“Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person” by Shonda Rhimes

When I was growing up, we had a television on the kitchen table where we ate all of our meals. The TV was not to the side of the table, and it was not attached to the wall above the table. It was right smack dab on top of the kitchen table and it was turned on for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we loved it.  It was the early 1970s and some educators were starting to tout the evils of television for children, but not us. We celebrated television every day because our dad was a television producer and paid all of the bills that way. So you see when I was growing up television producers, show runners, network executives were rock stars in my eyes and they still are. “The Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes is a memoir written by one of the most successful television producers and writers of this decade or any decade. I remember how hard my dad worked when he had three of the top shows on television, and Shonda has that claim to fame as well. Her top-rated and well-respected shows like “Grey’s Anatomy, “ “Scandal,” “How To Get Away With Murder,” and “Private Practice,” catapulted her to the kind of success everyone in Hollywood craves. However, despite her accomplishments, she was plagued by panic attacks, anxiety and a struggle to lose weight. In 2013, her sister presented her with an interesting insight when she said, “You never say yes to anything.” Sondra took this as a personal challenge and for one year she tried to open herself up to life and say yes so everything that scared her. The benefits of her experiment were more plentiful that she ever could have imagined. She spent more time with her three children. She was able to walk away from toxic relationships and people who fatigued her. She lost more than 100 pounds, and was able to keep it off. Part memoir, part self help book, “The Year of Yes” is an inspiring book about how to change your life for the better and make every single day count. Learning how to become a gladiator is not easy, but well worth the trip. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.