Posted on

Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference by CJ Casciotta – BOOK REVIEW

40947713Title: Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference

Author: CJ Casciotta

Publication Date & Publisher: September 11, 2018, Faith Words

Genre(s): Christian Living/Practical Life/Personal Growth

Length: 217 pages

ISBN: 978-1-5460-3191-8

My Rating: 3.5/5.0

 

Description (from Goodreads):

Most of us grow up believing it’s more important to fit in than to stand out. But there’s something different about you…and it matters.

What if your weirdness was the key to changing everything? What if the outrageous, imaginative, crazy ideas that live inside your wildest dreams are actually there on purpose, divinely preinstalled to help others?

Knowing what makes you weird is the best thing you can offer your art, your business, your friends, your family, and yourself. It’s the essence of creativity, the stuff of movements, and the hope for humanity. It’s time to quit painting by numbers, conforming to patterns, and checking off boxes. It’s time to GET WEIRD.

My review:

I enjoyed reading Get Weird, and CJ Casciotta definitely knows how to inspire people to be their truest, weirdest selves!

While the book is a Christian Living title, it doesn’t read as such. Casciotta includes references to scripture and Christian beliefs, but also includes plenty of other references. To be honest, about halfway through the book I had to go back and double check that what I was reading was actually something I’d consider a “Christian Living” title. The flow of Casciotta’s writing and the way he weaves words just isn’t what you’d expect from a book like this… you aren’t going to find scripture on every page or a how-to explanation on how to increase your faith.

What you will find in this book is a lot of inspiration to be the weirdly wonderful you you were made to be! As a person that’s always had a hard time fitting in, this was a really great read for me. I definitely felt a little more comfortable with my “weirdness” after reading Get Weird. I recommend it to anyone else that struggles to accept their uniqueness in a world constantly encouraging them to embrace sameness.

Thank you to FaithWords for providing me with a free review copy of this book. This in no way influenced my review.

What do you think of my review of Get Weird? Have a suggestion for my next read? Leave me a comment below!

Are you planning on purchasing Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference? Please consider using one of these affiliate links: Amazon, Book Depository

 

Advertisements
Posted on

When God Made You – a review

Now that my girls are older, I rarely get the opportunity to read children’s books.

Okay, that’s a lie…

5987326059_67794e6ba2_m
Image found on Flickr, Linda Jordon

On occasion (aka not so occasionally), you can find me sitting in my library/sewing/writing/soon-to-be-bed room reading Dr. Seuss — out loud.  (Not sure what it says about me that there’s a room in my house with an identity crisis) (Also, in case you weren’t aware…  out loud is the ONLY acceptable way to read a Dr. Seuss book!)

Since my girls are now 17 and 12, there aren’t many children’s books that I’m even willing to read, let alone take the time to re-read over and over again.  (Other than Seuss, obviously.)

For a book to achieve such an honor in my currently WAY overloaded schedule, it has got to be phenomenal.  To be honest, I would have told you such a book did not exist.

Turns out, I was wrong (again). Continue reading → When God Made You – a review

Posted on

Father Found, Identity Now Missing.

A few years ago, my mom found out that her father wasn’t her father.   She and my uncle had taken a DNA test and it turned out he was her half-brother.

The relationship between my mom and grandma was already strained, so this bomb basically destroyed what little bit of communication still existed between them.  On the few occasions they did speak, it always resulted in my mom insisting on knowing who her real father is and my grandmother insisting that either the DNA results are wrong or the hospital gave her the wrong baby.

While this revelation tore my mom up inside, it didn’t affect me at all.   (Cue the stages of grief…)

quote-mark-twain-denial-aint-just-a-river-in-egypt-100607_1

I had never known her father… my grandmother had remarried by the time I was born and I had always thought of my mother’s stepfather as my grandfather.  Even when my grandma divorced and remarried again, I considered her new husband my new grandfather.  (I’m pretty adaptable that way I guess.)

I barely let any of it bother me and continued on with my life.  After all, what did any of this have to do with me?

Whenever I visited either of them, I listened as my mom and grandma berated each other and recounted their side of the story over and over again.  Each defended themselves as if I was the judge & jury and they were trying to avoid the electric chair.  Still, it barely registered as a slight annoyance on my “things I’m going to stress about today” meter. meter down

Then the day came when I got this text:

Call me.  I have a dad.

Continue reading → Father Found, Identity Now Missing.

Posted on

How Can I Keep My Sanity and Enjoy My Life? By A Power Outside of My Own.

Warning:  Today’s post is not going to be funny or upbeat.  I’m about to be serious (for once).

Mauerbauertraurigkeit – n. the inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.

I saw this word on my Twitter feed today.

My husband and I were sitting at the table this morning talking about this problem I have.  He went downstairs, I checked Twitter, and there it was.

I had no idea that this word existed…. But I should have. (I also wasn’t sure it was a real word when I read it, so I looked it up here.)

When I was in the 8th grade, a close friend died.  Almost every year thereafter, until I was in my late 20’s, I lost another friend.  At one point, I attended a funeral every month for 5 months… none of which were for anyone over the age of 24. Continue reading → How Can I Keep My Sanity and Enjoy My Life? By A Power Outside of My Own.