Let Them

There is never enough time to read every book we wish. 

Choosing books is easy and it is hard. It is easy because we're literally swamped with book choice, as much as light and air. And it is hard because we have limited time and energy. We will never get far enough ahead to be able to finish all books. 

To get around the never-ending choices, I make a wish to come across ten good books each year. And at least one life-changing book every few years. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins turns out to be one of mine this year. The key lesson from this book, which I had waited for few months until my turn to borrow near the end of the year, is the mindset of freeing ourselves from the burden of obsessing over what other people think, say, or do. 

Instead of reacting to other people's behaviour, we are taught to Let Them. It's not what happens to you, according to Greek philosopher Epictetus, but how you react to it that matters. To reset our stress response, in other words, we say Let Them, and put ourselves in pause. Then say Let Me and take a breath. The focus is to own our reactions, take our power back, and not to allow other people's behaviour to bother us. 

There's so much we can control: our values, our attitude, our desires, our personal responsibility, and our choice of books, of course.