Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be

MY THOUGHTS: 1. I believe that self-help books are personal. Some words or chapters might strike a cord with some people and others with other types of people. As such, my experience with this book might not be yours, but I’ll explain how I felt anyway: 2. The introduction was STUNNING. The author managed to raise my hopes, make me think and had me EXCITED for what came next. As she spoke about how the only thing standing in between you and everything you want in life is YOU, and spoke about how she was going to break down the lies we’ve been telling ourselves all our life, I genuinely thought that this book would be something that would make me feel and think. 3. I jumped into the first ‘Lie’ almost immediately after, and then put the book down to try and absorb it and then, the next day, picked it up again to dive into the next lie. 4. Now, at the end I sincerely feel that Girl, Wash Your Face was this rushed book, attempting to dissemble years’ worth of self-inflicted damage in just a few pages. While the opening chapter left me inspired, the rest of the book was exactly the opposite - rushed and uninspiring. 5. If this book was supposed to make you believe that YOU can be everything you want, I’m not sure it did. The phrase, ,b>“easier said than done” came to my mind more times than I can count, because through the rushed explanations that were more statements than explanations I just didn’t believe, after a while. 6. I did take away one thing from the book, at least partially, though, and that is that only WE can control what we make of our lives. Would I recommend this book? Like I said before, self-help books are so personal and I can’t say that a book that didn’t help me won’t help you but I’d only recommend it if you’ve read the synopsis and think it’s really something you need in your life.

I couldn't read past chapter 2. It is not my style of a self-help book. When I flipped through a few pages at the bookstore and read some inspiring stuff about motherhood, I was intrigued. However, as someone who is a therapist and pretty well-versed with the ideas in this book, I found what I did read to fall short of its praises. While seemingly written with good intentions and a great heart, the messages Hollis is purporting seem flaky and wishy-washy; the inconsistency is hard to follow. To her credit, she does mention some hard truths that we all need to hear- but then they are muddled with some other suggestions and advice in a way that makes it hard for the reader to figure out this author's modus operandi. Maybe it's that I've read Eckhart Tolle and I'm just a bit more aligned with that style of "advice." This book felt preachy (and Hollis mentions she is a preacher's daughter, so I guess I'm not surprised), and that's a huge pet peeve of mine, especially in my line of work.

Excellent book! A definite must-read for every single woman in the whole entire world. Seriously. Hollis does a beautiful job laying out ugly truths and encouraging the reader to make a better life. As she says, STOP waiting for someone else to fix your life. Take care of your body. Go all-in towards your goals. Stop comparing yourself to others. No excuses. Be a good human and treat other humans with kindness and respect. Cry. Laugh. Have fun and be silly. Love. EAT. Have sex. Stop judging people. Lift each other up. Embrace the chaos and don't you EVER give up. Determine what you want your life to be like and go get 'em.