PRAISE FOR
Girl, Wash Your Face
If Rachel Hollis tells you to wash your face, turn on that water! She is the mentor every woman needs, from new mommas to seasoned business women.
ANNA TODD, New York Times and #1 internationally
bestselling author of the After series
Rachels voice is the winning combination of an inspiring life coach and your very best (and funniest) friend. Shockingly honest and hilariously down to earth, Girl, Wash Your Face is a gift to women who want to flourish and live a courageously authentic life.
MEGAN TAMTE, founder and co-CEO of Evereve
There arent enough women in leadership telling other women to GO FOR IT. We typically get the caregiver; we rarely get the boot camp instructor. Rachel lovingly but firmly tells us it is time to stop letting the tail wag the dog and get on with living our wild and precious lives. Girl, Wash Your Face is a dose of high-octane straight talk that will spit you out on the other end chasing down dreams you hung up long ago. Love this girl.
JEN HATMAKER, New York Times bestselling
author of For the Love and Of Mess and Moxie and
happy online hostess to millions every week
In Rachel Holliss first nonfiction book, you will find she is less cheerleader and more life coach. This means readers wont just walk away inspired, they will walk away with the right tools in hand to actually do their dreams. Dream doing is what Rachel is all about it. You will be, too, when you read her newest book.
JESSICA HONEGGER, founder and
co-CEO of the Noonday Collection
Rachel has one of those rare abilities to make you laugh out loud and also completely rethink your entire life all in one paragraph. Her words and this book are a gift and we know theyll encourage and challenge you deeply.
JEFFERSON AND ALYSSA BETHKE, New York Times
bestselling authors of Jesus>Religion and Love That Lasts
2018 by Rachel Hollis
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIVand New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked WEB are taken from the World English Bible. Public domain.
Epub Edition December 2017 ISBN 9781400201662
ISBN 978-1-4002-01662 (eBook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-4002-01655
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949726
Printed in the United States of America
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For Jen, who has shaken my worldview off
its axis three times: once with Interrupted,
once with a trip to Ethiopia, and lastly by
teaching us all that a real leader speaks
the truth, even to her own detriment.
CONTENTS
Guide
This is the big opening letter to my book, the part where I tell you all the things Im hoping for as you read it. This is the moment where I outline my intentions andif youre already game to read onthis is where I fire you up more about what to anticipate. This is also the important letter for someone standing in the bookstore right now trying to decide if she should buy this book or, like, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Upand the words shes reading now will decide for her. I mean, that feels like a lot of pressure for one little letter, but here we go.
This book is about a bunch of hurtful lies and one important truth.
The truth? You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for who you become and how happy you are. Thats the takeaway.
Dont get me wrong. Im going to tell a hundred stories that are funny or weird or embarrassing or sad or crazy, but each of them is reaching for this same pithy, Pinterest-worthy truth: your life is up to you.
But that truth will never be believable if you dont first understand the lies that get in the way of it. Understanding that you choose your own happiness, that you have control of your own life, is so important. Its one of those things we grasp with both hands and put up on the bulletin board as a reminder... but its not the only thing you need to understand.
You also need to identifyand systematically destroyevery lie youve told yourself your whole life.
Why?
Because its impossible to go somewhere new, to become something new, without first acknowledging where you are. The self-awareness that comes from truly digging into what youve come to believe about who you are is invaluable.
Have you ever believed that you arent good enough? That youre not thin enough? That youre unlovable? That youre a bad mom? Have you ever believed that you deserve to be treated badly? That youll never amount to anything?
All lies.
All lies perpetuated by society, the media, our family of origin, or franklyand this is my Pentecostal showingby the Devil himself. These lies are dangerous and devastating to our sense of worth and our ability to function. The most sinister thing about them is that we rarely hear them at all. We rarely hear the lies weve created about ourselves because theyve been playing so loudly in our ears for so long that theyve become white noise. The hateful narrative bombards us every day, yet we dont even realize its there. Recognizing the lies weve come to accept about ourselves is the key to growing into a better version of ourselves. If we can identify the core of our struggles while simultaneously understanding that we are truly in control of conquering them, then we can utterly change our trajectory.
Thats why I do what I do. Thats why I run a website and talk about how to make a centerpiece, or parent with kindness, or strengthen a marriage. Its why I researched thirty different ways to clean out your front-load washer before I taught my tribe how to do it. Its why I know the perfect ratio of balsamic and citrus to make your pot roast taste amazing. Sure, I cover a whole host of topics using my online platform, but ultimately they boil down to one thing: these are the elements of my life, and I want to do them well. The posts demonstrate how I am growing and learning, and I want them to grow and encourage other women too. I suppose if Id been into homeschooling or knitting or photography or macram, I would have used those things to try and better myself and boost up my friends. But Im not into those things. Im into lifestyle stuff, so I focus on creating content that falls under the banner of lifestyle media.