1-Sentence-Summary: Girl, Wash Your Face inspires women to take their lives into their own hands and make their dreams happen, no matter how discouraged they may feel at the moment.
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Have you ever dated someone who wasn’t good for you because you worried you couldn’t find someone better? Or have you settled for a job that’s just okay because you thought your dream job was out of reach?
Well, actually, you do have the ability to change your life into the life you’ve always wanted. The sooner you break out of the cycle of negativity, the sooner you’ll become the version of yourself you truly want to be. Deep down, most of us realize the power to change our lives lies within us, but what we need is some inspiration.
Rachel Hollis’s book, Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be supplies just that inspiration. Hollis is a devout Christian, mother of four, and motivational leader to women everywhere. She wants to help you learn that only you control your own life and happiness. She shares advice on how to push past all of the excuses and start being happier, more productive, and more ambitious.
Here are just 3 of the many inspiring lessons Hollis teaches:
- Build the habit of keeping your promises to yourself because breaking them pulls you down.
- Rather than fighting the river of chaotic home life, learn to embrace it.
- Visualize your dreams and focus on them in detail to stay motivated to make them happen.
Are you ready for these lessons to inspire you to get off your butt and make your goals happen? Let’s get started!
Lesson 1: Breaking promises to yourself damages your self-esteem, so practice keeping them.
Imagine you have a friend named Sarah. Every time you have plans to do something with Sarah, she cancels on you last second. And instead of having understandable reasons as to why she cancels, she has poor excuses like she had to watch another episode of a Netflix show. She says she’s going to start budgeting and saving her money, but the next day you watch her pay $200 on a new pair of shoes she doesn’t need.
You’re probably thinking, “And why am I friends with Sarah?” Sure, this friendship probably wouldn’t last long. But what Hollis is trying to point out is that we are treating ourselves in this exact same way when we break promises to ourselves. It might not seem like a big deal to go ahead and eat a pastry even though we said we’d quit sugar.
But it is a big deal because you are letting yourself down every time you don’t follow through with a promise to yourself.
Hollis encourages you to try to make a habit of keeping promises to yourself. In order to make this doable, keep it realistic. If you want to run a marathon, start out smaller and increase your distance every few weeks until you can build the endurance you need. The important thing is to make sure that your goals are realistic enough that you can follow through every time. If you keep it up, eventually, you will re-train your mind to keep promises. You’ll accomplish much more and be able to set higher expectations as you learn.
Lesson 2: Embrace the chaos of home and family life.
Mothers today think that chaos is a sign of their failure. But in reality, whether you’re a mom with a job or even just a stay-at-home parent, chaos is just part of the job. Many of us feel despair when things go wrong.
Hollis teaches while you can’t control everything, the one thing you can control is yourself. So you may as well embrace the chaos. Instead of swimming against the current, go with it.
Her first tip for how to do this is to learn to laugh at the chaos. When life throws you curveballs, because it will, the best way to get through it with sanity is to not take things too seriously. Laughter is actually a great form of stress relief, and good for your health too. Hollis explains the more ridiculous the situation is the more you will be able to laugh about it later.
Her second tip is to learn to accept help. She tells the story of a guy who was drowning. Three people come to offer a raft, but each time he says, “No thanks, God will save me.” He dies, and when he gets to heaven God says, “What were you doing? I sent you three life rafts!” In the same say, Hollis says God sends you life rafts in life. Some are big and some are small but say yes to them all because none of us can to it all alone.
Lesson 3: For consistent motivation to reach your dreams, constantly visualize how it will feel to achieve them.
If you want to achieve something, visualizing it is a great way to stay on track.
When Hollis first started in the business world, she longed to own a specific Louis Vuitton purse. It cost over a thousand dollars, and at the time there was no way she could afford it. But to her, it represented where she wanted to be— successful and glamorous. So she promised herself she would buy it as soon as she earned $10,000 from consulting a client.
It took years to work up to such a big consulting fee, but the day she earned a $10,000 check, she went to the store and bought the purse she had visualized for so long.
By visualizing it, it kept her dream achievable. If she had just visualized something like being rich, she probably would’ve just gotten overwhelmed and given up. But when it was a specific goal, it helped to drive her to meet the goal.
Next time you set a goal, try to make it a realistic and tangible as you can. Write it down and make sure to include lots of detail. Visualize your goal often and think about how it will feel to get there. When things get hard, just focus on it, and it will keep you going.
Girl, Wash Your Face Review
Wow, Girl, Wash Your Face is amazing! This book has me pumped up to go make my dreams happen, and I know it will do the same for you!
Who would I recommend the Girl, Wash Your Face summary to?
The 33-year-old mother of three who feels overwhelmed and dissatisfied with her life, the 46-year-old female CEO who feels down about a lifetime of regrets, and anyone who wants inspiration to chase their dreams.
Last Updated on December 12, 2022
