In my opinion, January is the best time to read. It’s cold, it’s dreary, and there’s not much else going on. I just finished book 16 of the year and I’m hoping to maintain this reading streak throughout 2025. I’m typically an avid reader in the month of January. Then as the months become warmer, I tend to swap out my audiobooks for fun, upbeat music instead. But maybe this year will be different!
I’ve started to track my reading with Goodreads and with an app called Bookmory. I want to be better about tracking my reading here on the blog, too! Tracking accomplishments gives me about the same satisfaction as making a to-do list — a lot. But another cool thing about the app is that it keeps track of the genres of books read. Turns out I enjoy Self Help books. Here are the 4 Self Help books I read in January!
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F
Atomic Habits
How to Keep House While Drowning
Braving the Wilderness
I’ve considered reading this one for a while now and just never got around to it. But it was available on the Libby app, and I thought what better time to dive into this than January 2025? My key takeaway was counter productive to the book since the author made the case that the more self help books you read the more you think you need help. 🙂
But it made a good argument for the importance of being selective about the things you actually care about. A sort of live and let go mentality. Let go of the little things to release some of that stress and overwhelm so that you have head space for things you value. I do agree with that.
I enjoyed this book but a lot of the information in the book is highly visible on social media. Which meant that nothing in the book felt particularly new to me. But I appreciated the reminder about habit stacking which I intuitively do (because I saw it on social media). But I didn’t realize it was from this book! The idea behind stacking habits is that it’s easier to build off a habit you already do, then to become successful at a brand new habit.
One thing I “habit stack” is that every time I give a child a bath (not the baby…) I clean something in the bathroom while they play in the tub and clean the tub while they dry off. So I might clean the toilet, or the sink, or the mirror. By the time the week is up, I’ve given enough baths that everything has been scrubbed at least once.
The other pretty big theme of the book is about the importance of systems rather than goals. The author shares that a goal is your desired outcome, but that a system is an action or a process that you need to take to achieve said goal. Many people set goals, specifically for the new year, but never lay out a plan of when it’ll happen. For example, every year I decide this is the year I’m going to work out! But it doesn’t happen because that’s as far as my goal gets. This year, I told myself every day when the kids get on the bus, I’m going to use the Peleton. And I’ve already done 18 workouts this month!
If there was a book that spoke to me… it was this one. If you feel like you can’t keep up, or that everyone else is keeping us and you’re just drowning — this is a book for you. I also genuinely liked it because it was the first self help book I read this month that was written and read by a woman; a mom. And I think that’s important!
I also come from a background of having read books like The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and The Joy of Less and The Home Edit. If you’ve read those, you too may feel how unattainable they are — especially as a mother to young kids! But this book was a breath of fresh air. I listened to it while at basketball one morning (and finished it later in the same afternoon). I found myself nodding my head the whole time like yup, she gets it. When she described being postpartum during the covid lockdown, and trying to figure out why the heck she was wasting her time folding baby onesies — that could have been me. (And so many other mothers, for sure!)
The author also shares the difference between tidying, organizing, and cleaning. And shares the mentality that good enough is perfect. And my most favorite part of the book is when she talked about cleaning as care tasks and says to consider what can I do for myself today that will help me tomorrow? I loved it.
I read this because everyone loves Brene Brown but maybe it just wasn’t for me?! Maybe it’s just that I’m not ready at this moment (one week after the inauguration) to hear most of what she has to say. Maybe that’s the point? I’m not sure, but I didn’t love it.
At face value — I get it. Get to know people, don’t generalize, move in closer instead of being isolated and alone, bond with strangers over shared sadness and triumphs. And maybe it wasn’t meant to have such a political feel, but it definitely did and again, so close after “losing” the election… it still stings. She also talks a lot about courage, being vulnerable, having a wild heart and becoming (and sharing) your authentic self. I think I work really hard to not do any of those things… ha.
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