A review by sarah_amy
The Courage To Be Disliked: How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

This book has been challenging. At some points, particularly near the beginning, I wanted to throw the book against the wall and give up on it. As it went on, I found myself grabbing a pencil and underlining pearls of wisdom in hopes of retaining and applying them to my own life. Some of the ideas appear outdated and don't give much consideration to trauma and any disorders associated with them. For example, PTSD-related behaviours and anger in general are seen as 'tools of manipulation' as opposed to justifiable responses or a fight/flight response or lack of practice in emotional regulation. On the other hand, this book provided wonderful insight into not letting past experience dictate your future and learning to live for YOU, and not the approval of others. I've gone from nearly DNF to wanting to reread sometime in hopes I'll retain some of the lessons here. It's definitely a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff with this book. Some of the ideas can be infuriating, but stick with it if you can. I found a lot of much needed encouragement among the disagreeable bits.