Self-proclaimed anti-guru, Sarah Knight’s new book, Calm the F*ck Down is a no-nonsense guide to dealing with life’s problems. Never claims to be an expert on anything, she admits to having anxiety, to taking pharmaceuticals to deal with her anxiety, and to believing that the solution she found to help herself will help you deal with yours (whether it be little a anxiety or capital A ANXIETY).
As a mom of three teens who works a full-time job, and aspires to be a full-time writer, I found this book applicable to my life. If you are like me, there are some days that you literally mutter, “What the actual FUCK???” like a broken record all day. Not every day, but you feel me? If so, this is probably a good book for you. If you are someone who is totally turned off by the F-bomb, this is definitely NOT a good book for you.
“This entire book is about finding a way. It’s about calming down, making decisions, taking action, and solving problems- or at least not making them worse with freaking out and inaction.”
She has written several books before this including The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, Get Your Sh*t Together, and You Do You. She refers to these in the book, but especially Get Your Sh*t Together. There are many ideas that were born in that book that she expands upon in this one. I liked this one so much I added that one to my TBR.
The book is divided into three main sections. She goes through them methodically and concisely but with humor and a personal touch.
The fourth section is a “Choose Your Own Adventure” style of real-life exercises designed to help you apply what you’ve learned up to that point in the book. The scenarios cover the full gamut of simple annoyances to truly tragic and horrible personal events, but all of which can cause a meltdown if not dealt with properly. Since I listened to the audiobook the first time through, I didn’t get to experience this section. Even before I got to this section, I knew I was going to get the book and read it, and I loved going through this section my second time through the book.
Reading Calm the F*ck Down was even better than listening to it. Sarah Knight narrates the audiobook and she’s funny and real and I totally enjoyed it. But I loved the formatting of the book. The funny drawings and flowcharts were visually appealing, and I loved that the main ideas were in ALL CAPS and bold just to make sure I got them.
The Pros: It’s relatively short, funny, very relatable, and easy to remember and apply immediately.
The Con: Throughout the book, Sarah rails against our current president and shares many of her personal political opinions. Why the soapbox? No idea. I found it annoying and unnecessary and that’s why I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads instead of 5.
