Are you looking for books that will propel you forward on your journey towards wholeness?
Reading is a wonderful way to engage in self-care and encounter life-changing insights. Books give us access to the wisdom and lived experiences of others. Encountering a book that speaks to you feels like you’re having a cup of coffee with a close friend. They’ve been where you’re at and they hold space for you to explore where you want to be. They share stories you can relate to and new perspectives that you can’t unsee. Their words provide a window into the most intimate aspects of the human experience and make you feel like you’re not alone. Whether you’re trying to improve your relationships, find balance, or overcome obstacles, this list is bound to include a title that’ll speak to you.
In this blog post, our St. Pete therapists share their favorite reads with you and why they recommend them.
Tracy Sisk, Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern (IMH21354)
I loved reading The Pursuit of Perfection by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD. This book can help you move from a perfectionist stance to one that embraces good enough and optimal. Doing so relieves the pressure for perfect outcomes. It also creates space for you to experience happiness and enjoyment in life.
Another great book is, Sharing the Rock: Shaping Our Future through Leadership for the Common Good by Bill Grace. I read this is my graduate program at Seattle University. It helped me identify my core values, expand my worldview, and better understand and embrace the nuances of humanity. If you are looking for a way to become more aligned with your authentic self, I highly recommend you read this book.
Linda Abott, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (FL MH18680)
I enjoy all of Brene’ Brown’s work but I find myself recommending The Gifts of Imperfection quite frequently. So many people struggle with feeling like they are not enough like they are not worthy. This book explores why our imperfections and our humanness are beautiful and make us each uniquely who we are. You are enough. Just as you are today. This is a book worth reading and re-reading.
Meigan Fernandez, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (MH19068)
I recommend Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb. It gives really fun insight into the life of a therapist. Gottlieb discusses how even we, as therapists, need help navigating our own journeys with therapists of our own. It also helps show the human side of therapists that most clients don’t get the chance to see, albeit by design. It even gives good insight into what therapy looks like and how it can be useful in so many different ways for so many different people.
Amanda McGovern, Registered Marriage and Family Therapist Intern (IMT3409)
As someone who works with a number of female-identifying clients, I recommend Emily Nagoski’s book, Come as You Are all the time. This book was a requirement for my graduate degree and I am so grateful I read it! It taught me so much about my body, sexual drive, and arousal cycle. It gave me information on how to create the best environment to experience more pleasure during sex. In a world where female sexuality is wrapped in many layers of confusing messaging, I felt like this book was a funny, informative, invitation to fully own my sexuality and pleasure. Even though this book is geared toward women, I find that it’s been helpful for some of my male-identifying and couple clients to read them too.
How to Breathe by Ashley Neese is another awesome read! I love this book by Ashley Neese because it’s so easy to practically apply to a variety of emotions in everyday life. Honestly, I found this book when I was in the middle of a deep period of grief and anxiety. I couldn’t seem to get out of my thoughts, which were tangled up and keeping me feeling overwhelmed. I think this happens to a lot of people. Chances are, you may have had a similar experience, at some point in your own life. Something as simple as following a guided breathing practice helped me ground myself back into my body. It gave me a small reprieve from the pain of loss and encouraged my belief that little by little, I could make it through the pain.
Jennifer Schaap, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MT3682)
Whenever I am working with couples, two books that I frequently recommend are Hold Me Tight by Sue Johnson and An Emotionally Focused Workbook for Couples by Veronica Kallos-Lily and Jennifer Fitzgerald.
I really like Hold Me Tight because this book allows couples to read about other couples who may have similar cycles in their relationship to that of the reader. This helps the reader learn more about their own relationships. I recommend this book to anyone going through EFT couples therapy. By reading this book, you can gain a greater understanding of your own needs and the needs of your partner. You can also learn about your interaction style, and ways to look at cycles in a different way.
An Emotionally Focused Workbook for Couples is an amazing workbook to complement couples therapy or even to do on your own. It is one that I suggest both partners do together. This book helps couples gain insight into the ways they contribute to their interaction cycle. It also helps give a greater understanding of why each person has certain behaviors they use to protect themselves from emotional harm. The book provides a way for both partners to discuss their relationship and allows them each to develop a holistic understanding of themselves. Couples who read this book can learn how to communicate their emotions and behaviors without shaming or finger-pointing. By coming from an attachment viewpoint, you can learn more about your attachment needs in a relationship.
What are your favorite books for couples, self-care, and self-discovery?
We hope that you found this list of recommendations helpful! The insights of others who’ve shared our experiences are a powerful resource for healing. Reading can be a good starting point when making your first therapy appointment feels like too much. However, combining books with therapy helps all aspects of your healing journey work together. Therapy sessions are 50 minutes for individuals and 75 minutes for couples, once a week. Using a book gives you and your therapist an additional framework for your conversations, increases the effectiveness of each session, and gives you things to work on between sessions to keep the momentum going.
Ready to connect with one of our St. Pete therapists?
Beginning the journey to your best self is easier than most of the things we’re all doing right now! Therapy does not have to wait. You can get the mental health support you need with a skilled therapist in St. Pete or with online therapy in Florida. To begin, just follow these simple steps:
- Contact us to request an appointment
- Meet with one of our experienced therapists.
- Get support & begin your journey toward mental wellness & connection today!
Other Mental Health and Wellness Services at ME-Therapy
At ME-Therapy, we believe in the importance of mental, emotional & physical wellbeing. Our therapists want to help your mind but also want to feed your soul. This means we take a holistic approach to mental health. In order to do this, we offer a wide range of mental health services in our St. Petersburg office and online including therapy for women, therapy for men, trauma therapy, and holistic, spiritual therapy. For couples and relationships, we want you to know that our relationship therapists are here for you ALL. In addition to marriage counseling, we provide sex therapy, affair recovery counseling, and poly-friendly kink-aware therapy.
