Finding a good self help book can be challenging. There are so many out there. Someone like me, I want to read ALL the books out there. It’s crazy how I’ll take one look at the title and it calls to me so much. Take for example, How to Make Good Things Happen. Umm, hello??? Sign me TF up!!
This article is a collection of books written or published in 2021, so just know that these books are super recent. However, I do want to mention the mother of all self-help books: Mindset by Carol Dweck. If it weren’t for this book, no other book would make sense. This book taught me what no other book could teach me: that a growth mindset can be cultivated by even the most pessimistic person (me.)
Anyway, without further ado, here are the top 5 books of 2021 that you need to read for your self-help, personal development, and self-improvement – whatever you might be searching for.
1. Your Brain Is Always Listening: Tame the Hidden Dragons That Control Your Happiness, Habits, and Hang-Ups
This book made me think. I am aware of the power of affirmations. I remember when learning affirmations opened this amazing door for me in my mind. I used to be a certified negative person. Learning to be positive and optimistic was extremely difficult until I found out about affirmations through Louise Hay. Long story short, it changed my life.
The thing I like about this book is that all the chapters are quite short and to the point. This is great for people who feel like reading is a chore. You get bite-sized information that you can read and stew on for the next few days. Additionally, the chapters are divided into dragons. Yes, dragons. Examples include Anxious Dragons, Saying Yes, When You Should Say No Dragons, and Food Pusher Dragons.
Another interesting term used in the book is “ANT” or Automatic Negative Thoughts. The author calls for eliminating ANT’s which I wholly stand by. We need to get rid of automatic negative thoughts. They are the worst. We aren’t in the stone ages where it helped the cave men to always anticipate threats.
This book was definitely a nice and easy read for improving the self.
Check it out on Amazon.
2. How to Make Good Things Happen: Know Your Brain, Enhance Your Life
When I saw the title for this book, I immediately knew it was for me. I’ve already mentioned Mindset by Carol Dweck. This book helped me to think in a more positive manner. Of course, I don’t automatically think in such a manner. But the book taught me that my negative thoughts were a sign of a fixed mindset. The crazy thing is that just today, I wrote in my journal about how nothing ever worked out and everyone was out to get me. But I remembered Mindset and fixed my mindset.
This book covers pretty much everything you need to change your entire life. It covers so many topics, ranging from self esteem, guilt, forgiveness, and how to reduce cortisol (stress hormone.) It’s quite detailed and offers research and books on a lot of the biological processes that affect mental health. The chapters are short and easy to digest, so it will be a great read for someone who likes the technical aspect of things.
Check it out on Amazon.
3. Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
I’m someone who loves to read about boundaries because, well, I don’t have many. One could say I have none. Lately, I’ve been struggling with the difference between “expectations” and boundaries. Is it unfair to expect things from someone? What are expectations and what are boundaries? This was the ideal book for me to figure all that out.
The cover art for this book also attracted me to the book. The colors and minimalism were perfect.
I suffer from codependency, which is something the author talks about. This book has everything you need to know about boundaries. I also learned about enmeshment. I think I’m someone who gets enmeshed a lot in my life.
What is an enmeshed relationship?
This is a relationship where the people in the relationship or family are expected to behave a certain way. There are no boundaries between one person and the other. It’s almost an obsession with another person while discarding your unique existence.
Check it out on Amazon.
4. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Let’s face it – not everyone can afford therapy, whether financially, or having the time and energy to go for a session. For me, now that I have a job and can afford to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist, I’m so happy I can make myself feel better.
I started this blog because I wanted to help people who are dealing mental health issues but can’t afford help. This book is about a therapist who has never been to therapy but find out that she needs it. When her fiancee breaks up with her, she has trouble processing her feelings and she decides to go for therapy.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to know how therapy works and how you can use these same methods on yourself. I’m an advocate for the fact that normal activities that we do at home are actually coping mechanisms. We can use CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) methods at home and fix many of our cognitive distortions!
Check it out on Amazon.
5. Happier, No Matter What: Cultivating Hope, Resilience, and Purpose in Hard Times
My journey to happiness has been a long one. Even now, I can’t say I’ve mastered it, but I know that I have reached an interesting stage in my pursuit for happiness. I know that there is a difference between short-tern pleasure and long-term happiness. And man, is happiness difficult! For example, I’m happier when I work out, but do I like to work out? (Spoiler: No.)
In the chapter of Emotional Wellbeing, the author talks about something called “permission to be human.” And this is something I have struggled with all my life. I never see myself as a human. I’m always striving to be prettier, fitter, and more confident. But here’s the thing – I am perfectly human. I am perfect at beign human. I’m not human because I’m good at working out and looking good. All that I am makes me human! I don’t have to fit into some box to prove my human-ness.
Check it out on Amazon.
Those are my top self-help books for 2021! Let me know about what books you have read recently and if I should read them too! Comments are down below in the comments section.
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