The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

This book piqued my interest because of its creative title which I saw while on a plane flight to Estonia. I originally started listening to its audiobook as somewhat of a joke thinking it was going to teach me how to grow thicker skin and maybe even one day even being able to be a politician. How wrong I was. Entering as a joke, I exited with new profound understanding of how I should interpret experiences in life and ultimately how I should live my life.

One lasting view I had was that fault and responsiblity are different. When you learn to seperate the two, you will be more accepting of your responsibilities. An example the book gave was if you were to find a baby on your doorstep, that is not your fault that the baby is there, but it is your responsiblity to make sure the baby is properly taken care of.

I quite enjoy the author's view on finding meaning in life which can be summed up as life is about the journey not the destination. Which sounds super cliche, but it seems to be the author's truth. When you focus on the values you wish to uphold, then everyday is a challenge of how you will abide by your values making each hurdle the more rewarding to overcome.

This book also made me question the way I lived. I was living life with the goal of something. To achieve something. To get a job, to start a family, to have money. But the way this book showed me how to view life has got me rethinking my values. What life would be worth celebrating if you have no one to celebrate it with? Yes, you could use an ends justifies the means. You could say it's ok to be a bad person if it means I get a lot of money in the end. But what kind of person is that? Are those the values you'd want someone else to live? And if they do, how would that affect you? This also made me question the existence of the wealthy. Sometimes I wonder if the values that those with money choose to abide by was what helped them achieve their wealth. Or did the money they obtain change their values?

I feel the way I approach a new years resolution is similar to the topic of values. Instead of saying this year I want to do x. I instead focus on the theme of this year. And for the past year my theme has been "being umcomfortable". Which means if I know something I do will make me umcomfortable such as talking to a stranger, then I'd do that. This way, I live through life facing the non stop challenge of what I should do next? Should I talk to this person or attend this event? I feel it is much more rewarding when I choose to purposely make myself umcomfortable knowing it's a theme I chose to live by this year to try to get myself out of my shell.

Overall I'd say this book has given me some good questions to ask myself. In addition, it also recommended me the book "When Breathe Becomes Air". I hope to revisit this book in the future and re-evaluate how I've chosen to live my life up until that point. I'd say I definitely learned how to give less of a f*ck, but not so much about not giving a f*ck at all. As at the end of the day, if I really didn't give a f*ck, why would I have read the book in the first place or cared enough to write about it here?