I absolutely loved Shonda Rhime’s Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person (Amazon).
It’s a book about being a strong woman, and making your own choices. About being open to life. About being who you want to be, and living the life you want rather than what you are “supposed” to be doing. About doing things that scare you. It’s about how you can be successful on paper, in theory, and still feel dead inside. It’s about who you say yes to… and saying yes to saying no. There’s a chapter on taking complements that I think should be required reading for every woman.
This book connected with me on a deep, emotional, level, because I feel like it captured and articulated some hard won lessons over the last few years. It also challenged me to think about things I haven’t been saying yes to, that I maybe should.
One thing I appreciated, was how various talks she gave, and her feelings about giving them, were woven into the story. Part of saying yes involved saying yes to raising her public profile. Giving a commencement speech, being on Jimmy Kimmel, being on Oprah. The book charts the way her life changed, and public speaking was a big part of that. She also shares the full transcripts of each of her talks, which is nice.
I loved this book so much I already bought a copy for a friend, and no doubt I will buy more copies for other friends over the next few months. I really, really recommend reading it.