5 Simple Truths from Gretchen Rubin
Sometimes life can get overwhelming. (Well, actually, life can get overwhelming quite frequently.)
When it does, I have to remind myself to take one small step at a time. Just do the next thing. Don’t try to conquer the whole project in a day.
So one of my favorite mantras I frequently use is “Just show up.” It reminds me that I don’t have to know everything to do something. All I need to do is put my body in the space, and let that be enough. The next step will reveal itself when I need it.
Daily sayings like “Just show up” have an amazing power to change my perspective.
So when Gretchen Rubin—a collector and creator of her own list of sayings, or aphorisms—decided to share her favorites in a book, I knew I would read them.
And I’m so glad I did.
Here are 5 among several favorites of mine from Gretchen’s original aphorisms in her new book Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives. Do any of these resonate with you, too?
1. “Selection matters. We can’t make sense of a textbook in which every sentence is underlined.”
2. “Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started.”
3. “Do you need more time, or do you need to make a decision?”
4. “Telling someone to calm down usually has the opposite effect.”
5. “We can be wrong for a very long time without noticing. Bloodletting was a common medical treatment for two millennia.”
Do you have a favorite saying that you repeat to yourself? Please share in the comments!
Here’s my list of 28 mantras that I’ve used through the years.
My thanks to NetGalley for
the review copy of this book
When I’m facing an uncomfortable situation, I find myself saying, “This, too, shall pass.” It focuses me not on the problem but on God’s ability to help me. Sounds like a neat book, Lisa. Blessings!
“Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started”! I can relate to that SO easily. The crazy thing is, once I jump in and do that task, it takes so little time, and I wonder why I ever took so long to do it! That’s when I need to put your phrase to work…”Just show up!”
The one thing that I go to when I am feeling overwhelmed is something that Elisabeth Elliot used to say a lot…”Just do the next thing.”
Nice review and great mantras. My favourite mantra is ‘use it or lose it ‘ it is a great reminder to preserve what I have and not take anything for granted
This one has been important for me lately in dealing with a co worker who won’t do right …”Let them.” I can’t control what she does.
#2 resonates with me when I think of the to-do list. My SIL says – there is always a list of things left undone. And that list takes up mental space.
Love me a good aphorism. (I even love the word “aphorism.”) ????
I started a list a while back and just recently got this book to read. I think I need to dig out that old list and reread and refresh it. You both inspired me!!
I have to remind myself: Bloom where you’re planted.
These are great! 3, 4, and 5 are the ones that resonate with me the most. In my work as a photo and digital memories preservation guide, I often talk with people who are overwhelmed. Less often, though, I hear people say things like “I have to get my photos organized first” (before they can put them in books, buy digital photo storage for them, etc.). A friend told me that when people say that to her, she suggests that if they’ve been saying that for very long, it’s time to try a different approach. That’s what comes to mind when I read #3. And I have to say that #5 is brilliant! Visiting from Senior Salon Pit Stop.
“Just show up” is one of the mantras I tell myself all the time too. It helps me to remember that I’m not responsible for everything. My job is to do whatever little I can do in that moment, and God will handle the rest. I think of it a little bit like Dr. Charles Stanley’s saying: Obey God and leave the consequences to Him. That book seems like a wonderful read. I loved the second one in the list. That is so true. Oh, and I loved the series on mantras you did a while back. You had so many good ones. I need to go back and refresh my memory!
LOTS of wisdom in those five quotes you shared, Lisa! A favorite mantra of mine comes from the Bible story in Mark 14, when Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. Jesus rebuked her critics by saying, “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial” (v. 8). Those five words, “She did what she could” offer me consolation when time has run out and the to-do list is not done. If I have done what I could, then that is enough!