Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
An Audible Exclusive Edition
Written and Narrated By: Rachel Hollis
Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
1/3 inspirational, 1/3 exasperating, and 1/3 “Wanna-throttle-her”
I really, really, REALLY wanted to love Girl, Stop Apologizing! After all, I’d been eyeing Rachel’s last book, Girl, Wash Your Face, for such a loooong time, but some of the reviews halted my purchase, saying it would be a better listen if you had kids and were struggling. But apologizing? How many times have I told the dude at the coffee shop, “Oh, I’m so sorry. But I said I wanted a Mocha, not a Latte.”? I quake, I quiver, I apologize my brains out through the span of a single day.
So I snapped up this audiobook thinking I would discover the courage to be myself, unapologetic and proud.
Uhm, well, maybe sorta…
In Girl, Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis mostly focuses on having a dream, a big dream, a dream so profound that it’ll change the entire course of your life. Like, say, running a multi-million dollar business devoted to spreading her message. Yes, HER message. This audiobook is mostly about her, Rachel, and how she’s STILL wanting to grow her business bigger. That she did it? Yes, she did, and huzzah for her (by the way, she says “huzzah” a few times, and I wanted to sue her for the use of such a fine word).
But she also has a husband. And really! Dude, she has four children. Who she is totally not there for.
Don’t get me wrong: I don’t go in for the Mommy Guilt thing. If a woman has kids but wants or needs a job and devotes time to it? Bully for her; you go, girl! Do what you want to do. But be there for your kids cuz they sure didn’t have a say as to whether you spit them out or not. That was YOUR choice. They shouldn’t have to raise themselves. Hollis argues, though, that her not being there for her children is really showing them how to go after your dreams. Uhm, yeah. The dreams that say: Gee, I wish I didn’t have all these kids.
To be sure, this review is being written after I’d just finished listening to Rabbit by Patricia Williams, a woman who had two children by the time she was fifteen and who turned to dealing crack to keep them out of roach-infested apartments with no hot water. So I’m looking at Hollis with the total squid’s eye now. Going after dreams? Well, it sure is easier if you have a full-time nanny and a full-time housekeeper. Talk about a difference between lives!
You'll find plenty on living your dreams, yes, and there were a few lines that had me honestly inspired. But for the most part, if I had to listen to her say, “Me, me, me!” and “You heard me right. A mogul! I want to be a media mogul!” any more, I’d have to start stalking the woman with a crowbar.
As it is, the answer for me is simple. I just gotta not dwell on this audiobook and return it with my thanks to Audible. I’m glad I listened to it because now I don’t feel like I’m missing anything about the whole Rachel Hollis cult.
And by the way, the last section is of her live onstage at one of her conferences. You’ll hear exactly what you heard in the book (with a bit of frenetic dancing), only you’ll hear it at a manic warp speed. The woman is a menace…
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