Do you want to Laugh Out Loud? Yes Please!

A lot of people have been reading Amy Poehler’s book ‘Yes Please’ recently and since I had some time on my hands I thought I might too.

In many ways, I love Poehler’s work. She’s completely Laugh-Out-Loud funny, very honest and got enough life experience to have an insight into life’s tough moments.

‘Yes Please’ is very similar to her partner-in-crime Tina Fay’s book ‘Bossy Pants’. It’s also quite self indulgent which makes it also simular to Lena Dunham’s ‘Not That Kind of Girl’ although has a little more depth but, unlike Dunham, Poehler admits that ‘one of the things that I have learnt about me is that I am really onto myself’.

In true tradition, it is part memoir and part advice, with a few ‘essays’, old photos and quasi-motivational quotes. 

It is called ‘Yes Please’ because she loves saying it and it’s a response while being a request.

Having said this, there are so many things that I loved about this book.  I loved hearing about her journey into comedy and reading about her childhood. Her letter to the team that were going to deliver her baby made me laugh so much.

There was one idea that stayed with me and it was by no means a key thread of the story but it was her idea of currency.

After experiencing a break up she decided that ‘I would be that plain girl with tons of personality, and accepting it made it a lot easier. If you are lucky, there is a moment in your life when you have some say as to what your currency is going to be. I decided early on that it was not going to be my looks.

I could relate to this as in many ways, choosing a currency was made for me and that, like Poehler, it wasn’t going to be my looks.

           

Accepting that I wasn’t going to be admired and liked for my loos does make life easier. It also makes it more exciting because you can move on and thing about other stuff rather than what you look like. I am so glad I don’t have the looks as I have saved so much time not worrying about the superficial exterior (maintenance of said exterior is super time consuming not to mention expensive) and focusing on having an interior life that brings peace and long term fulfilment.

If you are familiar with Amy Peohler’s work and even if you are not, ‘Yes Please’ is a funny read and guaranteed to make you LOL!!