By Women, For Everyone

In honor of Women’s History Month, my book stack is piled with self-love books authored by women. Each one offers lessons in resilience, confidence, and humanity for all of us.

Photo by Aung Soe Min on Unsplash

The Mountain Is You: Self-Sabotage into Self-Mastery, by Brianna Wiest

Author Wiest speaks to those moments when we feel like we can’t get out of our own way. She unpacks why humans tend to self-sabotage, and leads the reader through the necessary work of recognizing inner potential—and transforming that recognition to belief and action. Her voice is comforting, informative, and convincing. We can do this!

Worthy: How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life, by Jamie Kern Lima

It’s one thing to say “Stop doubting yourself!” It’s another to offer a book filled with the tools, advice, and simple, actionable steps any one of us can take in order to realize our own self-worth. Once we do that, Lima promises, nothing can get in our way as we achieve our biggest dreams and most ambitious goals. 

Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living, by Glennon Doyle

In unflinchingly sharing her own story of discovering and allowing herself to be the woman she is, Doyle inspires and empowers each of us to fully embrace our unique selves. This book is about the incredible power of our inner voice, the one that tells us what we want and who to trust and how to live every day, but that we often try to stifle.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are, by Brené Brown

Brown wants us all to be living what she calls a “wholehearted life”—one where we don’t feel we need to please, perform, or perfect with every move we make, every minute of the day. In reframing imperfection as a gift, she draws on years of research to show how everyone can practice self-compassion and know that we are enough, we are brave, and we are worthy.

On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard, by Jennifer Pastiloff

Jennifer Pastiloff wasn’t always a founder of a global hybrid-yoga workshop called On Being Human, and she recounts her life history here in all its detail, from losing her dad when she was eight years old, dealing with near-full hearing loss, and struggling with depression and mental health issues, to the turning point where she found happiness and forged a new path forward. Her inspiring memoir is a call to us all to listen, accept ourselves and others, and tap into our own sense of peace and happiness.

What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry, MD PhD

If you’ve ever wondered, “What’s wrong with me?” (who hasn’t?) this book explains why the real question should be “What happened to me?” Oprah collaborated with Dr. Perry, a brain and trauma expert, to understand the science of how our experiences and traumas, no matter how long ago, shape our behaviors and responses in our modern lives. Oprah shares her own past struggles and pain with Dr. Perry and the reader, in order to get herself—and by extension, us—to a place of “post-traumatic wisdom.”

✍️ What I’m journaling: I’m working my way through The Everygirl’s 50 journal prompts and affirmations for self-love. A few favorites so far: “Where can you incorporate play into your life?” And “I have a lot to offer the world.”

🥰 Who I’m following: Ebony Travis Tichenor is a powerhouse of joy and inspiration! Caring for her aging mom, I very much feel that she’s a kindred spirit.

📱 Who I’m also following: Seeing Elmo in my Instagram feed is always a treat. He’s generous with self-love and with spreading his happiness and acceptance of others.  

🎧 What I’m listening to: In their addictive podcast, The History Chicks, Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider pull from several thousand years of history to profile historic real and fictional women From Maria Montessori (of the groundbreaking schools) to Mrs. Claus.