This is a no-nonsense advice book for a society desperately in need of tough love. With meditations on perseverance, failure, and finding much-needed heroes, the book is the antidote for a prevailing "safety culture" of trigger warnings and safe spaces. Interspersed with lessons and advice is Crenshaw's own story of how an average American kid faced all sorts of unexpected situations and managed to navigate them all with a few simple tricks: a sense of humor and an even greater sense that we are in control of our own destiny.

Perspective from darkness -- Who is your hero? -- No plan B -- Be still -- Sweat the small stuff -- The right sense of shame -- A sense of duty -- Do something hard -- The stories we tell ourselves -- The story of America.