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A review by mdgoodrich
I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working by Shauna Niequist
3.0
I like the mantra “I guess I haven’t learned that yet” and the grace it gives to ourselves when we don’t quite get something perfect the first time (enneagram 1 here who needs that reminder!).
I’ve been coming to terms the past several years that there is no right formula for life to be amazing. Life and relationships can’t be held together if you just do everything right from here on out. It will always have ups and downs… Shauna writes, “most of life is before and after and back to middle…worse than before and tiptoe to middle…and then amazing and then another crash.” Yup. I needed that affirmation - it’s probably my biggest takeaway from the book. Change is good and inevitable and we have to make space for it instead of holding on so tightly.
About halfway through the book though it began to feel a bit redundant - like we just kept rehashing the same sentiments over and over. And there were moments where details of ‘where’ or ‘who’ felt a bit like bragging and it rubbed me the wrong way.
Overall, there were a handful of encouraging parts and takeaways, but it wasn’t life changing. There wasn’t a lot of vulnerability from the author, which was disappointing, mostly a lot of vague references to situations in her life. I don’t see myself picking this one back up to revisit, but I’m not upset I read it.
I’ve been coming to terms the past several years that there is no right formula for life to be amazing. Life and relationships can’t be held together if you just do everything right from here on out. It will always have ups and downs… Shauna writes, “most of life is before and after and back to middle…worse than before and tiptoe to middle…and then amazing and then another crash.” Yup. I needed that affirmation - it’s probably my biggest takeaway from the book. Change is good and inevitable and we have to make space for it instead of holding on so tightly.
About halfway through the book though it began to feel a bit redundant - like we just kept rehashing the same sentiments over and over. And there were moments where details of ‘where’ or ‘who’ felt a bit like bragging and it rubbed me the wrong way.
Overall, there were a handful of encouraging parts and takeaways, but it wasn’t life changing. There wasn’t a lot of vulnerability from the author, which was disappointing, mostly a lot of vague references to situations in her life. I don’t see myself picking this one back up to revisit, but I’m not upset I read it.