Girl, Stop Apologizing: Excuse 5 Part 1

A Chapter by Chapter Review of Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

The subtitle of Girl, Stop Apologizing is “A Shame-Free Plan For Embracing and Achieving Your Goals,” so I approached the book as encouragement for entrepreneurs. It is for women who want to start businesses and make money. The fifth excuse Hollis tackles is the one used by women who haven’t become entrepreneurs because “they can’t pursue their dream and still be a good mom/daughter/employee.”

Hollis admits that she believed this excuse for years. “Do you know how long I beat myself up because I liked to work when all the other moms I knew wanted to stay at home?” (41) I haven’t used this excuse, nor did I know this was an excuse for not pursuing your dreams! I can’t relate. So I’m inserting this quote to explain the position further.

“After all, their happiness matters more than yours does, right? They matter more than you do. The only way to be a good mother, daughter, sister, friend, or whatever is to show up for the other parties exactly how they want you to, when they want you to, right?” (42)

This chapter was so heavy I had to split it up into THREE parts. In this first part, I talk about the good and bad of the section. The next article covers the ugly part, and the last article discusses some writing issues and the notorious mommy guilt.

The Good

“It’s possible to decide that you’re going to be centered in who you are and what matters most to you and let other people’s opinions fall away.” (51)

“The fact that you’re experiencing any guilt right now tells me that you care about your children, and you’re trying.” (50)

The Bad — Balanced Life vs. Centered Life

This section is about Hollis’s view on work-life balance and the philosophy that she uses instead. That philosophy is what I’m going to refer to as a centered life. Hollis doesn’t use the typical definition of work-life balance…