Let That Sh*t Go: Find Peace of Mind and Happiness in Your Everyday

by Nina Purewal, Nina Purewal

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Stomach stress gurgles are no match for this spinning rolodex of chill pills." Neil Pasricha, #1 bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation

Life is stressful as f*ck. But it doesn’t have to be.

It’s no wonder you can’t calm your to-do list is as long as your arm, your bank balance keeps dropping, you feel guilty for not calling your parents more often and there always seems to be a big deadline to meet at work. You need a serious breather—but you can barely find time to shower, let alone to exercise or meditate.

 In Let That Sh*t Go, Kate Petriw and Nina Purewal share the wisdom they’ve gained though decades of practising and teaching others to find peace of mind no matter how busy they are. Learn to put your life in perspective, take each day one step at a time and steal moments of calm amid the chaos. And it’s not worth holding onto that sh*t.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Personal Development, Mental Health, Psychology, Leadership

347 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Paul C. Stalder · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun, often humourous, introduction to mindfulness. There are lots of bits of wisdom contained within. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of fluff and poor research. Some statements made are just factually inaccurate; for example, Masaru Emoto was not a doctor of anything and Joe Dispenza is not physicist. Others are "deepities" of incredible proportions ("True happiness doesn't just exist somewhere within you -- it is you."). And others simply display a lack of proper editing.
I enjoyed this book more than two stars for sure, but can't bare to give it any more. It could use a little more self-reflection, a lot more research, and a lot less titled sections. I may recommend it to people thinking about getting into some kind of mindfulness practice, depending on the individual. But anyone steeped in the literature, or already practicing, or who wants something a little more thoughtful, could definitely skip it.

[Harshita Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter what people say, it is certainly not easy to let go of things that live in your mind, situations that affected you emotionally, negative thoughts, past worries, anxieties, the people who came and left. But, is it worth holding onto those thoughts? Does it really easy to let go of such things? Does freeing your mind from the negative thoughts look effortless?
Unquestionably, letting go of all the shit that life throws at you is not a piece of cake, but it is important to let go in order to live in the moment, to stay happy and healthy and most importantly for calmness of mind. Do you know what stress can do to your body, let alone your mind?
Let that Shit Go is about embracing self-love, being in the present moment, practicing mindfulness, kicking out the negative thoughts and experiencing inner happiness in daily life. It’s not a usual to-do list kind of self-help book but rather giving thought to how to let go of things you can’t control, how acceptance is the key to a peaceful mind and how forgiveness will give you inner happiness.
The authors had been honest and clear in writing this considerable piece of a book. I genuinely loved reading it. Let that shit go is my recent favorite. Pick it for sure because it’s not worth holding onto all that shit.

[Shannon Burns · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel bad for saying this because I don't want to hurt feelings, but it truly is that bad that. Honestly, this is the worst book I can remember reading. The bulk of the book is bullet point examples of what a random thought is. (I am being 100% literal, every three or so pages are 5-15 bullet points of examples of random thoughts). It's as if a couple of middle school girls read the cliff notes of some discount mindfulness book and we're told they had to write a book report that was 352 pages. The narrative voice relies heavily on using swear words and "cheeky" youth speak to try and distract you from how vacuous it is. The best thing about the book is how much you will enjoy complaining about having wasted time and brain space on something you didn't know could be this bad and still get published.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not the target audience for this book and therefore I can't rate it higher than a 2. It's a really empowering and inspiring book - it's just not for me because all of the suggestions in it are things I have already embraced in my life and things I already practice. If you want to learn how to be mindful and shake things off and learn how to accept the things you can't control then this book is definitely for you. But if you're already on that train, you do not need to get off at this book's stop. It's written in an incredibly accessible and conversational manner, so I do highly recommend it, I just didn't need it myself. I picked ut up because Nina Purewal came to my workplace to give a talk about it in June and I thought I should check the book out.

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

While there are a few good tips on letting sh*t go, it's muddled by misinformation, and terribly written sentences. I feel as though very young girls wrote this in high school and somehow got published. The cursing totally juxtaposes the childish and privileged examples (not everyone has family, not everyone came from well-off family, etc...). It's hard to get past the writing style. I felt like I was reading something Kelly Kapoor (the Office) would write so it was difficult to take the authors seriously. The writers obviously have a very large support system, and money to deal with things the support wouldn't help. I surmise that it's easy to "let sh*t go" when the problems you face are what have been coined as, "First World Problems". If you have been through abuse, loss, family dysfunction, financial struggles, neglect, or face mental health struggles, you will not relate with the book.
My high-school self would agree that this is the most painful read I've ever experienced.
If you lead an unchallenging and basic life, this book may be for you. If you face /real/ challenges, this book is /not/ for you.

[Sharla · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this book was shorter and didn’t continually repeat itself, and was somehow engaging, maybe it could have been good.

There are some decent tips in it, but it sure didn’t need over 300 pages to explain them all.

