Tina W.

What I love about this book is that it helps you to see yourself with fresh eyes, it helps you to see “YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMISE OF YOUR OWN LIFE,” without added condemnation. The bare-naked truth that many strong women face and wrestle on a daily basis. I can relate to the author on so many levels. Being the leader at work, the reasonable one in the family, the successful one that bails everyone else out, the one that listens to problems but seems to sail through life without her own. Yet, every so often, folks around her are SHOCKED when she makes a drastic change in her life. A divorce, a remarriage, a career reserved traditionally for men, where she both succeeds and fails. And still, they expect her to smile and carry on, suck it up cupcake…that’s what we tell ourselves. We are our own harshest critics, until one of us, in this case the author, steps out of the assembly line and says NO! Not anymore! I will not be abused or ignored by anyone, least of all myself, because society, or culture, or family, or any other demographic to which we belong expects it. Oh how I can relate to this book…written by a sister who really gets it, because she lived it. The part about marriage, people who stay together “for centuries” without a romantic interest. The idea of getting to know the authentic you, and then learning to love and accept yourself for who you are, as you find yourself. Part of this introspection and honesty, is recognizing your own contributions to the toxic environment enveloping you, even if it initially looks like someone else is the cause. The bare-naked honesty with yourself even lets you see that you can very well be the trigger in someone else’s mistreatment of you. This is a book about going back to the beginning, the foundation of who “YOU” are in your own eyes, and if that is not the person you want to be, it gives you many methods of affecting change in your own life – at the core of which is taking responsibility for yourself. I must add that as a one who is a Christian Life Coach, with a graduate degree from Liberty University in Christian Life Coaching, I have already been able to use this book in some of my sessions. A must read!