Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World by Jamie Varon

 

Okay, so I have a love-hate relationship with self-help books. Like, I appreciate what they are trying to do, but I feel like they tend to be geared people who are almost there in terms of happiness and not, like, wallowing in their own misery the way I am. And most of them seem to boil down to JOURNALING * NEW EXPERIENCES * LOVE YOURSELF * STOP COMPARING. And it's like, gee, thanks, if it was that easy, I guess my depression would be cured.

I know this is not fair, but that is why I tend to dislike most self-help books on principle. They just feel so braggy, like they're dangling happiness just out of your reach. And to be fair, RADICALLY CONTENT is not as irritating as some of the other books of this type I have read. For starts, she opens the book by acknowledging her own privilege (which, you know, falling in love in Paris-- I mean, obvi). And she has some really good advice, like not following people on social media who make you feel bad about yourself and not comparing your success to the perceived successes of others.

RADICALLY CONTENT feels very short and even though I did like most of the advice in here, a lot of it felt obvious. I think if you have a friend who is super interested in self-help, this would be a great book to give them. It's got a great aesthetic and pretty endpapers and the author seems to be coming from a good place. Which makes a world of difference.

3 out of 5 stars