follower or follow request, the day is even
better.
How do we
feel when we receive little or no reaction to our photo of the latest kale
inspired organic ginger, tofu infused shake? Deflated, incomplete, insecure?
Do we care too
much about the reaction?
Are we searching
for a methodology to care less about the reaction to our social media sharing’s,
or perhaps even how to withdraw from our Social Media activity?
Do we simply
care too much about many things, we simply should not care about
The following
3 books were on the top 20 recommended list at the Canberra Airport Bookshop:
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight and
- The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck also by Sarah Knight*
All the
above have achieved “Best Seller” status.
A quick
check of other titles authored by Sarah Knight indicate this is a highly
popular subject genre as another of her book titles is:
How to not
Give a F*ck at Christmas
The success
of these books indicates we are collectively well aware of caring far too much
about things that do not really matter.
We care
about cultivating a perfect image and we know it is counterproductive. We are
well aware there are very many things in life we “Give a F*ck” about when we
know we shouldn’t. It also suggests we are desperate for a set of skills and
actions to extricate ourselves from our self-destructive habits.
As for the other trend, there were two books addressing “Gut”
health but more about this another time.
*I purchased
and read this book some 9 months ago.
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