Start the Week by Being Good to Yourself: Books on Self-Care

 

When times get tough and everyone has to look out for everyone else -- helping children, older parents, neighbors, and others, the most forgotten person is the self. Yet, taking care of the self can be the single most important thing you do in order to be able to care for all the others who need your help, regardless of your role in their lives or relationship to them. So, start out the week being good to yourself. Here are some books that can help.

   

Mama, do you find yourself too busy to take good care of yourself? Whatever your situation, you deserve spectacular health and wellness. With Julie M. Gentile as your personal wellness mentor, this book coaches you along your own authentic self-care path. Using 108 writing prompts and self-care practices, including yoga poses, meditations, and breathing exercises, Julie shows you practical ways to live well that only a mama modern would understand. Become the self-care goddess you truly want to be—you’re worth it!

A Woman’s Guide to Self-Nurturing offers a new perspective on how to comfort yourself while bolstering self-esteem. Using Bible stories as well as creative techniques for self-nurturing, the book will help you determine exactly what pleases you and nourishes your self-esteem, expand your repertoire of self-nurturing techniques by adding love and gratitude, and show you how self-nurturing can work toward building a new identity. Combining specific guidelines with inspiring examples of self-nurturing, this book will help you recover lost self-esteem and embrace a new mission for a more fulfilling life.

Transitioning to motherhood is hard. Along with it comes a lot of fear, anxiety and responsibility. You want to provide everything for your new child, and it is all too easy to let other things – like self-care – slide. How do new moms stay on top of finances, a healthy diet, housework, a fitness routine, work, and other personal needs?

Combining her expertise as a personal trainer and successful entrepreneur with her life as a wife and mother who is pregnant with her second child, Brittany Renz helps readers find balance as new moms by preparing and establishing routines throughout the nine months of pregnancy. She encourages expectant mothers to set themselves up for success as mothers, spouses and working professionals – and she knows what she is talking about.

Jeremy Feig was at rock bottom – broke, alone, and living in a shoebox-sized apartment. At the same time, his cat was perfectly content. What was her secret? She couldn’t say it out loud, but it was clear she had all the answers to living a good life. How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a hilarious self-help book for guys, based on the lessons of an edgy cat named Shelly. It’s packed with useful advice on topics like relationships, dealing with stress, and even grooming habits. If you feel like your life is spinning out of control, this book will help you set things right – and keep you laughing along the way.

Self-care is more important now than it has ever been. It is exactly what to turn to when you need to stay calm in chaos. is quick read goes beyond the basics of eating well, exercising, and getting quality sleep. Packed with smart self-care strategies, this book can help you get through each day of the week:

Written for active vulnerable elders by a vulnerable elder, this book provides unique perspective on the meaning, adjustment, and management of “stay at home.”  Others made vulnerable by a pandemic will find support, practical guides and relevance in managing life disrupted by an invisible threat and a nation struggling to save itself.

What is the true source of authentic power? Offering a detour from the dead end of this “buy more, be more” culture, the authors demonstrate why the traditional routes to power are accessible only for an elite few. Wrapping warm, profound stories of empowerment around an extensive body of research, Road Map to Power is your guide to a life of dignity, satisfaction, and happiness — and a guide to raising resilient children.

The notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out of the realm of “someday” and dumped in our laps. We can feel lost. How do we cope? How do we find our way? How can we find and keep some kind of balance as we walk this pandemic tightrope? This short book helps us find that balance as well as offering an affirming path forward.  It helps us understand that the crisis humanity is facing is a family crisis. It helps us to take care of ourselves, offering concrete, positive examples.  It helps us to keep our balance by also giving concrete positive examples of how we can help each other.

Survival of the Caregiver is the result of all the author’s ins and outs, ups and downs of caring for her husband for 20 years when he had Parkinson’s Disease, followed by Dementia. This book is written from the heart. It is as personal as it is informative. The author chose to use an alphabetical list of topics so that a busy caregiver can refer to a special need quickly. It is the author’s hope that this book will aid other caregivers in their sad, but meaningful journey with their loved one.

A Book of the Year Finalist in 2014, The Widower’s Guide to a New Life shares the experiences of ten bereaved men as they cope with the trauma of losing a spouse. The book will help new widowers meet such challenges as: how to find consolation through friends, work and prayer; how to start over in terms of new activities, dating and a social life; and how to know when and if a new love relationship is right for you. Guidelines are provided from each widower’s personal experiences, making this book a compendium of useful suggestions for getting through this difficult period with knowledge and grace.

Part of a series on the coronavirus pandemic written by MSI Press authors to share expertise, help, and hope, Tips, Techniques, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic focuses on physical and mental well being during any time of crisis. Topics include meditation and mindfulness; positivity; managing setbacks; laughing at oneself; overcoming challenges; friends, family, and others; managing daily tasks; adaptive solutions; tricks and tools; and miscellaneous musings.

This book takes new widows on a journey from the first difficult days of widowhood through 12 months of self-discovery. Along the way, you will learn how to handle emotional challenges such as suddenly being alone; how to tackle painful tasks including cleaning out hubby’s closet; and how to re-enter the world again in terms of work, personal development and socializing. Guidelines are provided for each new phase, making this book a practical self-help book you can use for re-creating your life. Available in print, e-book, and audio book.

Widow: How to Survive (and Thrive!) in Your 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th Years takes widows beyond the difficult days of  the first year into new opportunities for growth and discovery. Along the way you will learn

•    how to handle emotional challenges connected with dating, sex and starting a new relationship;

•    how to tackle difficult tasks such as re-entering the job market or developing a new mission for your life; and

•    how to handle the long-terms effects of grieving without having it take over your life.

Guidelines are provides for each new phase, making this book a practical tool you can use as you embrace your widowhood  with confidence!

And, especially important these days, self-care during Covid-19 is uber-important. The image comes from the website of the International OCD Foundation, which has much good advice. To read it, click HERE.