In my constant journey to grow as a person and to find guidance in help, I often read self-improvement books. Here are 3 of them that I feel are worth giving a try.
The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders
Cait Flander’s journey in this book is the definition of ‘getting your shit together.’ Without holding back, the author tells her story as she not only overcomes alcoholism and debt but experiments with a no-shopping year. Doing that experiment made her save a lot of money but she realized the reasons behind her habits, what she wanted out of life, and discovered her own strength and dedication. She recorded a large part of her life (some of it on her blog) and this is something I could relate with.
An important part of this book is how the author stuck to her goals, resisted breaking the bad habits she had worked so hard to overcome, and dealt with them while going she was through a tough time, grieving, and was on the verge of quitting. The author was forced to question (and in turn made me wonder) why she needed a particular item or why exactly did she binge-watch tv shows for hours and hours and indulge in unhealthy eating habits.
To a lot of people, these may seem first-world problems and perhaps they are. But we can’t ignore that they are the reality, and the lifestyle of a lot of us, and I personally haven’t been happy with this for a long time. We constantly seek healthier and happier living. That requires taking steps towards changing our lives and a lot of hard work. I’m very inspired by Cait’s story to work towards making my life better.
Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis
I read this book after reading Girl, Stop Apologizing even though it is published first. Going into this, I didn’t expect to like it as much as it’s successor. I thought it would be pretty much the same but I was wrong.
Girl, Wash Your Face has a vulnerability and realness that the other book did not. It is not just a book telling you to ‘Be Positive!’ in fifty ways. It talks about real problems that the author discusses from her own experience and gives wisdom and solutions that will stay with you. The way the author candidly talked about self-publishing her first book after getting rejected multiple times, adoption, and childhood trauma particularly stuck with me. I would highly recommend you to listen to the audiobook of this book. I can still hear Rachel Hollis’s voice in my mind telling me to toughen up and go for what I want— it was that good.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
The reason this book has been making its rounds on the internet and is so helpful is that it breaks down what habits are and how to build them in the simplest way. If I’m being completely honest, I need a re-read it since I’ve forgotten a lot of what I read and I’m happy to do that because this book is just that brilliant. If you are frustrated with your late-night routine, procrastination, unhealthy eating, or any other habit, read this book. It will help you think of your lifestyle in a logical way and make you see the path you need to walk on. My friend Creating Nikki has done a wonderful job of telling two concepts from this book – Atomic Habits by James Clear: Important takeaway #1 and Identity and Habits: How you describe yourself is powerful
For me, Maybe You Should Talk To Someone was so insightful! I’m not a self help book person tbh 🙈 and for a long time I wasn’t even into non fiction. But I’ve started getting into them now so looking forward to exploring more😁.
I hope you get to read some good ones! I can’t wait to read this book.
Thanks for the post Tavleen
Glad you liked it Mridula!
21 Days of Mirror Work has been helpful for me.
That’s good to know. I’ll check it out!