The Best Self Care Books Reviewed

There are so many books about self care on the market that it can be hard to find the right one for you.

Here are are a few reviews of my favorite self care books.

Self Care for Moms by Sara Robinson

If there is one group of women that needs a little extra self care, everyone knows it’s the moms among us! Mom’s typically help run the household and are usually responsible for their kids needs and often put themselves last when it comes to self care. Does this sound familiar?

In the book Self Care for Moms by Sara Robinson, you will discover more than 150 methods to take care of yourself while also taking care of the family.

This book is full of actionable tips, and Sara intentionally makes them easy and fun so they fit into your already busy lifestyle. The author wrote this book with busy moms in mind, so no matter how crazy your schedule is, you will be able to follow and use her self care tips.

Her self care tips are broken down into activities that take 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. They range from something simple like a quick 5 minute yoga, to listening to a favorite song, to getting a manicure, to reconnecting with an old friend for lunch.

Many moms complain about having no time to take care of themselves. But these tips are practical and will nurture your mind, body and soul in a way that will fit into even the most complicated schedule.

The tips will help you feel energized and as a result you will likely feel like you’re being a better mom to your kids, and partner to your spouse.

Self Care for the Self Aware by Dave Markowitz

If you are a highly sensitive person or consider yourself an empath or you do healing work professionally, this book is specifically for you!

If this describes you, then you are undoubtedly aware that you have unique needs since you likely absorb others negative energy when they share their thoughts and feelings. This is the only self care book on the market specifically tailored to the needs of highly sensitive people, empaths, and professionals.

High levels of awareness for yourself and for others means you get a double dose of negative emotions like sadness, depression, anxiety, anger and so on. You also get the positive impact, but the negative emotions likely outnumber them, especially if you are in a helping profession. The result is that you need even greater self awareness and methods for your own self care.

Dave Markowitz’s Self Care for the Self Aware by Dave Markowitz. is specifically written for the sensitive person who is intuitive, sensitive, and more exposed to others’ pain. In the book he teaches a 5-step process that is designed to teach you how to use your empathy gift wisely instead of allowing it to harm you. With these techniques you will be able to heal quickly from encounters with people who bring negative and even painful energy in your presence. These techniques will help you evolve as a more effective and natural intuitive healer while also taking better care of your own emotions.

Start Where You Are

When Meera Lee Patel set out to publish Start Where You Are, her goal was to inspire people and help them understand how to have a deeper understanding of themselves and connect better with their world in general.

Meera knew journaling was a beneficial therapeutic tool for self discovery, and Start Where You Are is a unique book to help you reach inside and embrace who you are, and change what needs to be altered. If you’re looking for self-care + self-discovery, then this is definitely the book for you!

The hardcover book is a gorgeous journal that is very colorful and uplifting with its design. Overall it’s less of a typical book and more of an interactive journal with easy interactive prompts that get you thinking about what matters most in life to you and how you can achieve more. She provides daily motivation to take time for your self care. And the process of working through the prompts will help you unleash your imagination as you brainstorm and write out your dreams/goals in a way that you can reflect on and return to in the future and track your self care progress.

Overall, this is a very inspiring, uplifting book that lifts your spirit up and prompts you to make change from a place of peace and calm. It’s the type of book that turns into a journal that you will keep and reflect back on. And it also makes a great gift for others in your life – whether it’s for your mom, sister, daughter, or friend.

The Art of Extreme Self Care

The journey that takes you from someone who feels overwhelmed physically and mentally to someone who takes great care of themselves, is not an instant one. It takes time to develop self awareness and then change those behaviors and habits.

Cheryl Richardson, the author of The Art of Extreme Self Care, aims to help readers with that self care discovery process. She outlines out a 12-month self discovery process that leads to you being able to put your oxygen mask on first before trying to help others.

In Cheryl’s plan, you’re presented with a monthly action plan of action steps to use to take care of yourself both mentally and physically. In the book, she shares many inspirational personal stories with you of how she took the same journey.

The focus of this book is on actions and practical steps to lead to lasting changes and improvements in your life. Her perspective is that self care should never be an indulgence, and her monthly plans will help you take the step-by-step journey toward that end goal.

The A to Z Self Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals

Self care can be hit or miss for many people. Everyone wants to make things better for themselves, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed and not make any changes. And if you work as a professional caretaker who is used to focusing on others, it’s even easier to be overly attuned to others’ needs and get even further lost in the chaos of everyday life.

