About
Rachel Hollis’s personal development book Girl, Wash Your Face discusses how to break free from the lies that tell us we don’t deserve the life we want.
Hollis combines her Christian upbringing with her less traditional spiritual values in Girl, Wash Your Face to explain why we deserve to be happy. Furthermore, she encourages us to recognize that we are solely responsible for our own happiness; no one else is to blame if we are unhappy with where we are in life. Accepting that we have the ability to direct our own lives, according to Hollis, is the first step toward self-actualization.
Notable quotes
- “You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for who you become and how happy you are.”
- “Comparison is the death of joy, and the only person you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday.”
- “know this one great truth: you are in control of your own life.”
- “You get one and only one chance to live, and life is passing you by. Stop beating yourself up, and dang it, stop letting others do it too. Stop accepting less than you deserve. Stop buying things you can’t afford to impress people you don’t even really like. Stop eating your feelings instead of working through them. Stop buying your kids’ love with food, toys, or friendship because it’s easier than parenting. Stop abusing your body and your mind. Stop! Just get off the never-ending track.”
- “Someone else’s opinion of you is none of your business.” Let me say that again for the people in the cheap seats.”
- “When you really want something, you will find a way. When you don’t really want something, you’ll find an excuse.”
- “Our words have power, but our actions shape our lives.”
- “Friends, it’s not about the goal or the dream you have. It’s about who you become on your way to that goal.”
- “Your dream is worth fighting for, and while you’re not in control of what life throws at you, you are in control of the fight.”
- “God has perfect timing, and it’s highly possible that by not being where you thought you should be, you will end up exactly where you’re meant to go.”
- “You must choose to be happy, grateful, and fulfilled. If you make that choice every single day, regardless of where you are or what’s happening, you will be happy.”
- “The God who made the moon and the stars and the mountains and the oceans, the Creator who did all of those things, believed that you and your baby were meant to be a pair. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be a perfect fit. That doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. It does mean that you need not fear failure because you can’t fail a job you were created to do.”
- “the only thing worse than giving up is wishing that you hadn’t.”
- “I cannot continue to live as half of myself simply because it’s hard for others to handle all of me.”
- “You need to be healthy. You don’t need to be thin. You don’t need to be a certain size or shape or look good in a bikini. You need to be able to run without feeling like you’re going to puke. You need to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. You need to drink half your body weight in ounces of water every single day. You need to stretch and get good sleep and stop medicating every ache and pain. You need to stop filling your body with garbage like Diet Coke and fast food and lattes that are a million and a half calories. You need to take in fuel for your body that hasn’t been processed and fuel for your mind that is positive and encouraging. You need to get up off the sofa or out of the bed and move around. Get out of the fog that you have been living in and see your life for what it is.”
- “decide that you care more about creating your magic and pushing it out into the world than you do about how it will be received.”
- “Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window. You must choose to be happy, grateful, and fulfilled. If you make that choice every single day, regardless of where you are or what’s happening, you will be happy.”
- “Your life is supposed to be a journey from one unique place to another; it’s not supposed to be a merry-go-round that brings you back to the same spot over and over again.”
- “What I want to say is that we all judge each other, but even though we all do it, that’s not an excuse. Judging is still one of the most hurtful, spiteful impulses we own, and our judgments keep us from building a stronger tribe…or having a tribe in the first place. Our judgment prohibits us from beautiful, life-affirming friendships. Our judgment keeps us from connecting in deeper, richer ways because we’re too stuck on the surface-level assumptions we’ve made. Our judging has to stop.”
- “Life is not supposed to overwhelm you at all times. Life isn’t meant to be merely survived—it’s meant to be lived.”