Smart Girls Screw Up Too summary

Has someone ever told you to cheer up, and all you could do was shoot daggers at them with your eyes? Most of us have been there – and yet, having a more positive attitude is an important step to reaching the upside.

You may think that good things need to happen before you can adopt a positive outlook on life, but it tends to work the other way around. Your emotions are what shape your behavior, your behavior is what dictates your habits, and your habits are what form your reality. This is why having positive core beliefs is a fundamental part of turning your life around.

Changing beliefs and becoming more confident can be difficult for anyone, but it’s especially hard for those of us who’ve been told in the past that we’d never amount to anything. When this happens, we often internalize all of that naysaying, which can result in a negative attitude toward ourselves and our abilities. This is why it’s important to take action that both supports a positive outlook and disproves that negative attitude.

For example, if you want to be a clothing designer but were told you would never be good enough to make a living at it, you could try making a few dresses in your spare time, selling them online and seeing how things go. With small, positive actions like this, you can start to gain confidence and change your life in some deep and powerful ways.

When considering the importance of a well-functioning vagus nerve, it’s hard to underestimate the connection it provides between the brain and the gut. As Dr. Michael Gershon, of Columbia University’s Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, explains, the gut has around 500 million neurons that keep it in conversation with other parts of the body, including your brain via the vagus nerve.

Of course, we all know that our gut tells the brain when it wants food, but research has shown that the food we put into our gut also has a big influence on our mood and well-being.

Do you feel stuck in a career that you had no intention of getting into? The writer Steven Pressfield refers to this as a “shadow career” – a job you don’t feel personally invested in and certainly don’t consider your true calling.

But even if this is the case, you can take solace in the fact that you’re likely learning skills and gaining experience that will be put to better use later, once you do find your ideal job. Many people, however, are so ambivalent that they simply aren’t sure whether they’re in the right career or not, so let’s go over some of the questions the author is asked most frequently. 

In our desire to be productive and efficient in life, we tend to neglect the importance of leisure and being creative purely for the sake of being creative. This can not only lead to our lives becoming unbalanced, but it can also prevent us from gaining valuable strengths and personal insights that will actually lead to a more productive life in the long run.

For the author, dance as a leisure activity has provided deeply valuable experiences that have helped her grow and change as a person. You might want to consider taking it up yourself! 

Many women take the contraceptive pill for a number of reasons. Certainly, it can free you from period pain, unwanted pregnancy and even acne. What’s also great is that the cost of the pill is covered by many healthcare plans – but there are other costs that can take a toll on some women.

For example, in a University of Copenhagen study of over a million women, researchers found that those taking the pill were 23 percent more likely to experience depression. And those taking the progestin-only “mini pill” were found to be 34 percent more likely. What’s more, the study showed that other implant-type options, such as a hormonal IUD, ring, or patch, come with even higher risks of depression. On top of this, the US National Cancer Institute has found that the pill increases a woman’s chances of certain cancers, including breast, cervical and liver cancers.

If you want to find the confidence and inspiration that’s been missing in your life, you’ll want to surround yourself with supportive people. After all, escaping the downside is already enough of a challenge without being surrounded by naysayers and doubters.

When considering whom to include in your inner circle of positivity, there are six helpful personality types to consider.

When the author polled 2,000 Smart Girls between the ages of 25 and 45, she discovered that seven out of ten people believed that their true love was either nonexistent, dead or married to someone else. So instead, they’ve decided to settle.

But the reality is, finding true love or settling aren’t the only options we have, because real life isn’t a fairy tale in which Prince Charming comes to sweep us off our feet. In the real world, finding love and being ready for it when it shows up is a step-by-step process.