If this describes you, you will really appreciate The A to Z Self Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals by Erlene Grise-Owens. This book is specifically for those whose career or life situation is all about taking care of the needs of other people.

The A to Z method described in this book is about increasing your self awareness of your own needs so you can get your sleep and physical energy foundation on track to give yourself strength and energy to get through each day. In addition to your physical needs its important to have your emotional and social needs on track so you have a strong baseline from which to start each day from. She also helps you establish goals so you can maintain momentum and track your progress and follow through.

Caretaking professionals have a high turnover rate because they have stressful caretaking jobs. To counteract the tendency toward emotional burn out, you have to take your role as a caretaker and apply it to your own needs first. The self nurturing skills you acquire from this book will turn you into a better caretaking professional.

The Little Book of Self Care

If you feel stressed to your maximum capabilities, having someone telling you to implement a big self care strategy can actually feel too overwhelming and it might even backfire.

If this describes your level of overwhelm, a simpler, easier approach might be perfect for you. The Little Book of Self-Care by Mel Noakes might be a perfect plan to start making the little changes necessary to fully transform your life. Implementing small seemingly minor changes, one a time is a very easy way to take a step toward a journey of greater satisfaction and self care, without getting overwhelmed.

The author, Mel Noakes, is a health coach who has guided many individuals on their path to lifestyle improvements. His advice and encouragement will help you recognize what’s draining your energy and making you unhappy and help you start to repair those things – without feeling overwhelmed.

In summary, Mel’s process starts with identifying your most pressing needs through a quick assessment. Then you will learn how to make little tweaks to your day so that you feel like you have time to refuel your physical and mental energy and relax and enjoy your life. He addresses routines to help ensure you build great habits around sleep, exercise, diet, and other areas. You will also learn cognitive techniques to help your mind be positive focused and engaged to deal with anything life throws at you.

The Self Care Prescription

Have you ever wished you could go to the doctor and get a prescription to take care of yourself? If so, then you will love this book! In The Self Care Prescription, author Robyn L. Gobin, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist, shares specific techniques to help you better manage your stress and reduce your anxiety. She will help you with a strategy to protect yourself from the daily chaos that life throws at us women. She takes you through the main areas of your life – e.g. career, relationships, relaxation – and helps you determine what your best strategy is for each of these key areas of your life.

This book is designed to be your personal prescription to heal every area of your life. You will learn how to create a vision for your life that you are in charge of, using self care strategies build your momentum toward achieving your goals and help you achieve a balance of effort and enjoyment in your home and work life. Without this energy, you will burn out – and none of us were born to work all day and come home just to sleep and repeat the cycle.

The plan in this book will help you balance time with loved ones with focused work. This book doesn’t have a set plan, instead it lets you create the perfect plan that is tailored to your individual needs. She also walks the reader through specific situations, like how to deal with anxiety, or fix things when you have no motivation. Her techniques will help you get back on your feet quickly.

In summary, this book is literally the equivalent of a doctor’s prescription for self care. This book will help you learn what self care is really about and translate that into daily practice so you’re improving your ability to take care of yourself one day at a time. This book will help you create a more engaged life with greater happiness and ability to have a positive impact on those around you.

Related: How to do Self-Care On a Limited Budget!

The Smart Girls Guide to Self Care

There are times in life when you suddenly realize you feel trapped and unhappy. Often when you analyze the situation later, you realize there were many warning signs that you ignored. But instead of taking care of yourself, you neglected your own needs and that left you more vulnerable to negative or toxic situations. This book focuses a lot on co-dependency issues. For example, are you the type of person who is always at the beck and call of family and friends and unable to say no, even if it means sacrificing your own needs? Or do you often engage in negative self talk and put yourself down as ugly, fat, stupid?

If the above resonates with you, then the Smart Girl’s Guide to Self Care, by Shahida Arabi, may be a good option for you. It will help you reclaim your power and independence with some strategic self care and implement a self care regimen that lifts you up rather than tears you down. It will help you take care of those in your life while also taking care of your own needs.

Related: Self Care Affirmations

In summary, this book is a helpful guide to take you on a discovery process about co-dependency issues. It will teach you practical tips and practices around acceptance, affirmations, mindfulness, meditation and more. And it will help give you perspective if you are in an abusive or toxic relationship where you are being taken advantage of. And it will offer you tools to reverse the course you are on and improve things.

 

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