Choose Your Story, Change Your Life

I finished this book quickly, and now I’m going to read it again more slowly. I’m going to take the time to start identifying my icebergs (and triggers) and find great stories to replace them with. My hope is that in doing so, I will also be more sensitive to the stories that others are telling themselves. My hope is that I can teach my daughter to tell herself the good stories.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4374155054

Who I am becoming? Where am I going? How did I get here? These are a few of the questions that Ms. Hall leads us as we discover our best kept secret deep within us. Under the facade of our behavioral patterns lies the stories that we tell ourselves everyday, which cultivate and charter the lives that we end up living out. Or, as Annie Dillard would say, our days become our lives.

Reading this book gave me a sense of ownership and conviction for myself, not from a peppy, self-help, rainbows-and-unicorns world, but from a firm conviction that the lies we tell ourselves everyday can be altered and transfigured into beautiful stories of quiet confidence and assurance. We must step off the merry-go-round of the megaphonic criticism that we speak to ourselves and in turn seek to discover the hidden meaning. Her method is simple.

1. Pay attention to your stories
2. Analyze them for truth and reality
3. Change the bad ones to serve you
4. Press repeat until they become ingrained.

This is the skeleton upon which flesh is given as Ms. Hall chronicles stories of people who have received a dramatic life change simply by silencing and seducing their inner storyteller to be kinder, nicer, and more polite to that pesky inner critic, ever present, ever lurking in the ebony shadows.

Was this a life-changing read? Not sure. It will take some time for me to put these things into practice. I am convinced, however, that the implementation of these steps and skills will assist many on their journey of inner healing and birth a greater self-awareness. It's not the monster under the bed that we must fear; the monster within seems much fiercer.

This book is very inspiring and helps you think about how you can adjust your self-talk so you can become more successful. As someone who has a background as a psychotherapist, I would happily recommend to anyone wanting to improve the quality of their personal and/or professional life.

I really enjoyed this book and found that I got a lot from it. I would certainly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Really enjoyed this book, and I appreciate the publisher, author, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review. This book goes into great depth and detail about how important the stories we tell ourselves really are. With real-world examples and stories of others, this is a book on not only changing your thoughts, but the stories you tell yourself. This is an incredible, life-changing book.

Another motivational read by Kindra Hall! I tend to struggle a lot with getting my words out, especially now with writing reviews. I'll definitely read this again along with Stories that Stick and hopefully find my comfort is story writing.