Summary

An irresistible guide to living without holding back, from the vibrant lifestyle entrepreneur and host of the Living Fully podcast. 

Mallory Ervin is known for exuding energy, joy, and laughter. But despite her public accomplishments, Mallory is no stranger to battling unhealthy attachments to performance and success. Now, in her unforgettable debut book, Mallory invites readers to see how her surprising journey – from achievement and accolades to devastating, never-before-shared lows – guided her and led her to a deeply fulfilling life. 

In Living Fully, Mallory shares her personal story of overcoming the harmful and damaging patterns in her life and shows readers how to trade these for something completely new and more rewarding. What she discovered was that there had always been a different life available to her, one that she had not yet seen. Now she encourages readers to resist a “just fine” existence and step into a life they never dared to imagine before. Through inspiring stories and practical advice, Mallory offers the motivation to

• stop returning to a “just getting by” mentality

• shift perspective so that blessings don’t become burdens

• remember that life’s curveballs don’t have to knock you off your feet

• identify your passions and get back to your truest self

• slow down and enjoy the extraordinary in the everyday

• quiet the voice of fear

• get clear on the life you want

“I wrote this to be your wake-up call, the thing that turns the lights on in your life and propels you to make real change, once and for all,” Mallory says. “I want you to wake up and stay awake.”

For anyone hungry for a richer life or tired of coasting through life in a “cruise control” mindset, Living Fully is the ultimate invitation to embrace abundance and joy – and not look back!

Why I chose to read this book
I hate to admit this, but it’s true; I was influenced by an influencer to buy this book. The influencer in question claimed that reading this book changed her life. This bold claim intrigued me so I searched the book online and read reviews. All the reviews had the same sentiment: “This book changed my life!”. So without much further research, I got the book, hoping that it too, would change my life.

Thoughts & Opinions

My first impression when I received this book was skepticism. It was rather small for a book that would supposedly change my life. Small in the sense that it only has 176 pages. How could 176 pages possibly change my life? Then I reframed my mind and told myself to give it a chance. About halfway through the book, I started asking myself when would the life-altering begin. This is in part my fault because my expectations were way too high. I should have researched the book and the author more before ordering. I don’t think I would have bought this book if I knew it read more like an autobiography and less like a step-by-step guide to living fully. I had no idea whom Mallory Ervin was before reading this book. It seems she is quite famous though; according to Wikipedia “Mallory Christina Ervin is an American YouTube personality, former entertainer and former beauty pageant titleholder from Morganfield, Kentucky. She held the title of Miss Kentucky 2009 and was 4th runner-up to Miss America 2010.”. What I learned about Ervin through her book is that she competed on the reality television show The Amazing Race three times, she has led an exceptionally interesting – albeit extremely privileged – life, and thus feels qualified to provide life advice. 

Ervin vulnerably shares her thrilling highs and life-threatening lows. Don’t get me wrong, she does share some insightful advice, but it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. I had a few other issues with this self-help book. I felt like some of the advice thrown out contradicted some of the advice shared in previous chapters. Some of the questions and statements from Ervin can come across as condescending sometimes, again this can be due to her privileged background. 

Religion is brought up in many instances in this book as a tool to guide you in your life. Unfortunately, this is not relatable for me; I did not grow up with religion and it has never been a part of my life. It doesn’t take away that this could be great advice for those of you who choose to be religious. 

And finally, there is a very traumatic story towards the end of this self-help book. When I started reading it I had a sense of where it was going and I had to pause, prepare myself mentally and read it the next day. Sometimes you just have to protect your mental health by carefully navigating what you allow yourself to be exposed to. 

Regrettably, this book didn’t have the desired effect of changing my life.