Written by Sowmya Gopi
How are you all doing? “Okay”? “Fine”? Let’s change that response to “Great!” together. We all have good days and bad days. There’s days when we don’t even feel like getting out of bed and functioning, days when we feel we have had enough of this monotonous boring life, and days when we forget to love ourselves. Struggling through our lives, we often tend to feel disappointed and hopeless. Take a break, relax and indulge in these books to freshen up and we hope these turn out to be your sunshine on cloudy days.
1. Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig
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An honest, vivid, and beautifully written book on depression as the author makes us live his story with him. This book isn’t about how to fight depression, but rather how to live with it. It is relatable as it doesn’t sugar coat anything and in manner very comforting to read.
Here’s a quote from the book,
“The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. “
2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
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Contrary to what the title of the book might suggest to you, this book isn’t about saying “screw you” to all your bosses. It basically tells you life sucks and to get on with it. This book is positive, fully refreshing, and honest and it will teach you how to identify your limits and use your weaknesses to propel you forward. It will also help you learn your priorities and might even teach you how to truly face your fears and love yourself. What do you really have to lose but your inhibitions?
Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
3. The Things You See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim
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In this fast paced world, we don’t have to do anything to match up. In this bestselling mindfulness guide, a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher born in Korea and educated in the United States illuminates a path to inner peace and balance amid the overwhelming demands of everyday life. This book is full of wisdom and it’s heart-warming and soothing to read. It is a gentle reminder of how easy it is to lose connection when we are too wound up in our busy lives.
“Some say they don’t really know what they are looking for in life. This might be because, instead of getting in touch with how they feel, they have led their lives according to other people’s expectations. Live your life not to satisfy others, but to fulfil what your heart desires.”
4. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
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The author revolutionises the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant—in the blink of an eye—that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work—in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?
It takes a close look into interactions and decision-making. It’s worth a read to understand why we think the way we think.
5. You’re Not Lost: An Inspired Action Plan for Finding Your Own Way by Maxie McCoy
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You’re Not Lost is the manifesto for a generation of women who don’t have the self-confidence to trust their instincts and go for it. This compelling guide gets to the root of the problem, showing you how to drop the panic-inducing, big-picture obsession over “Where am I going with my life?” and instead shines a spotlight on the small yet impactful decisions that will take you from lost to found. The real life stories from inspirational women are thought-provoking and energising.
6. Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared by Jessica Honegger
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The author’s perspective of global sisterhood and the power of lifting each other up in the midst of fear and scarcity is exactly what we need today. This book is both an invitation and a challenge to bravely show up for ourselves, for the people we love, and for the strangers that we will one day call family.
7. Can You Learn to Be Lucky?: Why Some People Seem to Win More Often Than Others by Karla Starr
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“Do you believe in luck?” Some of us believe that we make our own luck. Others see inequality everywhere. Karla Starr has a third answer: unlucky, “random” outcomes have predictable effects on our behaviour that often make us act in self-defeating ways without even realising it. We don’t always realise when the world’s invisible biases work to our advantage or recognise how much of a role we play in our own lack of luck. This book is informative, humorous, motivating, and a helpful read.
8. Hack Your Anxiety: How to Make Anxiety Work for You in Life, Love, and All That You Do by Alicia H. Clark
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Dr. Alicia Clark recognises anxiety as the unsung hero in the path to success and happiness. It can become the motivating force that will lead to a better you, and The Anxiety Advantage aims to restore anxiety to its rightful place as a positive resource. The book is well explained and communicated. It offers a comprehensive overview of the science of anxiety and then gives clear ideas about how to address varying levels of anxiety.
9. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
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Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes, but ask the same women whether they’d feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some reticence creeps in. The author draws on her own experience of working in some of the world’s most successful businesses and looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale. The book is short and simple. It shows us the reality of how women are strong and independent yet they’re holding back and not leading in. The author introduces us to a generation that may not even be comfortable calling themselves feminists.
10. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
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The author introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organisations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love — to transform their lives and your own. This is one of those rare books that can help you make positive changes in your life and at the same time see the world in a new way.
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