The Courage To Be Disliked brings wisdom that every single person on planet Earth will benefit from. I wholeheartedly believe that this book should be read by anyone as soon as they are old enough to comprehend the text and if we did this for a few generations, the world will for sure be a better place.

This book takes a very easy to consume conversation format that appears to be a direct transcript of the dialogue between the authors.

Koga, the Youth, who had been unhappy with his life and attempted to turn things around by practising the teachings of Alfred Adler, one of the 3 giants in 19th century psychology, and failed, decided to seek out Kishimi, an eccentric Philosopher who is a scholar of Adlerian Psychology and teaches that happiness is available to and attainable by everyone, for guidance.

That’s not true. He was there to challenge the Philosopher’s teachings. In fact, he was determined to tear down the philosopher and make him eat his words!

This book details the robust and frank conversation that ensued. Frank… well, that’s putting it lightly. Seeing as the Youth was determined to bring down the Philosopher, he was outright disrespectful at times. I was honestly shook, every fibre of my Asian being frowned upon the Youth.

However, some fibres of my human being remembered and understood youthful brashness and also how different rules apply to the male gender the world over (eye rolls) Still, it was lovely to “watch” the Philosopher gracefully and patiently lay breadcrumbs for the Youth to follow and to help him open his rigid and closed mind. What I appreciated the most was that he simply guided, but never force “the horse” to drink.

The most valuable lesson for me was the Separation of Tasks. Too often our stresses and woes, pain and suffering come either from others sticking their noses into tasks that belong to no one but ourselves. Or conversely, us meddling in others’ tasks under the delusion that we are acting with noble and divine intentions. Once we’ve learnt to truly distinguish these, embrace what’s ours and discard what’s not ours, then one can truly begin to live freely and fully.

I would love to see this as compulsory reading in Grade 10 as I really do wholeheartedly believe every single human should read this book and that it can help the world become a better place.

Do you have the courage to be disliked?

Grab your copy of The Courage To Be Disliked here*.