Impactful Books

As I said, I have read several books over the last year or so that have had a significant impact on me in one way or another. Some of them were written for that purpose, but several are just people sharing their own stories. 

Here are a few of the most impactful, in no particular order.

• Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents - Lindsay C. Gibson
  
  
• The biggest lesson for me in this one wasn't in the understanding and forgiving of my parents for doing the best they could. It was seeing myself in the pages of this book and talking to my kids and knowing that they already understood I did the best I could and they have forgiven traumas and have a lot of really good memories from childhood. I didn't ruin them.
  

• 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life - Henry Cloud
  
  
• My two favorite lessons from this book were "Play the Movie" and "Don't Play Fair." You'll have to read the book to find out what those mean. It's likely one I'll listen to again in the coming months. As someone grows stronger and more mentally healthy, two things happen to lessons like the ones in this book. 1. You read it and think, "I've got that one down!" and can celebrate a success. Or 2. The lessons take on different and/or deeper meanings than you previously understood. Either way, it will be worth the re-read.
   

• Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing - Matthew Perry
  
  
• This book would be on the list even if he hadn't passed away last week.  As a long-time fan of Matthew Perry, I was shocked to learn how deep his battle with addiction was. This is one of a couple on this list where I don't remember all the details specifically, but I know this book touched me deeply.
   

• Spare - Prince Harry
   
  
• This was the first time I saw someone publicly discuss how mushrooms had made an impact on their emotional health. He credits them with making a huge impact on his PTSD. It also made me think more critically about what I see in the media when it comes to celebrities. He talked about how things were twisted and leaked to the press about one family member or another in order to draw attention away from something they didn't want talked about.
   

• I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jeanette McCurdy 
  
  
• I love Jeanette and how raw and honest she is with her fans & readers. Her vulnerability really spoke to me. I don't remember specific "lessons" per se, but I definitely wanted to include it here in this list.
   

• Internal Family Systems Therapy - Richard C Schwartz
  
  
• One therapist whose Bio noted she was trained in IFS Therapy looked at me and said, "That's a textbook. It wasn't meant for you to read. It is for counselors." I asked her if she read it. She said no. I then asked her how much she studied on IFS in school and she pulled out her own textbook and told me there were "at least 10 pages on it."
  
  I learned more from this book than from any of the 6 therapists I talked to between January and July this year.
  

• How to Keep House While Drowning - KC Davis
  
  
• When KC came across my TikTok feed, I appreciated her comments to people about how they shouldn't be judging people for how they clean or don't clean and what they can or can not accomplish. Then I saw she wrote a book and I LOVED it. She helps people change perspective on what housework and equal shares of the work should look like. She also has a lot of tips for neuro-divergent people that can help with cleaning... or life in general.
  I was at one of my lowest points when I found this book and she reminded me to be nice to current self while also being kind to my future self. She also reminded me of some of the lessons I've taught clients over the years, that I had forgotten to apply to myself.
  

• From the Streets to the Suites - Snoop Dog (Only available on Audible.)
  
  
• I love how he talks about having choices in life and that some of those choices are just dependent on how you live and the words that come out of your mouth. He talks about how he feels he spoke situations into existence, good and bad, just by rapping about them. He also talks about seeing the record label that discovered him headed some dark places and buying it and turning it around for good.
  

• Love and Respect - Dr Emerson Eggerichs
  
  
• I heard about this book years ago, but when Mike and I were struggling earlier this year, I couldn't quite recall the title. To be honest, I didn't think he'd read it with me so I didn't try too hard to remember. When we started counseling at the beginning of October, it's one of the first things our counselor told us we were going to do... read this book. It's definitely been impactful.
  

One important thing to remember here is that different books impact people in different ways. Two people can see the same story and have completely different feelings about it. 

A book can't change you on it's own. You have to be open to that change. I definitely believe the Holy Spirit plays a part in that as well... bringing what I need to read to my attention at a time when my spirit is ready to hear it.