I love a self-help book as much as the next wannabe Bridget Jones, but there was something about The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k by Sarah Knight that appealed. Honestly, the sweary play on Marie Kondo’s book was the factor that drew me in the most.
The tagline “how to stop spending time you don’t have doing things you don’t want to with people you don’t like” sealed the deal.
Mum, you might want to stop reading now, I’m going to say ‘fuck’ a lot…
Being a people pleaser and someone who will worry about anything and everything, the idea of not giving a fuck about what people thought was incredibly appealing. I am, as Knight would say, one of life’s fuck givers.
In a nutshell, Knight works through the idea of creating a ‘fuck budget.’ You make a list of things that are worth giving a fuck about, and things which are not. She breaks this down into categories: things; work; friends, acquaintances and strangers; and family.
Always willing to try new things I wrote my own fuck budget. Here are a few highlights from the budget I came up with:
Things
Worth giving a fuck: Planning decorating projects for the house.
Not worth giving a fuck: Worrying about the cost of replacing all our windows.
Work
Worth it: Doing my very best to prepare my class for the big bad world.
Not worth it: The never-ending stream of little paperwork tasks. Get it done and stop worrying about it, it’ll probably be done in the time I’d waste worrying about it.
Friends, acquaintances and strangers
Worth it: What I think about myself.
Making the effort to see the wonderful friends I do have, more.
Not worth it: What people I know/don’t know think about me.
Worrying about not having a lot of friends.
Family
Worth it: Making the effort for more visits/spending time together.
Not worth it: Worrying about political differences. Agree to disagree, there is nothing wrong with having a differing opinion to somebody else.
There are more things within each category which would have made for an almighty blog post. I’m going to see how this works, I could definitely do with a little less anxiety in my life. I’ll blog later in the year with an update on how I’m doing/if anything has changed.
What about you, have you tried Knight’s approach to life? Do you think a fuck budget will work?
I’ve seen so many people talk about this book now, I think I’m going to have to pick up a copy and read it for myself. Just from reading your intro I can tell that I am very much one of life’s fuck givers…and it’s exhausting! C x
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It really is exhausting! So far I’m a week into trying to give less of a fuck and I definitely think it’s working 🙂 x
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You’re the third person I’ve seen recommending this book, I think I need to check it out.
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It’s a real quick read and definitely a bit of a band-wagon but I do feel like the technique is working for me so far.
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I haven’t read this but I enjoy the concept of reassessing what is important and what is. The cost of windows is definitely ridiculous!
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It’s a real quick read. And, oh gosh, the price of windows! I think it’s going to come down to holiday or windows this year.
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Looks like a book I need to read! I am forever worrying about stuff and what people think.
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It’s not an overnight process but I’m (slowly) getting better at worrying less about what others think about me. It’s definitely helped me at work!
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Oh thats good. I will look out for the book.x
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