Winding down during a really productive or stressful day should always be a time where you can clear your head about what is bothering you and center yourself around what really matters. In the past two years, I have been making the transition of reading more books that help me feel more grounded and accepting of myself before I head to bed. I usually read self-help books and I have a few recommendations on books that can help you feel more centered at the end of the day.
The Defining Decade by Meg Jay, PhD
A year ago, I was having a hard time understanding where my life was heading and I was worried that I didn’t know what my future was going to look like. After explaining how I was feeling to my father, he gave me this book. I finished reading it pretty quickly and gained so much more clarity about how amazing my life could turn out.
Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist that helped hundreds of clients in their twenties, created a book that emphasized how important your twenties are in shaping how the rest of your life can look like.
The Defining Decade was super easy to follow. I had the urge to highlight paragraphs, take notes, and bookmark pages that had advice and anecdotes that really stood out to me. I think the main reason why this book is so important to me is that it was highly relatable. It also put things into a perspective that helped me process what I wanted my life to look like in the next decade. Overall, it’s a great book to read if you feel really stuck on what you want your life to look like.
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
I wanted to get a book of affirmations for quite some time, so after reading a few random pages of The Comfort Book in a bookstore, I immediately thought it would be a very calming read and bought the book. I was looking for something that wasn’t going to take a lot of time to read but was going to help me realize that everything that I am going through is eventually going to be okay.
Almost every single page of this book helped me feel more at ease about my worries or any stressors in my life. It is a collection of Matt Haig’s thoughts that are supposed to bring more hope and new perspectives about how we can see the world around us. The way that he writes flows well and is consistent throughout every single page, which is why I think it’s very comforting. I try to spend some time every other night reading his affirmations and tiny essays about whatever helped him feel better about life. In my opinion, this book is not supposed to be read in one go. You should definitely take your time with this book so that you can always pick it up whenever you need some positivity and support.
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