I did like how it was laid out, with the shorter chapters. Some of them weren’t too bad, but as I said before, it wasn’t engaging in the slightest.

They tried to be, adding in little stories about their own lives, but a book like this would probably be way more engaging if it was written like a story the whole way through, not like a bunch of little tidbits of information that occasionally came across as condescending.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn.

[Viktoria Alexandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a diary of a person I don't even care about. Had my hopes up high but this book was a waste of money

[Melissa T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had I finished this 6 weeks ago, when I started it, I don't think I would have rated it as highly. Not that 3 stars is all that high, really. I don't think I was in the right mood for this back in September when I started it, so it's probably a good thing that I forced myself to put it down in favor of my Halloween reads in October.

That being said, while I did like the book, there's nothing particularly mind blowing about any of the information contained within it. I do like the variety of tips and tricks the authors have put together in order to get the readers to practice mindfulness. And the semi-anecdotal nature of this does make it relatable.

But, it does get repetitive after a while. The swearing, while cool at the beginning becomes grating. I found myself having to continually put this down, just because there's a lot being thrown at you all at once.

Chapter 8, in my reading of it feels extremely rushed and super cluttered, not just in content but in format too. In the chapters before and after chapter 8, there are headers that separate topics, and each header for the most part has it's own page that it starts on. In chapter 8, while they are still using headers, they aren't separating them with pages, so it leaves it feeling odd compared to the other chapters in the book.

Toward the end of the book I started to get a bit bored, and skimmed some of the pages, rather than reading them fully.

Though none of the info contained within is super new or groundbreaking, this still was an enjoyable read, and a book I'll be happy to keep around and look back at again when I need some practice at letting sh*t go.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm usually the person who dislikes self-help books and thinks that everything in them is logical things that one shouldn't need to read about to know. But there's something about the way this book is written or maybe just what it's presenting that hit me in a way that constantly found myself having to stop and really consider what I was reading. It's still incredibly logical things that shouldn't need to be told, yet it's also so simple that a little nudge in the right mental direction can change one's perspective on so many things.
It's full of solid advice and introspective directions that I'm fully convinced can be helpful to anyone, be they in need of big changes in their life or just some peace of mind. And it's all presented in simple language with relatable examples that work even when they have nothing in common with the reader's experience.
Definitely one of the few self-help books I've ever even finished, let alone recommended, but I really do think this should be required reading for everyone who has ever had a hard time quieting their mind. I can guarantee that any reader will find something of value in the pages of this book.

[Mariko - · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me forever to finish this book because I would have to read 10 pages every night before bed in order to bore myself to sleep.

I don’t want to be mean, but this book was just… bad. It is definitely a beginners guide to mindfulness, so there wasn’t anything in there that I found particularly groundbreaking or interesting, though I suppose some people may have found elements helpful. My #1 frustration was the examples given, and how they always used these filler fake names for “your boss” or “your friend” or whatever— it was annoying and it just seemed like a waste of page space. You don’t need to give hypothetical names for my friends/boss/etc. and it made a lot of assumptions about the lifestyle of the reader & the kind of job we would have (middle to upper middle class, high stress corporate office job). This meant that a lot of elements of the book were out of touch with the lived reality of anyone who works in any other industry and doesn’t make a lot of money, or faces any kind of systemic barriers.

Anyways, I finished it and now I can go get rid of it.

[dreamgirlreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I plan to buy a physical copy as I listened to the audiobook and would like to revisit!
I especially enjoyed the journaling prompts that push me to think about thought processes, control, stresses, perspective, and more.

[Brandy McGlaughlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

So poorly written I’m surprised it went to print.

[Alicia Fulk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a bit to get through this but one that I will keep around to reread.

[alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am up in the air about how I should rate this. It should not just be based on my enjoyment. So I am going to be rating this based on several factors, my overall enjoyment, what I learned, and what lessons I am going to take with me. This is something I am going to base my rating on in the future for other books that are like this. My enjoyment was ok there were times when I was enjoying what I was reading and others where I was not. I learned a lot from this book on many different topics: perspective, awareness, and self-love. What I want to take with me from this book is how to shift your mind from being chatty to being observant, shifting your thoughts from negative Nancy to positive Peggy. This was an exercise that had me struggling to get through but it was very eye-opening. Also things like looking at what makes you stressed on a daily basis then rating it and the importance of JOMO(joy of missing out) With all of this in mind I am going to give this book a 4 star review.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a psychologist so I've read a LOT of books with a similar theme. I think this one does an excellent job of covering many research-supported ideas for emotional regulation and increased positive emotion. The target audience is clearly millennials and younger. As someone older than that age group, I wish there was a version of the book without the profanity. To me it was distracting. But for someone who uses profanity often as just a normal part of everyday speech this would likely seem more authentic and down to earth than stuffier or more formal options.

