In case you’ve been living under a rock or don’t have social media, a best seller came out this year by Rachel Hollis entitled Girl, Wash Your Face. I haven’t read the book, but I have read like a zillllion quote memes from it and a few articles saying why it’s bad, so I feel like I’ve read it.
But I haven’t. So let me be clear about that. Let me also be clear about why I haven’t read it: because everyone else has. Perhaps that’s a terrible character flaw, but I get real skeptical when everyone gets excited about something, especially when that thing becomes the hot new inspo for internet memes and literally ALL the friends in your FB feed who run an MLM business quote it like the Bible (I also run an MLM business with Monat, so I can totally say that. I am in it and I am still skeptical.)
This is the kind of quote, taken from Rachel Hollis’ Instagram, that gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Yeah, no. NOPE. I really don’t. I do not actually believe that I get to decide that. Hollis’ book was published by Thomas Nelson and I think it’s supposed to be sorta-kinda-Christian, but this kind of “You’re the master of your own destiny” stuff put forth by Rachel Hollis in her book and in her talks and on her social media accounts rubs me the wrong way. Because if I’m a Christian, I’ve accepted that I’m not the Master of my own destiny, and that my dreams (OH, the MEMES ABOUT DREAMS on Hollis’ insta!! Oy.) are secondary to God’s plans for my life.
So there’s that. But there’s also that…sometimes, life sucks, and bad things happen to good people, even if they love Jesus, and even if they are doing the right things. YES, you can absolutely choose joy even in hard circumstances, and the Bible even commands this. I think some of the Rachel Hollis quotes like the one I posted above are even sort of meant to convey this. But I also think they miss the mark.
Sometimes, life happens TO you, and washing your face isn’t going to change that.
Through blogging, I’ve made friends with lots of wonderful wordsmiths over the years, and so when I opened my Facebook feed this morning and saw a big old photo of and post by fellow blogger Meredith Ethington, of Perfection Pending, I immediately read it. I could tell it was a long post and when Meredith has something to say of this length, it’s always worth reading. But…she had me hooked at the first line.
I’m going to write a book called: Girl, Don’t Shower For Days. Life sucks sometimes. We get you.
YASSS. As I read on, Meredith put words to what I had been feeling about the whole “Girl, Wash Your Face” craze. Here’s the photo she used, with her words in their entirety.
“I’m going to write a book called: Girl, Don’t Shower For Days. Life sucks sometimes. We get you.
Your kid threw up all night or you just lost your job.
You’re getting a divorce after investing in a 15 year relationship or you don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills this week. Maybe the toddler is just toddlering and making life hell or maybe IVF didn’t work again.
Life sucks sometimes and it’s OK not to feel positive about it. It’s OK not to be able to pick yourself up right away and it’s OK to sit in grief or pain as long as you need to.
It’s ok to read positive quotes and not feel an ounce of positivity.
Life isn’t always about being positive and life will be peachy. Sometimes life doesn’t fix itself. Sometimes life means you can’t wash your face or your lady bits for days.
Sometimes we have to do the hard work and it gets better and sometimes we work so hard and feel like we are just stuck spinning our wheels.
I think – as cliche as it sounds that’s what makes life worth living. Life isn’t summarized with a positive quote or pick yourself up by the bootstraps mentality all the time.
