Our nation is filled with broken people. Anti-Depressants and sleeping pills are on the rise. Struggle and pain crosses racial, socioeconomic, and gender lines. Sadly, I did not know this. I mean I knew it but I didn't believe that white families could have as much crap going on in their families as Black families do. I didn't think Asian people could be as cruel and abusive to each other as Black people. I mean everybody knows Black people are jacked up. I thought we were some type of anomaly. That we were 'cursed'. I thought all white women felt loved and complete and valued. I thought all Asian women felt valued. I thought all White men were warm and caring and responsive. I thought everybody else but Black children had good dads and were born into a happy middle class existence. I thought everyone else had strong marriages and produced highly accomplished, respectful children. That Black women must've done something terribly wrong. As I began reading more and more White and Asian women's books. I realized that we all have been cursed. It is the curse of sin that breeds pain, abuse, neglect, depression, anger, sickness, and overall evil. We all have been hit with the sack of nickels and we are walking with a limp.
To be honest, I didn't have a bad childhood. I mean, it wasnt perfect but it wasnt terrible. However, some people are more sensitive than others or we don't even realize its as bad as it is because its what we know. Or God has pushed us to a place of maturity of knowing our parents/kids at school/etc were human. They were dealing with their own issues. Nonetheless, the pain is still there. These books blessed me tremendously.
I used to read a lot of self-help books but I must say these memoirs have been more powerful than books I've read by people with PhDs. Looking into their lives, helped me look at my own life. They hit places that can only come from experience, not from books or medical research or religious fluff pieces. They hit places that only someone else in the trenches can relate to and they point the way out. Here are several books that have helped me resolve my emotional demons. Again, these are white women but pain is pain. I did (try) and read 'Piece of Cake' a black womans memoir but I felt like I was about to kill myself after only reading a quarter of the book. I could not do it. It was too painful. As American women, we are all given the same messages about what it means to be a woman. In that we are more alike than we think. Maybe some of these will help you.
-Lord, I Want to be Whole by Stormie Omaritan
This is written by a Christian Woman. A beast of a book. This is hardcore healing from a Christian perspective. All self-help books lead right back to the Bible.
-Thin Is The New Happy
If diet and exercise were all there was to losing weight, we would all be skinny. This memoir is a look at the emotional side brought on by her hypercritical mother and her living at home but still absent dad that prevents weight loss. I thought my mom was tough. Her mom was a ...Let's just say I was much more grateful for my mom after reading the book.
-Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I know. The movie was terrible. However, the book (as always) was excellent. A woman's one year exodus from depression to self-renewal.
-Food Is Love by Geneen Roth
This is a terribly honest look at why people overeat. I had to read it twice to get everything. She has several books on the subject of women and food.
-Why Men Love Bitches by Sherry Argov
Don't let the title fool you. I would like to give this book to every teen girl I know but I know their parents would question my sanity. Its about how men love women who make them chase them; not 'playing hard to get' as we've been taught. Men are so used to getting their way with women that the woman who finally says 'No' is elusive, mysterious...and attractive. However, so many women have such poor self-esteems that saying No to a man takes gargantuan strength...as if hes the last man on earth. A man breathes in their direction and they're all in. 'He didnt mean it," we say to assuage our embarrassment.We've been taught to do this at a young age from our mothers. It didn't work for them and its not working for us.
-The Book of Ecclesiastes
Some people take themsselves and their lives too seriously. King Solomon, the richest, quite wise man that ever lived is at the end of his life and basically says, "eat , drink, and be merry. It really isn't that deep". I read this book ever so often as a reminder to take it easy.
To be honest, I didn't have a bad childhood. I mean, it wasnt perfect but it wasnt terrible. However, some people are more sensitive than others or we don't even realize its as bad as it is because its what we know. Or God has pushed us to a place of maturity of knowing our parents/kids at school/etc were human. They were dealing with their own issues. Nonetheless, the pain is still there. These books blessed me tremendously.
I used to read a lot of self-help books but I must say these memoirs have been more powerful than books I've read by people with PhDs. Looking into their lives, helped me look at my own life. They hit places that can only come from experience, not from books or medical research or religious fluff pieces. They hit places that only someone else in the trenches can relate to and they point the way out. Here are several books that have helped me resolve my emotional demons. Again, these are white women but pain is pain. I did (try) and read 'Piece of Cake' a black womans memoir but I felt like I was about to kill myself after only reading a quarter of the book. I could not do it. It was too painful. As American women, we are all given the same messages about what it means to be a woman. In that we are more alike than we think. Maybe some of these will help you.
-Lord, I Want to be Whole by Stormie Omaritan
This is written by a Christian Woman. A beast of a book. This is hardcore healing from a Christian perspective. All self-help books lead right back to the Bible.
-Thin Is The New Happy
If diet and exercise were all there was to losing weight, we would all be skinny. This memoir is a look at the emotional side brought on by her hypercritical mother and her living at home but still absent dad that prevents weight loss. I thought my mom was tough. Her mom was a ...Let's just say I was much more grateful for my mom after reading the book.
-Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I know. The movie was terrible. However, the book (as always) was excellent. A woman's one year exodus from depression to self-renewal.
-Food Is Love by Geneen Roth
This is a terribly honest look at why people overeat. I had to read it twice to get everything. She has several books on the subject of women and food.
-Why Men Love Bitches by Sherry Argov
Don't let the title fool you. I would like to give this book to every teen girl I know but I know their parents would question my sanity. Its about how men love women who make them chase them; not 'playing hard to get' as we've been taught. Men are so used to getting their way with women that the woman who finally says 'No' is elusive, mysterious...and attractive. However, so many women have such poor self-esteems that saying No to a man takes gargantuan strength...as if hes the last man on earth. A man breathes in their direction and they're all in. 'He didnt mean it," we say to assuage our embarrassment.We've been taught to do this at a young age from our mothers. It didn't work for them and its not working for us.
-The Book of Ecclesiastes
Some people take themsselves and their lives too seriously. King Solomon, the richest, quite wise man that ever lived is at the end of his life and basically says, "eat , drink, and be merry. It really isn't that deep". I read this book ever so often as a reminder to take it easy.
I agree evry race in messed up. I suggest you ad "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it"
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