Monday, November 30, 2015

Book Review and GIVEAWAY: I'm Happy For You (Sort of ... Not Really), by Kay Wills Wyma {ends 12/7}


*Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

I was interested in reading this book because of the culture we live in today - the Facebook culture, I'll call it, or "a culture of comparison," as the author calls it. When our parents were growing up, they didn't have "access" to everyone's pictures, videos, etc. to compare themselves to; our generation, however, is very different, and both comparison and FOMO (fear of missing out) is a very real thing.

Official synopsis:
Is comparison living hijacking your life?

Do you find yourself measuring your value against your friend’s house, body, marriage, resume, paycheck, organic garden, or Pinterest-worthy holiday décor, and coming up lacking? Do your college roommate’s Instagram snapshots bear little resemblance to the scene at your house this morning?

Excessive comparison and competition sap our energy and steal our joy. Our friends become our audience and judges, and our kids become part of our brand. Add social media’s constant invitation to post and peruse, and it’s no wonder that we’re left exhausted, discontent, and lonely. Thankfully, there is another way!

With refreshing candor and humor, Kay Wyma shares her experiences with comparison living and offers readers the simple remedies that helped her and her family reboot their perspective and discover freedom, authenticity, and joy.


I'm usually not a huge nonfiction reader - I sometimes tend to get bored while reading it, though memoirs are usually the exception. With this book, I was very interested in the personal snippets that she shared, whether they were conversations with her kids, or other adults, but a little bored during the "advice" parts (either long paragraphs of text talking about comparison living, or anything that wasn't anecdotes).

The author mentions something called "the Glimpse" that I found very interesting, though. I've definitely been guilty of scrolling through Facebook late at night and comparing myself - "Ah, they bought a house, good for them ... wish I had a house" (I live in an apt.) or "Oh, she lost so much weight, I should do that" or even "They went on an international vacation recently? I wish I could do that." However, something about social media that we always have to remember is that we curate our own pages - so our "perfect lives" aren't usually perfect, they are just "the Glimpse" that we give others in to our lives. 

Example: you might see a check-in from me at a popular restaurant, complete with a drool-worthy Instagram photo ... but what you won't see from me is that I'm worried about my budget this month and going over it. I try to post mostly positive posts on Twitter and Facebook, so you might see a meme or something funny from me and laugh, not knowing that I was having a tough week that week and looking for some "likes" to make me smile ... etcetera.

I'd recommend this book for people that like nonfiction more than I do, and also who are frequent users of social media like myself. Sometimes we forget that what we see is just "the Glimpse" and not always "real life," and this book is good at reminding ourselves of that. 

3 stars out of 5.
{Click here to purchase}

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a paperback copy of this book!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Monday, December 7th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified the next day via email, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

U.S. and Canadian residents only, please.

Good luck!

I'm Happy For You

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