JONI MAC
  • Home
  • My Beautiful Mistake
  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Work in progress
  • About
SIGN UP FOR MY BLOG
http://www.jonimacfarlane.com/blog

Notes on a Nervous Planet: Truisms for our times

10/11/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re all doing really well.
One of the best things about getting older, I find, is that I worry less. About everything. When we are younger we worry about what people think of us, what we look like, if we’ll make enough money, if we’ll be loved, if the planet will survive. And of course, we worry about getting older.

It’s not that I don’t care about these things anymore - I hate the ever-expanding lines on my face, and the corresponding extra pounds around my middle. But I no longer worry about them quite so much. It’s also not to say that I don’t feel overloaded sometimes. I wish I had more time and I know I waste too much of it checking my Twitter feed.

So as much as I sympathize with the author’s heightened state of anxiety, it just didn’t resonate with me.
Notes on a Nervous Planet is best-selling author Matt Haig’s guide to coping in the modern world. It’s a unique collection of his observations and personal stories that critique our worries – about everything – and how they damage our ability to live a better life.

Published in 2018, nothing new is offered up here and in fact, Haig admits that in no time at all, technology itself will render much of what he says outdated. By now, most of us are well aware of social media’s soul-sucking black hole. We know we spend too much time on it, too much time absorbing bad news, and the mounting toll it takes on our mental health.

But Haig, who struggles with depression and other mental health issues, still offers us pithy sound bites and wry observations. Such as:
“Everything we need is here, if we give up thinking we need everything.”
“Maybe the point of life is to give up certainty and to embrace life’s beautiful uncertainty.”
“The problem isn’t that we have a shortage of time, it’s that we have too much of everything else.”
“The modern world can be isolating. We’ve never been so connected but so alone. So, cut out the stuff that makes you feel bad, accentuate the stuff that makes you feel good, and let people truly connect.”

His message of acceptance – about aging, our bodies, our looks – is never outdated and his wisdom to think about how we can live in the present is told with compassion and wit.

If you worry, if you feel the internet and social media feed your anxiety, reading this will reinforce your intuition to put your phone down, or better yet, leave it in another room. It just might also be good for your mental health.

I wish we didn’t need to still say this, but… stay safe my friends. Mask up, and for God’s sake, get vaccinated. Twice.

​In the meantime, happy reading.
Joni

    Welcome to One for the Books! Sign up to receive it straight to your inbox. Happy reading, Joni

Submit
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from bungee-ride
  • Home
  • My Beautiful Mistake
  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Work in progress
  • About