Review: ‘Unfu*k Yourself’ by Gary John Bishop

In my ongoing hope that some day I will learn to be an adult, I decided to read a few self-help books. Of course, I can’t just read something positive and uplifting. That wouldn’t be any fun! So I decided to try some of the more colourful additions to the genre, starting with UnFu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop.

Synopsis: Have you ever felt like a hamster on a wheel, furiously churning your way through life but somehow going nowhere? It seems like there’s a barrage of information surrounding us in our everyday lives with the keys to this thing or that thing, be it wealth, success, happiness or purpose. The truth is, most of it fails to capture what it truly takes to overcome our greatest barrier to a greater life…ourselves. What if everything you ever wanted resided in you like a well of potential, waiting to be expressed? Unfu*k Yourself is the handbook for the resigned and defeated, a manifesto for real life change and unleashing your own greatness.

I love listening to audiobooks on my commute, and I generally struggle to read non-fiction that isn’t biographical or historically relevant. Listening to this somewhat angry (but very positive) Scottish man tell me to get off my ass and get on with my life was surprisingly motivating. He definitely reminded me that I have put myself in whatever position I am in, and that I am the only one who is going to make the effort to get me out.

“You have the life you’re willing to put up with.”

Things I Learned

• you are winning at everything, even if it’s at things that aren’t generally considered winning, like weight gain or spending money you don’t have. You are amazing at those things, they just might not be the things that you want out of life.
• we all like to complain about shitty circumstances, but not many of us are willing to leave our comfort zones to get out of those situations (ie, a bad job, a nasty relationship, etc)
• the way you talk about yourself and the things happening in your life will directly affect the way you think about these things, so be nice to yourself and stop bashing everything around you and life might not seem so impossible after all

This is definitely one of my favourite self-help books that I have read so far. It was uplifting, smart, practical, and accessible. I immediately shared the idea of “winning at life” with my friends, so now we all try to out-do each other by coming up with hilariously inspiring ways to look at our problems. (ex. “I am exhausted from working so much” becomes “I am winning at making my boss think I am irreplaceable”). So, if you need a bit of straight-talk about getting your life in order, I highly recommend this book.

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