I recommended The Courage to Be Disliked because it helped me think differently about the pressure to please other people. The book, by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, is listed with both authors on the publisher’s website.
What stayed with me was the question of how much of our life we organise around being approved of. If every decision must make everyone happy, there is very little room left to be ourselves.
For me, the useful part is permission to be imperfect. You can make a mistake, recognise it and change direction. You do not have to turn yourself into a flawless person before you are allowed to live honestly.
That does not mean refusing feedback or ignoring other people. I take it as an invitation to separate being responsible for my actions from trying to control everybody’s opinion of me. I also mentioned The Courage to Be Happy in the video. These are books I found valuable, rather than a formula everyone must follow.
Original social post · 2026-10-11