This has been a big growing year for me. I’ve been taking a lot of steps to gain much needed confidence to go for my dreams and figure myself out.
Through all this learning, I’ve begun to seriously appreciate the abundance of self help books out there by people who inspire me by their writing. I want to share the books I have read and found helpful in hopes that they may help you too!
The first couple of books I have are journals, but they’re like guided journals. They tell you what the subject of that week is and how to use it to better yourself. This has been a giant help for me. I see a counselor for my anxiety and what not and one of the things that is always brought up is the importance of journaling to help figure your feelings out and why things are bothering you… and to be honest I struggle with doing that. I’d much rather hide. So that’s why along with my journaling homework assignments these books are helping me as well with changing my mind set and how I handle things.
The first book I wanted to mention is 52 Lists is for Happiness. Gratitude is such an important concept. And as thankful as I am for where I am compared to a couple of years ago, sometimes life gets overwhelming and it’s easy to lose sight of how far we’ve come. And I know for me just getting to remind myself how far God has brought me, gives me soooo much encouragement towards the journey I’m on. I’m learning to not be so hard on myself and to focus on things I’m good at, the things I enjoy, and thinking through how to open my mind to things I don’t perceive as enjoyful but may be necessary and cutting out things that just need to be done away with.
The second journal is one that focuses on how to teach yourself how to connect with God and prayer more effectively if that makes sense. I’m someone that wants to sit down and talk to God about what’s going on, thank Him for all he’s done, and ask for guidance, help or understanding depending on what is on my heart.
This journal kind of helps guide you with Bible verses that serve as a reminder of all God has done for his children and kind of helps with forming what it is you wanted to pray about. Which I appreciate because I tend to get overwhelmed and then my prayers show me how short my attention span is as I pray about basically everything under the sun, with no real intention. So if you want kind of a Bible study prayer tool to help you get started this is a really good journal for that in my opinion.
This is such an awesome book! Glenn brought up the idea of implementing vision boards at the beginning of the year. I didn’t really understand what it was supposed to do and honestly thought it was kind of dumb. I went along with it and created kind of a mediocre board of big dreams and things that I want to accomplish. And honestly now I really recommend them!
It’s been so cool to use the board to keep me motivated especially in seasons like this where not a whole lot makes sense. Recent life events have me basically feel like the movie Aladdin where we’re having to jump and hope the magic carpet is there to catch us – but I digress.
In the midst of this I came across this book and it has been such a good read on basically creating a more effective vision board, which I am getting ready to create very soon! I’d honestly recommend this book to anyone not only for all of the exercises and tips, but also for her life story, which has been super inspiring. She became divorced and left on her own as a single mom and basically has had to rebuild her whole life, for that alone I feel like it’s worth the read.
I think this book is on everyone’s to read list that I’ve talked to and there’s a reason for it. This book is the best welcome to my Ted talk. It’s legit like a pep rally and a good kick in the pants to go after what you want with no apologies, because you know what you deserve it, I loved this book so much and if you struggle with self doubt and getting overwhelmed this book is for you! I’m so excited to read her other books, after having read this one!
The last book I’ve read self help wise and would recommend is The Sparkle effect it’s such a good read especially for younger girls. I loved the message and think no matter your age you can gain something from reading it!
I hope that you will read some if not all of these books! They have been so helpful for me and if you’re struggling getting to the next step in your life I think these could help.
I’d also love to know your favorite self help book or journal, comment below! I’d love to find new books to read along the way 🙂 I also wish you the best in all your endeavors, may we always build each other up and never down ❤
(Additionally if you use the links provided it will help support my blog, it doesn’t cost you any extra and will help me in the future to bring even better content.)
Cheerfully Bliss 