Book Review: To Hell with the Hustle
Author: Jefferson Bethke
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Rating: 5
Synopsis (via Goodreads): This is your wake-up call to resist the Hustle culture and embrace the slowness of Jesus. Our culture makes constant demands of us: Do more. Accomplish more. Buy more. Post more. Be more. In following these demands, we have indeed become more: More anxious. More tired. More hurt. More depressed. More frantic. What we are doing isn't working! In a society where hustle is the expectation, busyness is the norm and information is king, we have forgotten the fundamentals that make us human, anchor our lives, and provide meaning. Jefferson Bethke, New York Times bestselling author and popular YouTuber, has lived the hustle and knows we need to stop doing and start becoming. After reading this book, you will discover: How to proactively set boundaries in your life; How to get comfortable with obscurity; The best way to push back against the demands of contemporary life; The importance of embracing silence and solitude; How to handle the stressors that life throws at us. To Hell With the Hustle is for anyone who is: Feeling overwhelmed with the demands of work, family and community; Wanting to connect and spend time with their family; Tired of being anxious, lonely, and burned out. Join Bethke as he discovers that the very things the world teaches us to avoid at all costs--silence, obscurity, solitude, and vulnerability--are the very things that can give us the meaning, and the richness we are truly looking for.
Review: I found this book to be super refreshing. As someone who is constantly on the move with the "you-have-things-to-do" mindset, this book was a great reminder that that's not what Jesus did and that's not what I have to do.
I don't have to do it all because that isn't what I was called to do.
"You don't have to do anything sensational to be loved... The goal of life is not to be dramatic, noticed, striking, eye-catching, breathtaking, glorious, remarkable, or fantastic. God already notices you. His eye is caught by you. You take His breath away. You are full of His glory. God never commands us to chase those things, but He does command us to love Him and love our neighbor" (pg. 126 & 127).
Say it louder for the people in the back!
I borrowed a copy of this book from the library, but I want to get myself a copy to highlight and bookmark and refer back to. I read an excerpt aloud to my best friend during our weekly Facetime chat because continuously striving to do more is something we both struggle with. We continuously add more and more to our plate without realizing its full until we drop it on the floor and everything goes everywhere. I wrapped up the few paragraphs I read out loud by telling her she needed to read it, too.
In fact, anyone who constantly feels the pressure to do more should read this book. And yes, Jesus and Scripture are featured throughout Bethke's argument to resist the pressure of society and relish in boundaries, obscurity and silence (I've seen some reviews that indicated disappointment by this fact and claimed to be caught off guard by it, but Jesus' name is right in the synopsis online, seen in the left bottom corner of the cover and in the description on the back of the book. Bethke does not hide the fact that he's a religious author). This is one of the reasons I snatched a copy of this book in the first place - I wanted to read more content by Christian authors. (You bet I did another Google search to find the top recommended ones). I'm looking forward to reading Bethke's other books in the future and I'm joining him by saying, "To hell with the hustle!"
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