Dare to Feel was an engaging, interesting read. However, it didn't leave any sort of mark on me that would inspire me to take the advice in the book. I liked the ideas, but it wasn't enough to capture my full interest.

This book delves into the transformative power of embracing one's emotions and intuition as a path to deeper self-connection and richer relationships. The author encourages readers to shed societal conditioning and navigate vulnerability to unlock their full potential through personal anecdotes, practical exercises, and introspective prompts. Overall, the book offers an unconventional yet heartfelt exploration of emotional authenticity and its potential for personal growth.

An eye-opening guide to understanding and consequently shedding the stigma and shame culturally associated with expressing emotions in order for one to live true to oneself.

Dare to Feel traces the individual yet common path along which many had been conditioned to conceal their emotions; to achieve external rewards like parental approval, to appearing mature and collected, or to escape the long established social stigma associated with emotions particularly negative ones. This book is a call to acknowledge one's own childhood needs that went unmet and to break the cycle of repression by overcoming our fear of vulnerability and rewiring ourselves not to only feel those emotions but also to celebrate positive and negative ones alike as they come, whenever they come.

While I appreciated the author sharing her first-hand experience, I couldn't fully relate because the book was too heavy on the spiritual aspect for my taste. While this is not objectively a bad thing, for me, many of the exercises/rituals were inapplicable to my own experience and interests so I skipped reading them halfway through and considered the book an autobiography: a revolutionary concept with a rather esoterical relevancy. If you are not spiritually inclined, consider that perhaps this may not be for you.

I liked the title of the book. I had been taught not to feel since very young, that my feelings and needs were a nuisance, a problem for adults, and that it was best if I were invisible until they wanted me to perform in a certain way. This book addressed this by helping readers dare to feel.

The “reflections” at the end of each chapter were a series of questions for the reader to explore each feeling and topics related to it in a deeper manner. I found this a helpful prompt to rediscover my own feelings, whether positive or negative ones, safely, and in detail.

(I received a free review copy from NetGalley.)