Rad Reads: "Get Out Of Your Own Way"
Okay, I've was slacking in the reading department at the top of this year. Get Out of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis is the first book I've actually finished. There have been a couple that I picked up but just didn’t stick through to the end, but now that I've got one under my belt it’s been feeling easier to keep the reading going. I picked up Get Out Of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis the day it was released and started it right then and there.
Let me start by saying, I don’t feel like I am totally the demographic for this book. I'm not in a relationship and I'm not a parent. While not all of the book is focused on these roles in life, many are. While the words are valuable they are ones that don’t necessarily feel applicable in my own life at the moment. The underlying lessons are still valuable, even if they just serve as a reiteration of some of the personal development techniques I already work to instill in my life. With that being said, I would read this book a few times over so long as it means I get to re read the final chapter, the chapter dubbed the "bonus chapter" which is in the Target exclusive edition of the book. (The conclusion is pretty worth it as well. If you are someone who quits books before the conclusion no judgements, but I urge you to stick around for this one. It’s pretty jam packed with good info about how you are what you consume, leveraging your life to be exactly what you want it to be, surrounding yourself with the right kind of people for the life you are choosing to live and defining what principles you are operating your life under.)
The bonus chapter is all about mental health, the importance of treating it like your physical health and asking or getting help should you need the help.
I started therapy in February. It's something I plan to talk about here eventually, once I feel like I've been going for enough time to really have something to say about it. I will say that while my therapy sessions have had to switch to video sessions for now, it’s nice to have someone to check in with every so often during this time that is unusual to us all.
Okay, back to the book.
It turns out Dave Hollis and I have very similar outlooks on therapy. He talks about how we go out of our way to not only ensure that our body is healthy and that we are doing the work to make and keep it healthy, but we tend to talk pretty openly about the ways we go about doing it. So, why not treat mental health the same way? Why don't we talk openly about this tool that is available to help us work on our health?
“Think about it this way: if you were working on your physical health so you could run a marathon or climb a mountain, you would probably tell every human on the planet because you would be so proud of pushing yourself physically to be healthy. So why not think about mental health the same way? Get out of your own way, let go of the stigma, and believe that you are awesome because you are pursuing health in all ways-mentally and physically.”
Dave Hollis, Get Out Of Your Own Way pg. 185
My outlook is similar. When I decided that I wanted to start therapy, one of the big things I thought to myself was- I go to see my chiropractor every single week. I go because I know that it helps my body to feel better. It helps to adjust and correct the parts of my body that are off, that are unaligned. So why not do the same for my head? Why not seek help from someone who can help me work through the parts of my head that feel off or unaligned? It felt like a no brainer.
Dave reminds us that mental health is just a part of health.
It's always comforting to be reminded that more often than not, what you feel or what you think or what you are struggling through is not solely felt by you. That others have been in the same boat, that's what this bonus chapter was for me. A reminder that I'm not alone in my boat. A reminder that asking for help makes you strong. A reminder that talking about your experiences may help someone else. A reminder that as humans we all struggle, every single one of us, and that is okay.
Trying to decide on your next read? Check out more rad reads, here!