Atomic Habits: a quick review

Is it the rain? An unavoidable comedown from the summer? Me? not thriving here. When I feel like I’m scraping rock bottom, I try to read more, connect more, get off my phone, and break a sweat. I end up doing more damage than I want to admit in retail therapy. This one is a very user-friendly, readable self-help book. I don’t really know if reading Atomic Habits will bring me out of this sensation of stuck-ness, but I’d like to think that it helped me with some amount of cognitive reframing. At the end of the day, I think that people underestimate the ability of being gentle and compassionate with yourself, because tug-of-wars and internal battles with opposing conflicts are exhausting.

I really don’t need self-help books that are like “no excuses” or “push yourself cuz ain't nobody’s gonna do it for you”. Other times, neurotically breaking down how to be quote-unquote “better” isn’t the least bit helpful. But a general step-back and reframe can be nice.

Happiness is simply the absence of desire. When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation. Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.