1. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
I urge everyone to read this book. Untamed by Glennon Doyle is a book full of short stories and anecdotes from Glennon’s life, each chapter being merely a few pages long, so the book is great even if you’re not an avid reader. Each story contains some kind of lesson, wisdom or insight. The book is so refreshing through how it made me think about topics in a way I’ve never thought about them before. Untamed is empowering, liberating and comforting, and the best thing you can do for yourself is to read this book.
2. The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
This is a wonderful book about dreams and dreaming. This short fictional novel follows the main character Santiago on a quest to find his treasure. The book is a brilliant reminder to truly follow our dreams and never give up, even if things don’t go according to plan. Many people are scared to fail if they follow their dreams, so they never go after them, but this book shows that you should follow your wildest dreams even if you don’t know the outcome and it is scary. The Alchemist is full of hope and it will motivate and definitely make you rethink your dreams, along with teaching you many valuable life lessons.
3. The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
This is another book that I think should be a must read for every young person. Written by a psychologist with years of experience treating twenty-somethings, the book covers all aspects of our lives, ranging from career, relationships, health and self worth. The book teaches us that 30 is in fact not the next 20 and what we do now in our twenties will define the rest of our lives. The twenties are not the years to aimlessly wander and enjoy life but instead the time to set a stepping stone for the rest of our lives. It is the time to find out what we want in life and build identity capital (more on this in the book) so we can achieve our dreams later on. Even though this may sound daunting, if we don’t make the best out of our twenties, we will regret it later and this book definitely shows that you have to make the best out of this defining decade.
4. What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey
If you want an easy read and a book simply filled with short life lessons, this is the book for you. Over decades, Oprah has published insights and lessons in her column called What I Know for Sure and this book collects all of these columns. This book is simply a joy to read and perfect to take on a vacation for example. You can pick it up and put it down at any place, all while learning some wonderful lessons for life. And who better to have as your mentor than Oprah?
5. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers is a book about success and what makes a person successful. This book is very inspiring, whilst at the same time educational as it teaches us many things such as: why people in certain regions of the world get very old, why Bill Gates became so successful and why The Beatles were so special. You might have heard of the 10,000 hour rule, which comes from this book. Gladwell argues that to be truly great at something, one must spend 10,000 hours doing that thing. Practice is what distinguishes someone good and someone great. If you want to learn how to be fantastic and successful at something, this is the book for you.