I would recommend this book to younger people who don't have severe mental health issues but are just looking to improve their quality of life and handle some things better.

[Scarlett Tsipas · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book is SO surface level to the point that it’s just repeating the same thing over and over without providing any intellectual information. it’s like a dude who takes psychedelics for the first time and thinks he discovered some bind boggling revelation about your mind and life when in reality, i had that “revelation” when i was a child. you can tell they did absolutely no research and data to make this book. sad

[Nav · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great book to remind you of the benefits of shifting your priorities and focusing on the things that matter. The personal stories of both authors were captivating and showed many great examples of how they overcame great adversity and tragedy in their lives. I started using some of their techniques and already feel a shift in my energy and how i approach daily decisions.

[Ratebookswithashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love a good motivational book every now and then! 👏🏻

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

72% into the audiobook and DNF. Was looking for some easy listening while cleaning. This starts with some helpful reminders about not worrying about things we can’t control, the power of deep breathing, etc., but this book jumps from random silly study results - to real traumatic life experiences - to one-off quotes from Adele - to mundane day-to-day worries - to Nobel prize winners, all imbued with way more swearing than necessary in an attempt to seem cool. I found it flippant to jump in the same chapter to equate how you can’t control traffic to how Malala couldn’t control the attempt on her life. This is probably a helpful intro to mindfulness to people who have never even heard of the concept, but this was more cringey than enjoyable for me.

[Sara-Ann Poirier · Rating 5 out of 5]

The exercises on how to stay present were incredibly helpful.

[Phil Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all excellent self-improvement books, "Let That Sh*t Go" includes many perspectives and techniques (over 100) to help you be your best self. Each of the nine chapters is a lens through which to assess how to manage what you can and can’t control to experience calm and happiness within.

This book helps you assess areas where you are strong and those that need development. Negative self-talk (from my "chatty mind") is my biggest challenge. Although I have read a lot on the topic, the authors' explorations and perspectives are the clearest and most engaging. Their practical and simple techniques are building my capabilities daily.

Nina and Kate's writing style is conversational, supportive and fun. I appreciate the personal examples of challenges they have faced and reflections on using the techniques. Their stories inspire confidence and action.

"Let That Sh*t Go" is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to gain greater calm, focus and happiness by releasing the limiting stuff they are holding onto. It's helping me be the best version of myself, and I hope it helps you too.

[Frank Murtaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book six stars. No, 60. I'm gonna take a deep breath before saying it changed my life. But it certainly changed the way I think, and will impact my thinking the rest of my days. Kate and Nina prescribe one achievable measure after another toward better mind health . . . and they do so in a tone that's embracing, welcoming, understanding, and compassionate. I felt like they were in the room with me, and part of a conversation (one they led). Life comes at us. And, as the authors emphasize, it's not going to stop. But we can manage life's impact on our most important organ, and by letting some sh*t go (large and small), we can find each day healthier and happier. This book's a treasure. Please read it.

[Mandy Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous way to think about the why & how you are dealing with things and productive concise ways to *"Let That Sh*t Go! ". Nina Purewal's book of the same name will guide you into constructive pathways to getting out of your own way and let logical compassionate (mostly with yourself) mindfulness lead you out of any funk you find yourself in. It's really not that hard to be happy, fulfilled and guilt free, you just have to want to decide to keep the good stuff and Let That Sh*t Go! You'll be grateful you did.
* "Let That Sh*t Go" Masterclass video is also available on Udemy.

[Dae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. DNF. Received as a gift from a well meaning person. I wanted to like this one but after 100 pages, I had to stop. It was serving me PSL, Ugg boot-wearing basic-ness and if I kept going there was sure to be a “live, laugh, love” reference that would have sent me over the edge. If you’re chronically online and always comparing yourself to others then this book is for you. However, if you have common sense and are not a late millennial or Gen Z, skip it and read something less annoying.

[Nikki Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

I found this book extremely empowering. Would recomend it to anyone I know going through a rough time mentally. If you want to feel better, this will give you plenty of helpful techniques to ground yourself and come to terms with some of the things that may be bothering you.

[Mom2triplets04 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this on audio. If you want something to make you think about changing your negative thoughts into positive ones this is a great book to listen to. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend. I hardly give out 5 star ratings but this one really helped and really grabbed me. It's certainly a book you can listen to over and over again.

[Maelle Aeschimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book in audio book was perfect. To stop the autopilot cycle, to make a change in your everyday life, to switch your perspective. Just simple concepts, said in a simple way. But concepts so so important to keep in mind everyday. Starting it over right now again. Prioritizing our mind ans working on it just like we work our body at the gym. Being peaceful in the everyday.

[Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read. All about self love, self worth, being present, letting shit go and being all around mindful. Amazing book 10/10 buying so many as gifts for Christmas this year.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give it 3.5 if my phone would cooperate
I didn't love it but there were sections I really enjoyed.

I got from a friend and had no expectations going into it.