Short-form wisdom from The Girl’s Guide

Happy pub day to the brand new edition of The Girl’s Guide, a book as witty as it is brilliant as it is necessary.

At its simplest, it’s a guide for girls, born of one question (“What do you know now that you wish you’d known in your 20s?”) and one goal (to speak to modern women who have questions about everything—not just dating, but online bank accounts; not just social media but bikini waxes and job interviews and manners that make a difference and on and on).

It’s been through a few different looks since it was first published in 2006.

In celebration, we’re sharing some of author Melissa Kirsch’s witticisms. Below you’ll find words to live by, with a pinch of snark and a healthy dose of empathy.

• You’re a living, breathing person, not a series of hashtags and check-ins.
• We’re all living in the Real World. Your life is right now.

 

• A girl cannot live on witty Gchat correspondence alone.
• Do not underestimate the joy inherent in a pile of clean, warm clothes.
• If you feel like an anvil might very well fall out of the sky and crush you to smithereens every time you sit down at your computer to write a cover letter, or if the idea of even skimming job postings online gives you the dry heaves, take heart.

 

• Calories are not the demon spawn of fat, but a measure of energy content.
• Forkfuls of Dijon mustard do not a meal make.
• You never really stop needing your parents’ approval. You’re never magically an adult.

 

• Try to limit your shopping excur­sions to quests for specific items: “Today I need to find a good winter scarf” vs. “Today I am trolling for happiness.”
• Look into the other person’s eyes when you shake hands. I don’t mean give them the “Let’s get it on” smoldering gaze, but rather the “I’m pleased to meet you,” perfectly pleasant eye-lock.

 

• Nothing says “I’m faking a sick day” more than someone who gives the fine details of her stool consistency to her boss over the phone.
• Thou shalt not flirt with the person your friend is interested in, involved with, has a crush on, or noticed first.
• Humility is just as attractive as your third Instagram post this week.

 

And perhaps most importantly:

• We have only so much time here—let it be spent on doing things that make us like ourselves.

 

The Girl’s Guide is available wherever books are sold including the following online retailers:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Powell’s | Workman