Pretty much waited a year for this book. It was like stepping into a time capsule and looking in a mirror. Despite growing up in London to my New York City, Dolly Alderton’s upbringing as a millennial was the same as mine. Although she used MSN messager instead of AIM. A year older than me, her experiences were extremely relatable. From the dawn of the internet to partying like a hedonistic rockstar, Keith Richards serving as inspo (read Happy Birthday Keith Richards!). My friends and I lived out our 20’s in the same vein, I too dubbed this feminism, our millennial burning of bras. The search of adventure, feeling invincible, knowing the armor of youth providing regenerative superpowers after a night out was ephemeral. The messiest decade, leading me to create this blog. After commiserating about our hardships a co-worker crowned me the saint of our 20’s, due to my sage survival advice. Which is essentially what this memoir does.
Alderton navigates adulthood and learns love comes in many forms, focusing on her friendships over romantic partners. Not everyone is meant to have a permanent lover and children, which has been the mandate for women due to the patriarchy. Her biggest lesson is external love amounts to nothing without learning to love yourself. Still gobsmacked that she calls the emptiness from lack of self-love the void (me too). How carrying around that icky feeling propels you to do the inner work and evolve into a better person. Accepting your imperfections and learning to love yourself in spite of them. Finally enjoying your own company, instead of looking outside for fulfillment and removing the wrong people from your life, because you’ve changed. Literally went on the same exact journey, same terminology and all. This memoir asks the reader, how do you define yourself and why? Also why were we all trying to be Keith Richards? Via: Amazon
