Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living

by Shauna Niequist

Brene Brown (Foreword)

LIVE A LIFE OF MEANING AND CONNECTION

Instead of pushing for perfection

A few years ago, I found myself exhausted and isolated, my soul and body sick. I was tired of being tired, burned out on busy. And, it seemed almost everyone I talked with was in the same boat: longing for connection, meaning, depth, but settling for busy.

I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, writer, and I know all too well that settling feeling. But over the course of the last few years, I've learned a way to live, marked by grace, love, rest, and play. And it's changing everything.

Present Over Perfect is an invitation to this journey that changed my life. I'll walk this path with you, a path away from frantic pushing and proving, and toward your essential self, the one you were created to be before you began proving and earning for your worth.

Written in Shauna's warm and vulnerable style, this collection of essays focuses on the most important transformation in her life, and maybe yours too: leaving behind busyness and frantic living and rediscovering the person you were made to be. Present Over Perfect is a hand reaching out, pulling you free from the constant pressure to perform faster, push harder, and produce more, all while maintaining an exhausting image of perfection.

Shauna offers an honest account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us.

In these pages, you'll be invited to consider the landscape of your own life, and what it might look like to leave behind the pressure to be perfect and begin the life-changing practice of simply being present, in the middle of the mess and the ordinariness of life.

• ISBN10: 0310342996
• ISBN13: 9780310342991
• Publish Date: 9 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: Zondervan
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: Pretty interesting reading about slow living, minimalism, etc from a struggling Christian's perspective. Asceticism and frugality were cornerstones of Protestant teachings in the past but with capitalism and modern obsessions for more and our current culture of always hustling, it was interesting to read about Shauna's take on paring back.

I especially appreciated that she shared the lessons she learned over her seasons and how she realised that the person she was at 19 was who she wanted to be in her later adult years — someone who knew how to enjoy the present moment instead of chasing what she thought she should have because that's what everyone else told her to.

What hit home the most for me is that when we hand over the pen to someone else to write our story, it's unlikely we'll ever get back that pen. We need to pursue what is right for us and our stage in life. What might seem amazing to everyone else may not necessarily be what you want and that's okay.