Books That Heal: A Mental Health Reading List
I was sitting on a plane Wednesday afternoon when I got a text from my sister asking, “Where are you?” I thought she was joking around, so I replied, “On the tarmac at LaGuardia. Where are you?” I was surprised to read her response: “I wanted to make sure you weren’t still downtown in Atlanta. There’s a live shooter.” I pulled up the story on my phone and saw that not only had the shooter killed someone at a hospital but he’d fled to the neighborhood where I’d been working and staying all week. I felt my anxiety rising. I tamped it down. Then I sent a bunch of texts to my husband, turned my phone on airplane mode, breathed deeply, and tried to relax.
Thoughts of my kids came one after another, and my anxiety kept rising. I remembered the day just after the start of school last fall when I got a text from my 9th grader saying, “FYI—We’re in lockdown” and the agony I went through for six hours until I saw his face emerge from the bus where they had been evacuated. Standing in the reunification line that day, I have never felt so powerless, never felt my own anxiety so uncontrollable, so tangible. Since then, every time another school shooting is reported on the news, one after another, I’ve been left wondering, like so many parents, when this will stop, how to make it stop.
Experiences like these stick with us, whether we want them to or not. And while they certainly reflect realities about social change that needs to happen, advocacy and discourse and policies that need work (especially in the US right now), I want to talk about something a little more personal, a little more self-growth related, with you today.
May is mental health awareness month.
An important month in my circle of friends and family as anxiety and depression are monsters so many of us reckon with daily. So I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of the books that have been healing us, helping us grow, and showing us the way. (I’ll be sending more throughout the month of May.)
Earlier this week, I finished two books that delivered so much soul comfort:
A few months ago, a friend sent a sweet message telling me how much she loves my book recommendations and asking if I knew of a few books for healing, inspiration, and encouragement for dealing with a bruised heart, deeply buried dreams, and disappointment.
Here’s what I sent her:
& two more I haven’t finished yet — I’ve heard so many good things about two older books by Brene Brown: The Gifts of Imperfection and I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t), and they’re sitting in my TBR book stack taunting me. The language reminds me of my undergrad sociology classes because it seems a bit clinical, but I know there’s healing to be had within these, so I’ll add them here.
Wherever you are this morning, whatever you’ve been dealing with that made you click on this blog and read all the way to the bottom, I want you to know something:
I see you. I’m grateful for you. You matter.
If you or someone you love has been through something difficult recently or is going through it right now, I hope these books help a little. (And if, like me, you could use more resources for talking about mental health with the people you love, here are some teen-friendly and adult-friendly conversation starters I’m loving right now)