Review: Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Title: Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
Author: Shonda Rhimes
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publish Date: November 10, 2015
Source: Library

 What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her."

My Two Cents:

"The Year of Yes" is a memoir by Shonda Rimes, one of the most popular television series creators out there. I have loved so many of her shows like Scandal and Grey's Anatomy but what I didn't know about Shonda Rimes is that she is a major introvert and has always been afraid to say yes to things that might put her out of her comfort zone. This book is about the year that she decided to put all of that aside and say yes to everything, even the things she was incredibly afraid of.

In my own life I know that I say yes to too many things but I also know that I try to avoid the things that are going to make me feel like I'm putting myself too out there. I think it's a feeling that a lot of people can find understanding with. This book recounts how Shonda Rimes was able to turn things around by saying yes to more even if it meant stepping out of her comfort zone. She finds out that by being afraid, she was holding herself back. It's not rocket science but I think it is incredibly helpful to see how others have changed their lives to give you the power to want to change your own. It's a great lesson for us all!

I really like the way that this book was written. Rimes speaks to readers as friends and confidantes and really makes you feel like she's letting you in on a secret. I can only hope that I am able to heed some of her advice!