📕Weekly Gem - Getting Untamed
Happy Friday!
Today I want to share a book that taught me how to free myself and honor my wants.
I came across Glennon Doyle’s Untamed through my spiritual teacher. I first checked out the sample chapter on Kindle and was confused by the setup. Unlike other memoirs, each chapter is crisp. As a writer who loves concise writing, I was intrigued by the literary style and ordered a hard copy right away. Then, I spent a week dwelling on the stories and journaling on the margins. The entire process was so meditative that I eventually decided to share my takeaway with you.
Core Elements
After a high-level overview of the core elements of Getting Untamed, I want to invite you to write down your answer to the following two questions:
What do you really want in life?
Why do you want what you want?
Now, let’s explore the story arch together 🥰
Getting Untamed
caged
Glennon began by sharing how she was caged by her marriage. She learned to become a good wife and mother, yet her ex-husband’s infidelity reminded her that simply being a good mother was not enough.
Growing up, Glennon was tamed by shame and religion. She was taught to play safe, ask for permissions, and fit in the rules of society (btw, most rules have exceptions). Even when she felt uncomfortable, she would tell herself to stay quiet because “we’ll soon forget that we are caged.”
As a result, she betrayed herself and forgot to ask herself, “What do I really want?”
She had oppressed her feelings until she met Abby. That was her first taste of freedom, and that taste was contagious. She knew that she wanted more.
Here’s a quote that resonates with me:
“We forgot how to know when we learned how to please. When we finally learn that it is impossible to please the world, we can become free to please ourselves.”
keys
Being human is about feeling everything. If you are thinking about the next steps of life, ask yourself:
“What kind of life might I have created if I’d been braver?”
Creating a new way of living is hard. It requires you to let go of the old part of you that no longer serves your dream. While creation can be hard and scary, it is actually much safer than sticking to the ever-repeating known.
This type of destruction is essential to construction.
During my monthly review, I will examine my ten pillars of life and look for areas that are merely good, not great. Then, I’ll ask myself,
“How can I destruct and build a truer, more beautiful version of that area of life?”
free
For the longest time, I thought my rebellion against the status quo is freedom. Instead of staying in Taipei, I protested for two years to come to the States. Instead of being satisfied with my great day job, I challenged myself to build a brand that speaks to my heart.
However, I didn’t see the fact that my rebellion is just as limiting as obedience.
“They both mean living in reaction to someone else’s way instead of forging your own. Freedom is not being for or against an ideal, but creating your own existence from scratch.”
To be truly free, we need to turn inwards, feel for ourselves, and speak it out loud.
“When we let ourselves feel, our inner self transforms. When we are acted upon our Knowing, our outer world transforms.”
Weekly Gem
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Before starting her own startup business consulting firm, Julia was Chief of Staff at Alibaba and the Excel Brain behind Disney+.
Join us on Facebook Live and share this awesome event with your friend! If you have any questions for Julia, please send a message to LivingOS FB Page!
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The sharing is super helpful. Cannot wait to read this book. Especially, the qutoe, "While creation can be hard and scary, it is actually much safer than sticking to the ever-repeating known", is valuable.