Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. What specific tactics or strategies does Rhimes employ in the course of improving her life would you like to emulate? What is it about her approach that would make this specific change work for you too?

2. Rhimes often reflects on the patterns and behaviors she adopted during adolescence that have impacted the person she becomes as an adult. Consider your own childhood or teen years: what patterns or traits from your youth are integral to the person you are today? Are these helpful or harmful traits?

3. Rhimes speaks often of the pantry at her childhood home where she played and invented worlds and characters. Consider a similar place, event, or moment from your own childhood or adolescence. How have you recreated this in your adult life? If you haven’t, how might you take steps to do so?

4. In the course of saying “yes,” Rhimes arrives at a decision to surrender to what is often termed the work/life balance by accepting that she will never be a perfect parent. What aspects of her discussion of parenting while maintaining a career resonate with you? Where do you find her model helpful and what aspects of her decisions do you find fault with?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Rhimes speaks frequently of the ways that her introverted nature are a kind of obstacle she must reconcile during her “Year of Yes.” What are the advantages and downsides of both introversion and extroversion? What societal messages are sent about each of them? Where are these messages helpful and where are they inaccurate or damaging?

2. The professional obstacles Rhimes has faced as an African-American woman is a topic Rhimes confronts with frankness. How does her frankness about not wanting to be a “token,” so to speak, for her race or gender position Rhimes in the larger context of social advancement?

3. Rhimes acknowledges that she is a person of economic and social privilege. In what ways does this privilege play a role in the success of the “year of yes?” What criticisms or caveats might be made in regard to Rhimes’s instructions to readers based on those who are disadvantaged in some way?

4. Rhimes explores the impact of representation for minorities in the documentary Black Barbie. Read about the impetus for the documentary or view it in order to discuss the impacts and effects of representation for children in particular.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. A unique aspect of memoir is that the author is also a figure within the book itself. How does Rhimes approach herself as a character in her memoir? What makes her a round (or developed) character?

2. In what ways is vulnerability an important motif within the book’s subtext? In what ways does Rhimes’s transparency about her own flaws and struggles make her a reliable narrator?

3. Rhimes’s book, while a memoir, also contains elements of the Self-Improvement genre. Compare and contrast Rhimes’s approach by examining other popular books in this genre. These might include Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly; Glennon Doyle’s Carry on Warrior; or James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

4. Rhimes discusses how the character Cristina Yang she created for the television show Grey’s Anatomy is a version of herself. To what extent is this evident to you after watching the show? Which fictional character from literature or another form of media do you consider to be your “Cristina?”

5. Examine one of the speeches reprinted in the book or a transcript of one available online. In what way does Rhimes use her personal experiences and beliefs to structure her speeches or develop metaphors and themes to form their foundation? How does this technique make for an effective speech?