Year of Yes

Right before the New Year I read Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. I was so impressed by the book that I will most likely read it again this year. I absolutely loved this book and the premise around it!

In the book Shonda Rhimes tells about her life and how she never said yes to anything. She always found an excuse to not go to events or to make appearances on shows. Throughout the book the reader followed Shonda Rhimes as she began saying yes to things. Some of the things she said yes to were; making a commencement speech, getting healthier, going to more events, and playing with her kids more.

While I was reading this I began to think of my own life. I realized that I do not say yes to things enough in my own life. I am the type of person who is content with shutting myself in my room and watching hours of Netflix in bed. In fact I do that a lot! However, after reading this I decided that I would make it a point to say yes to more things.

One of the things that I decided to say yes to more is going on more dates, which was harder than imagined. I found that I wanted to stay in and see if my favorite characters from Greys Anatomy would get together or see how the house Chip and Joanna Gaines fixed up ended. I can say that I have gone on more dates than I did last year, but have stayed in a lot.

The second thing I said yes to was more of a social life. I made it a goal to spend more time with friends and would not make up lame excuses as to why I could not hang out. Just from doing that I have noticed that I have more people to talk to and am happier.

The last thing I made a point to say yes to is to not being as shy and afraid of the outcome of things. As I said a few posts back I took a chance and asked someone out. It took a few months of me trying to get the words out, but it took a year of me telling friends I would do it. I finally said yes to asking and I did it. After saying yes to that it became easier to stepping up and talking to more people. I’ve realized that it does not matter what they think of me and in the end at least I tried.

Year of Yes is a great book and definitely a must read! In the comment section below tell me what some of the things in your life you want to say yes to more.

-A

Perseverance

For the past few months I have been taking statistics. It has been super stressful and time consuming, and there were a lot of tears! I put a lot of effort into the assignments and tests, but no matter how hard I tried, it just wouldn’t click. It took me forever to complete problems, and I had trouble getting assignments in on time. When the time came for the final, I realized that I would have to basically ace it to pass the class.

Recently, I started watching Grey’s Anatomy, and I’ve been obsessed. I like how Dr. Grey is able to still work in the hospital and focus on her patients, even when she is clearly having problems. In the episode I watched yesterday Meredith found out she had a half-sister, and even had to help treat her. She did that without letting her personal issues get in the way. Granted she did have a meltdown when she was finished, but those are allowed every once in a while. J When I was getting ready to take my finals yesterday, I posted a photo to my Instagram and Facebook. It was a picture of a notebook that said “Meredith Grey didn’t become a surgeon and get to marry Dr. McDreamy by not studying.” I knew my final wouldn’t be fun, and there was a good chance I would fail the class, but I decided to do my best and hope it was enough. Maybe my teacher would find a way to let me pass because he knew I’d been working hard? I could always hope!

Yesterday I finished my final, and I ended up failing the class. I took me a while to finish the final, and I had a breakdown with tears in the middle of it. Actually, that happened quite a few times while I was taking statistics…luckily it was an online class. But every time I got stressed or was having a meltdown I would text or message two of my friends. They both talked to me until I was able to calm down. Sometimes they would hang out with me just so that I could take a break and forget the stress of the class. If it were not for them I would not have been able to make it through this class. I do have to take it over again, but I know that I can get through it and that it will all be worth it in the end. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Dr. Grey, it’s that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to. This is just part of the path to becoming what I want to be and living the life I want to live.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to this picture. I got it off of https://www.pinterest.com/pin/487233253408908840