How to Ruin Everything discussion

George Watsky’s book How to Ruin Everything was full of essays about his life. From his most well-known essay Ask Me What I’m Doing Tonight! I learned that showing growth through writing meant including the lowest points in life and finding meaning in them. I couldn’t help but feel a bit down as Watsky writes “we’d talk about that awful rainstorm that just passed or that awful snowstorm on the way, until showtime. Afterword, I’d get back in my rental car, stop at Walmart and pick up some emotional crutches (...) microwave my macaroni, chug my Coke, then fall asleep without brushing my teeth.” (Watsky, 80). Watsky goes on to elaborate on the serenity of his career traveling about the midwest and how although it wasn’t ideal, he realized a lot about himself from it. I learned that no matter how painful or ugly, I have to write about my rock bottom if I ever want to show my reader how I’ve grown as a human.

Watsky’s entire book is composed on anecdotes from his life. I learned throughout reading his whole book that messages and broader themes can be conveyed (in secrete of course) through stories that seemingly have nothing to do with the overarching theme at hand. I found this most effective in his introduction where he writes about putting the wrong cover for his book, ironically “ruining” his entire look. I learned that even small nuggets of a story like this can hold such a broad meaning if written with honesty and sincerity the way he does by leaving in every ugly detail.

The last thing I learned from How to Ruin Everything is to not be afraid to show emotion. A lot of his central themes revolve around breaking through fears which I think are best applied to writing. When writing my creative nonfictions I tend to only scrape the surface of my feelings and thoughts, but Watsky says “A person’s job is to feel” (Watsky, 63), planting the notion in my mind that no matter how stupid or cliche I think I’m being, my emotions are human and that in itself is something special and beautiful.