Three Things I Learned from Shonda Rhimes' Year of Yes

You all know that I stan for Shonda Rhimes. STAN. Do you hear me? When I heard she was releasing a new book, I clicked the pre-order button so fast I almost smashed my index finger. In Year of Yes, Rhimes reveals what happened when she said yes to everything that scared her. This book was charming, funny, and a real eye-opener for me.

I read this book on the plane to Boston last week and it was simply amazing. I devoured this in one sitting and it was literally everything I needed to read at that moment.

Here are three things I learned from reading Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes:

There are no rules

Stop being who you think society tells you to be. Your happiness is solely up to you and comes from being you actually are. Stop thinking you need to fit a certain mold or follow certain rules. Shonda (Ms.Rhimes, I hope it’s okay that I am calling you by your first name.), tells us to remember one thing: there are no rules. Be you who the hell you want to be.

Don’t be lucky

Stop saying that you’re so lucky when someone praises your work, your smarts or anything else. When you’re successful, that means that you’ve worked hard for what you have achieved. Accept those accolades and say thank you. Bask in what you have worked your ass for.

Shonda tells readers: Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass.

Achieving your dreams doesn’t fix everything

We make these never-ending to-do lists and get caught up in these dreams that we expect these euphoric feelings to last a lifetime once a certain success has been reached. One of my favorite lines in the book was this: “I realized a very simple truth: that success, fame, having all my dreams come true would not fix or improve me, it wasn’t an instant potion for personal growth. Having all my dreams come true only seemed to magnify whatever qualities I already possessed.”

While I only mentioned three things, there are TONS of gems in this book. Listen, if you read no other book to close out 2015; read Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Open up Amazon in a new tab, go the local bookstore, or check this book out at your nearest library. Just do it and come back to tell me what you thought of it.

Go on, I’ll be right here waiting.

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.