Present Over Perfect
Book review day!
Y'all. This. You're gunna need this. Shauna pushes against the hustle of life, presses into our Busy and says you can decide how you want to live. And your pace might be slowly chipping away at your soul. Women, men, single, married. Whatever. Pick it up.
Here's some thoughts from one of my favorite chapters "On Stillness" :
“If you believe people can’t change, I’m here to tell you we can. If you think you could never turn down the volume or lay down your armor or climb into the silence, I’m here to tell you that if I can, you can. If I can, anyone can. I’m a hardened case, a tough nut to crack, a lifelong connoisseur of noise and motion and excessiveness of any kind. If I can climb into silence and simplicity, anyone on earth can join me there, I promise.
Sometimes I read books about the contemplative life. But it seems to me there always written by, you know, contemplative people, people who love to be alone, whose lives have always been calibrated by silence and simplicity. I’m not sure that helps me.
So here I am: a girl who loves the days that scream along from start to finish, that start with loads of expresso and switch quickly to wine with lunch, and I’m telling you that the silence is becoming my new home, that the tenderness of life unarmed is welcoming me into the sweetest season of life I’ve ever known. ”
Good, right? And don't worry - she walks through the upending of her life and gives great thoughts on how to actually start over, if you're reading, and you're curious. Or you're there.
What a privilege to have gotten to hear her speak on this book, to have it signed and to briefly meet her at She Speaks this year. May you continue to be present, Shauna.
