Join me for a discussion about my favorite read of 2018. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
As you all know, I am an avid reader and couldn’t waste another minute without telling you about my favorite read of 2018. I know I promised myself I wasn’t going to dwell on 2018, but I couldn’t go into this New Year without shouting out my obsession with the Hollis family.
Earlier last year, I found myself in the never-ending scroll that is instagram, flipping through slides and slides of amazing photos and quotes. I came across a man who was constantly posting quotes about his wife in the highest regard. I couldn’t get over the way this man was speaking about his wife and the passion that resonated through his stories and posts. I knew I had to do some research to see who this lucky lady was. Sorry Dave Hollis, but my obsession with your wife started in that moment.
I quickly became acquainted with Dave and Rachel Hollis. Rachel is a mom of four with a pretty impression resume. Mom, being number one along with so many other amazing accolades such as author, blogger, motivation speaker and celebrity event planner – just to name a few. I was hooked. I literally spent hours learning everything there is to know about this woman. It sounds creepy, but trust me – it was hardly anything but eye opening.
I quickly read through quote after quote from Rachel on the most amazing motivational words I’ve ever read. I quickly hopped on amazon to order her books. As a book lover and reviewer, I was pumped that I just found my next great read called, Girl, Wash Your Face, and that’s exactly what it was. Honestly, the two-day prime shipping wasn’t good enough. I immediately started listening to the audiobook version. Not sure how many of you are like me, but I find memoirs, biographies, and self help books to be so much more interesting when they are narrated by themselves. After watching a bunch of videos and insta stories of Rachel and Dave, I found myself already knowing the voice that was narrating the book.
Yall, I listened to this book before my physical copy arrived. I found myself sucked into this novel. The even weirder part, was that I found myself taking notes, which I NEVER do while reading. I normally get too sucked up into the story to stop and really comprehend what I actually just read. Does that even make sense (LOL) I found myself taking each of Rachel’s “Lies and Truths” and making them relevant in my life.
Who remembers the last time they really took a step back and eventuated themselves and their everyday actions? This book worked me over. I hadn’t taken time for myself in this way in as long as I could remember. I seriously found myself rereading the notes I took during the audiobook and writing even longer sentences on my past, present, and future. This was the self-care practice I never knew I needed. Evaluating my life couldn’t have come at a better time. It was thanks to Rachel’s motivation that I found myself believing in dreams I never found reachable. I found my relationship with Jeff better than I could ever imagine, and I also found time for my girlfriends, family, and even myself. I immediately purchased the Start Today Journal which is a daily motivation journal designed by Rachel to take time in writing down your daily intentions, what your thankful for, and goals you are excited to work towards and accomplish. This might sound mundane to many, but you have no idea how much I needed this. Being able to take a step back from life to clear your head is the most amazing feeling, ever. I know there are many many people out there with overwhelming responsibilities like being a full time parent, surgeon; you name it, that we find ourselves so wrapped up in our responsibilities that we never even take a moment to breath. Listening to Rachel go on and on about how I deserved these moments not only in her book, but on her podcasts called Rise and Rose Together, was beyond eye opening. Implementing them into my everyday life, was even bolder and life changing.
Some of the quotes that really stuck with me over the past year were things such as “Nobody Gets to tell you how big your dreams are” and “Someone else’s opinion of yourself is none of your business” – I mean COME ON – hellooooo these are the things I desperately needed to hear. Since hearing quotes like those and ones like “Don’t break promises to yourself” I came up with the idea to put my dreams into action. Without Rachel and Dave inspiring me I’m not sure where I would be, let alone sitting here talking to you guys about how amazing this family is. Yall don’t even realize how much you need this, until you actually go and listen yourselves.
Since reading Girl, Wash Your Face, I have continued my journey with the Hollis family though their morning show. Monday – Friday Dave and Rachel put on a morning live stream from their home office. The go over daily ideas thru motivational themes. If Yall have ever listened, you would have their little song stuck in your head like I do daily. SING, “it’s the morning show that no one knows, and no one is talking about” – Yall know exactly what I’m talking about. (LOL) shout out to the amazing lady who actually wrote that jingle. It’s been successfully stuck in my head since they started playing it.
Now that I sound like the fan girl of the year, I want to tell y’all once again that you should seriously go and follow Rachel and Dave Hollis on social media. Go follow them and then head directly to amazon and order yourself a copy of Rachel’s books, especially Girl, Wash Your Face. And if you fall in love with this book as much as I did, you’ll find yourself pre ordering Rachel’s next book Girl, Stop apologizing that comes out later this year. In Girl, Stop Apologizing,” Rachel says, “it’s time to stop apologizing for who you are. It’s time to become who you were made to be” Take a moment and really let that sink in. “It’s time to stop apologizing for who you are. It’s time to become who you were made to be” YALL – HELLOOOOOOO
This book without a doubt not only changed my life, my outlook on many other things, but like I said in the beginning of this episode, actually shaped me into a person I am proud of. Implementing everything Rachel says in this book has made me an overall happier person who spends her days reaching towards her goals and not being the down-depressed human I once was. Thank you Rachel Hollis for helping me work thru issues I didn’t even know I had. Yall, do yourselves a favor and go get this book, NOW.
