I recently finished reading the book You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living An Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. I saw this book all over the internet before I purchased it and thought there might be a reason for the hype. There definitely was. This book taught me so many worthwhile lessons that I never want to forget. Eventually, I will write an article summarizing the entire book and the most important lessons I learned from it. However, right now I want to focus on one of my favorite (and shortest) chapters of the book.
In this chapter, titled "Loosen Your Bone Wilma," Sincero described a day when she was living in India. On this day, she decided to take a bus from Agra to Delhi. When she purchased the bus ticket, she was told that the trip would last five hours. The bus not only ended up leaving an hour late but ended up taking over double the amount of time she was originally told. Sincero described the people on the bus to shockingly not be bothered by the lengthened trip at all. Since this particular bus trip occurred during the peak of wedding season, the bus ran into many wedding parades. Instead of staying on the bus during the traffic, the travelers would get off the bus and join each wedding parade they encountered. Everyone on the bus was strangers, yet they all acted like family. Everyone talked to one another, sang together, rejoiced together; it was unlike anything Sincero had ever seen. She described that even when the bus finally drove out of Agra, the bus driver kept pulling over to let people on and off, have tea, chat, and even light a fire. When she thought her bus was almost to Delhi, a holy man stepped on the bus and invited everyone to go on a tour of many temples. This lasted for hours. Sincero ended up arriving at her destination at 3 a.m.
The author ends this powerful chapter by giving her readers eight tips she learned while living in India.
- Talk to strangers, we're all family on this planet
- Expect, and enjoy, the unexpected
- Find the humor
- Join the party
- Live in the moment
- Time spent enjoying yourself is never time wasted
- Share your space
- Loosen your bone
"Loosen Your Bone Wilma" really resonated with me. As I was reading this chapter, I was traveling on a bus from Boston to New York City. Ironically, after I finished reading this chapter, the tire to my bus popped. A trip to New York that was supposed to last four hours ended up lasting seven. If I had not read this chapter prior to this incident, I would have reacted to the circumstances much differently than I did. Normally I would have been angry, annoyed, and looking to blame someone for the popped tire. Instead, I continued to read my book, talked to my neighbors, and tried to make the best out of the situation.
Most people go through their days with a set list of things to do. They feel if they do not accomplish their goals for the day or if unplanned things arise, their day is a failure. Many people feel they always need to be doing something "productive" to feel as though their day was a success. For example, they can believe spending time with their family and friends is not productive, so they do not do it as much as they should. However, by hanging out with their loved ones they are improving their relationships, and therefore are being extremely productive. We all need to learn to go with the flow more, to love more, to appreciate more, to put happiness as our number one priority, and to appreciate every moment we have on this planet. It is nice to have a plan, but it is also important to not let structure dictate what we do with our lives. The best moments of our lives will be those that are unexpected. We should not shy away from them but enjoy them.
