12: Year of Yes
“The Year of Yes promise was a commitment. A binding contract between me and my greatest competitor and judge- me.” - taken from Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Scroll down for @thecultured.life audio reading of this post, also available to download, if you prefer.
When was the last time you read a book that made you laugh uncontrollably? A NON-FICTION book at that?
This book is a part-memoir, part-self-help manifesto. Written in a fun, conversational and extremely relatable voice, reminiscent of the unmistakable wit that runs through some of Rhimes’ TV series (Bridgerton, Scandal, How to get away with murder to name a few). In this very personal book, Rhimes urges readers to “dance it out, stand in the sun and be your own person.”
The story of this book & I begins as a fan of her hit TV series Grey’s Anatomy. I remember staying up late and bingeing freshly downloaded Limewire episodes of the medical drama at university. Name a better way to escape your uni drama.
What originally drew me to this TV series was the refreshing way Rhimes portrayed the often raw and volatile nature of relationships characters had with themselves. I mean, they do say the most intimate relationship you can have in life is with yourself. And she explores this so brilliantly in Year of Yes.
Year of Yes is the result of a transformative experiment Rhimes took on for her introverted self after her sister states “You never say yes to anything.” What follows are vivid and often revelatory recollections of how a year of saying yes to everything, quite literally saved her.
The book is interspersed with text from some of the inspirational speeches she delivers during her year-long yes project. Rhimes is a fantastic orator and it was great going down the rabbit hole of watching these speeches on YouTube alongside my reading of the book.
I admired her for speaking out on her experiences juggling motherhood and her love for work, about her fervent love for reading books and her weight-loss journey “putting food on top of the feelings”, about her experiences as often the only black woman in the room.
Fair to say, I really enjoyed reading Year of Yes. Rhimes is such a talented writer and storyteller. So yes, I’d recommend you all to say YES to reading this book. And YES to bingeing all her TV series.
Purchase Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes here
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