THE PERFECT BLEND OF A RAW MEMOIR AND DOWN TO EARTH SELF-HELP
We all have stories to tell. We all have wounds that have healed, and wounds that still ache. We all have memories that evoke joy. We have all faced grief. We have all learned lessons.
In her debut book, Nicole Ricci explores the lessons she’s earned the hard way as she navigates entering midlife. In this memoir in vignettes, she takes you on her journey through introspection, facing bitter truths, loss, healing, self-celebration, and unbecoming what she doesn’t want to be. Lessons Earned began as journal entries, which have been turned into easy-read snapshots of personal experiences, each ending with thought provoking life lessons – big and small.
Offering a mix of wit, insight, and heart, you’ll be inspired to embrace your own messy, imperfect experiences and extract your own lessons. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll get a little dose of practical wisdom.
Nicole’s storytelling style has a unique creative way of making you feel like you’ve just spent a few hours talking with a friend. It is sure to make you think and want to share it with loved ones.
THE PERFECT BLEND OF A RAW MEMOIR AND DOWN TO EARTH SELF-HELP
We all have stories to tell. We all have wounds that have healed, and wounds that still ache. We all have memories that evoke joy. We have all faced grief. We have all learned lessons.
In her debut book, Nicole Ricci explores the lessons she’s earned the hard way as she navigates entering midlife. In this memoir in vignettes, she takes you on her journey through introspection, facing bitter truths, loss, healing, self-celebration, and unbecoming what she doesn’t want to be. Lessons Earned began as journal entries, which have been turned into easy-read snapshots of personal experiences, each ending with thought provoking life lessons – big and small.
Offering a mix of wit, insight, and heart, you’ll be inspired to embrace your own messy, imperfect experiences and extract your own lessons. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll get a little dose of practical wisdom.
Nicole’s storytelling style has a unique creative way of making you feel like you’ve just spent a few hours talking with a friend. It is sure to make you think and want to share it with loved ones.
We are here to learn lessons. That’s life’s gift to us. When lessons are learned, we evolve. Lessons carve us into who we are created to be. We are meant to have experiences, learn the lessons, live by them, share them and teach them. Lessons are a self-taught education. There is no greater wisdom you can attain to guide you through life than a real hard-earned lesson. Lessons are hard. They are introduced to us repeatedly in different ways until we “get it”; until we grow through it and are ready for the next one headed our way. Sometimes that can sting. I have been revisited by the same lesson in a different outfit more times than I can count. It is crazy to keep recycling experiences without learning from them. I finally had to do the inner work and come to terms with the changes I needed to make for myself. I had some growing pains, but my life is better for it. Is that not our life’s work? To learn lessons, and use them to create a better existence for ourselves and others? Lessons equip us to improve our relationship with ourselves, break generational habits, N i c o l e R i c c i 2 deepen our connections and understanding in love relationships and friendships, and to be the best version of ourselves. Lessons can be cocky. They can return with hostility. Or irony. They can be simple; they can be complex. They can be easy; they can be difficult. They can be humorous in hindsight; or not so humorous. They can be costly, very costly if we aren’t willing to accept them the first or second time around. They can cost not only money, but worse, time that you cannot get back, or part of yourself. We must be open to receiving lessons and making sense of them; to look deeper into unfavorable experiences and extract meaning from them. Those nuggets of insight often end up being our lifelong companions. What kind of naïve life would we be living had we not learned some lessons along the way? I wish I had been willing to learn from lessons of my parents, sisters, older friends, wiser people. Instead, I was doggedly determined to do it my way. I thought I had to learn everything for myself. It’s true that some lessons are intended just for you. They are personal. There is something unique to you, to your blossoming that you need to learn on your own. But many lessons can be learned if we just listen to the stories of others. Read books. Talk to your grandparents. Make friends with people of all cultures, ages, backgrounds and share stories. Those lessons can be borrowed and adopted. It’s not cheating. It’s just a short cut. A “life hack” if you will. A smart one, if you ask me. Some advice: Keep a journal. When you’re going through something or searching for meaning in your patterns, write in your journal. There’s something magical about writing the lesson L e s s o n s E a r n e d 3 down in ink on paper. It gives it life, makes it real. It stares back at you like a fact. You can then take that lesson a little bit more seriously. It burrows a little deeper into your being. You store it in your emotional filing cabinet. You can call on it next time a situation arises that needs you to have this wisdom under your belt. A lessons reference manual. I have learned many lessons in four decades. And, I know I have many more lessons coming my way. I’m not near the end of my healing, my learning, or my growing journey. What I do know for sure is I am going to be looking out for them. And I welcome them. Sometimes what seem like the worst moments of your life are not the worst moments of your life. They are lessons. Facing difficulties is inevitable. Learning from them is optional. They are opportunities. Pieces of the puzzle meeting where they belong. Dots connecting. The mosaic coming together, piece by piece.
LESSON EARNED: Reflect on your life. Observe the patterns. Lessons will reappear until you “get it”. Learn the lessons. You’ve earned those lessons. Take them with you on your journey through life and use them as a compass. Share them with others. You may save them a lot of suffering and time
Lead with the bad and end with the good. As a forty-six-year-old woman, I found this book pleasing to the eye but trite in its message. It was lacking in depth. However, remember, that's me as a forty-six-year-old. While the book wasn't for me, it is for the younger crowd - those in their 20's and 30's.
The good. The cover is fantastic. The lessons earned at the end of each vignette are equally impressive. This book is easy to read, quick, and fun. While it wasn't for me, it is worth reading, and those readers it is meant for will most likely rate it a four-star read, maybe even five. After all, it's clean, the editing was done well, and all readers prefer the feeling of professionalism with a finished product that's gone to market and rewarded as such.
Vignettes are the perfect description of this book. Chapters would be too generous. While most vignettes lead naturally into the next, a few don't flow as quickly into another, like a hard stop and onto a separate topic. Of course, such is the nature of the journals from which the author compiled her book, so you need to read with grace, knowing that the flow or rhythm of your reading might be interrupted here or there.
The author's suggestion of keeping journals is a great one! Take Nicole's "Lessons Earned" and hold onto them like a friendly pocket/backpack companion. Let her book guide you into writing your own. From journals, not only are you writing down your memories, but you are also capturing your lessons. Your reflections can lead others to their greatness. You never know, from your words written down, what might come out of them later. If nothing else, it's a way to make your memories more tangible; however, perhaps your reflections lead you to share your own "Lessons Earned" with those you know and those you have yet to meet. You have nothing to lose, only lessons and experience to gain. Thank you, Nicole Ricci, for paving the way for others to do the same.