Hello Internet!

I'm sorry I've been MIA lately.  I've been a bit busy in my post-college summer and there simply aren't enough hours in the day.  But this book review has been a long time coming and I'm so excited.  A couple weeks ago I read a book by one of my favorite Youtubers, Grace Helbig, titled, The Art Of Pretending To Be a Grownup.  In this helpful guide for millennials, Grace gives her readers tips, advice, and how-to's on a number of topics ranging from dating to work/career stuff and more.  Some favorites include How To Heal From a Breakup, How To Prepare For a Job Interview, and How To Make Friends as an Adult.



As a fellow millennial who is transitioning into the scary world of adulthood herself, I immediately gravitated toward this book, and after reading it, I can honestly say that this book has helped me so much.  Grace gives such truthful yet sincere advice, while also being candid about her own experiences, thus this book serving not only as a guide, but partly a memoir.  She is so open and honest about life and all of the difficulties that come with it, confessing about the time she had a breakdown  in a parking lot while working multiple part-time jobs, and in the next moment she'll make some joke about being from New Jersey or practically living in sweatpants and how comfortable she is with that.  You'll crack a smile and in a way it's like having a conversation with a friend.  It's in these moments when you realize just how relatable Grace is.

In the time since discovering Grace on Youtube, I've come to think of her as a cooler, much more successful version of me.  We're both natural introverts who don't mind looking bedraggled and dressing as comfortably as humanly possible.  We're natural homebodies.  We were both shy in our early years and both graduated from liberal colleges, where we still remained very shy and didn't quite have the typical college experience.  I've always felt like I could connect easily with Grace, as if she were an older sister.  Through reading her book though, I've only come to feel even more connected to her.  She too understands the difficulty of making friends, of combating anxiety, and of overcoming the fear when asking yourself, What happens next? What does my future hold?  She lets you know that it's okay to be afraid, because it is scary and everyone else is afraid, too.  She tells you to do what makes you happy, do what makes you feel youthful, even if that's rolling around in a blanket on the living room floor because it feels really good.  She reassures you that it's okay to feel lost, to be single, and to spend time alone, and there is no shame in feeling this way.  She keeps it honest and genuine while still lighthearted because that's what you have to do in life: deal with the hard situations while still being able to crack a joke through it all.

It's hard transitioning into the chapter of adulthood, especially today with so many expectations thrust upon us, so many overwhelming choices swirling around us - from jobs to internships to where to go for college to where to relocate to how to make friends when it's no long as easy or simple as it was in childhood - and never knowing if we're doing any of this right.  But through her guide, Grace Helbig teaches us how to navigate our way through, guiding us with all the reassurance, understanding, and lightheartedness of a familiar friend. 

I hope you liked this review of The Art of Pretending to be a Grownup by Grace Helbig, and I sincerely hope that you pick up her guide to read for yourself!  You won't regret it.

 Until next time,
x Danielle