THE GIFTS OF IMPERFECTION
BY BRENÉ BROWN
Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
Contents
What’s it about?
Each of us is worthy of love and belonging just as we are
There are three main components to a happy life
Stillness and calm help us fight anxiety
Authenticity is key to worthiness and belonging
Gratitude and faith can banish fear
A mindset that compares is a mindset that conforms
Eight important components of a resilient person’s life
Final summary
Now read the book
Key takeaways
What’s it about?
Who are we supposed to be? Every day we’re bombarded with advertisements, peer pressure, and the judgments of complete strangers, each telling us how to be better, why we’re inadequate and, most of all, what kind of person to be. We’re loaded down with aspirational messages claiming that if we just use a certain product, eat a certain food, or dress a certain way, we’ll finally be happy and worthy of love. It’s a dangerous, painful message, and for most of us it’s impossible to escape.
We’re led to believe that perfection is achieved only when we live a certain kind of life, so if we don’t match up we feel imperfect and unworthy. But it doesn’t have to be like this. We don’t need to conform to become who we’re supposed to be. In fact, who we’re meant to be is already inside us, and finding happiness in life is a matter of shedding the influences that weigh us down, and living our lives embracing our selves exactly as we’re meant to be.
To live a life like this, we need to reject the media’s aspirational messages of perfection and learn to embrace the unique imperfections that make us who we are—and in The Gifts of Imperfection you’ll find out how to do just that. You’ll learn to make conscious choices that increase your happiness in each day of your life and, most important of all, you’ll see that you’re already worthy of love and happiness just as you are.