Mastering Manson's Art of Not Giving a Fuck

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How did we grow up from stubborn “don’t give me your free advice” teenagers to adults obsessed with self-help books?  Today there is a ‘How To’ book on every single crisis of life. Has an idiot boss? Why not get John Hoover’s How To Work For an Idiot? Tired of people not doing things in your favour? Go pick up Susan Weinschenk’s How To Get People To Do Stuff. Are you a total loser when it comes to packing and organizing? Fear not, we have Hitha Palepu’s How To Pack: Travel Smart For Any Trip.

Perhaps the king of all these self-help books is Mark Manson’s book that teaches us how to not give a f*ck. When you hear it like that, you would be thinking, “What? That doesn’t sound very hard”. But think about it, like really, think about it. Isn’t the world full of unnecessary fucks? I mean, who are we kidding? Even when we are at home, blasting Melanie Martinez’s “I don’t give a fuck about you anyways…”, we know that, deep down, much like the song, we give a big fat fuck  for every damn turn of our life.

Mark Manson is an American self-help author and blogger, but of course you would know that from a basic Google search. His The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope, although they sound more contradictory than complimentary, were bestsellers that sold over 13 million copies and have gained immense popularity.

Perhaps the idea that everyone is unique is a myth; still, you can’t deny the fact that we are all pretty much stubborn. Set in our own rigid ways, accepting the advices of others without an ounce of skepticism sounds too good to be true. Then why is it that everyone is talking so many good things about this book? Well, first of all, it’s not a 224 paged bulk of advices; Manson was brilliant enough to drop interesting anecdotes to keep his readers hooked, as well as to keep the skepticism at bay. The book starts with the story of Bukowski, an author who is so popular today that I am pretty sure there is almost a cult growing around him. Now imagine a book starting with a figure like that, stressing not the rebellion in his poetry, but more on his epitaph, “Don’t try”. Now that’s the way to hook someone in a world that is always breathing down your neck, shouting “try…try…try”.

So the great Manson says, “you’re going to die one day. I know that’s kind of obvious, but I just wanted to remind you in case you’d forgotten. You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a fuck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice- well, then you are going to get fucked”. How straightforward! How blunt and beautifully simplistic! And your guess is right, giving a fuck basically just means getting overly attached, dedicated, or getting serious about a particular thing, person, or emotion. Because guess what? In the bigger picture, they might not all be as important as they appear to be.

Now why would I suggest you this book? In a world where positivity is the new thing, where you are supposed to wake up smiling, stand in front of a mirror and affirm “you are beautiful” over and over, Manson’s work is more realistic, believable, and consequently easier to accept. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a certified ‘How to Live Your Life 101’ course or anything, but it urges you to accept who you are (not special), work on yourself (of course, because you are not special, duh) and to not get shattered if you turn out to be a loser (or in other words, don’t think too highly of yourself). But these are things we already know, isn’t it? Only one way to find out, do pick up the book if you are wondering which self-help book is going to change your life. No…no…of course, it’s not going to change anyone’s life, but a spoonful of wisdom doesn’t sound very bad either, right?

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