A pretty good basic book for young women on de-centering men in their lives. Much of the advice will sounds familiar if you've already encountered Jillian Turecki or Sabrina Zohar on social media, to choose yourself by giving up people pleasing, abandoning yourself for people who won't love and accept you for who you are. While the self-empowering message is good, there was also a fair amount of woo-woo advice to trust the universe to send to you what's meant for you, and that if it's not meant to be it means something better will come along. Other than that, plenty of good advice to work on your own life, pursuing non romantic relationships and hobbies and not waiting for a man to complete you.

I really found this book helpful in forming a better relationship with myself. Regardless of being single or not, it’s so important that we have a great relationship with ourselves and prioritize our wellness otherwise people won’t get the best version of us.

This book shows great examples of finding out how to love yourself from an author who got there herself. I really enjoyed the audiobook and could see myself returning to it for nuggets of insight.

CHOOSE YOUR SELF
BY: MEGAN SHERER

About 4.5 Stars!

As a mother of two young adult sons in their early twenties, but significantly as a married wife, I still found quite a bit in this non-fiction title, called, "CHOOSE YOUR SELF," by holistic therapist and women's coach the key points of this book is to love yourself. The Author, Megan Sherer is much younger than I am, so we aren't quite in the same demographic, but I could tell she was so much younger than I am, so some of her references reminded me when I was in my very early twenties. She did write quite a comprehensive book about insights she learned about herself by giving a lot of examples of her first four serious relationships starting with the first one that sounded lighthearted and sweet. I think that her second serious relationship was with a young man who sounded like he was the most critical of the four she describes as being the most toxic sounding to me. This had a lot of helpful information that I really could see as a book that I wish that I read when I was around twenty years old, but my self development has grown past a lot of her encouragement of dating or most significantly taking a year from abstaining from dating for at least that long or more which I don't see myself in that situation.

I did for a time put my children's needs always ahead of my own which I think for me is the kind of mother I always want to be. I did see for about five years where I went through a time when I went along with doing things that she described where women have to be careful not to fall into the trap of doing things that I really didn't want to do. Part of that is being a good partner when you're in a long term marriage. But I can see this author's point of not losing who you are by some of the examples she gives by being inauthentic to the point where she molded herself into who she was in relationships where she pretended to like Seafood in one of her relationships when she truly hates it. I think that I enjoyed the short section, and have read the book that she used in her bibliography about Attachment Theory. That's used frequently in the past five years in therapy, and although my education about it agreed with her definitions of the four Attachment styles.

I do agree that in order to have a solid foundation in a romantic relationship it's crucial to love yourself, before you get involved in a mature romantic relationship. There is a multitude of information about how you really need to heal your childhood trauma in order to be able to wisely choose a compatible spouse who is going to love you, you have to love yourself first before ever considering getting married. If you aren't in that place yet I wouldn't recommend even considering getting married. You have to be willing and have a strong enough sense of self and be willing to walk away from the relationship if "the one," doesn't share your core values.

I do recommend this book highly since there are a lot of self reflection questions at the end of each chapter so be prepared to do a lot of writing inside of your journal. When you are presented with a new area of the wealth of information presented in this book, the author will ask you to answer questions that she'll ask she also gives you plenty of writing prompts which I think we can all relate to no matter how old you are or what your current romantic relationship status is, there's always room to keep growing. I think that for a young woman of around thirty-three years old she does make a lot of sense when she talks about cleaning up old patterns, and I found plenty of interesting content except that being married for three decades which I plan on keeping that relationship in tact I can't spend a year of being single or more to work on just myself, since it's not realistic for my life circumstances.. But I did like the idea of that had I read this before I got married, and I think that I think that healing core wounds is another crucial point that a lot of the information presented here could save people from a great deal of heartbreak if that is something that gets done before you end up picking the wrong spouse.

I do wish that she gave anonymous clients who she's helped as a more frequent example, but maybe she had enough examples she could pull from her own past since she had used her own life experiences as examples throughout most of this book when bringing up as many topics as she does that make this book as one that I really think that everyone could find some part of themselves in the wide range of topics. It's not about blame if you grew up with either both or just one parent that didn't for some reason meet your childhood needs. That's a strong theme in this book in regards to it being crucial to be able to meet your own needs now that you're an adult. Our spouses aren't to be expected nor should they be put in the position to be expected to meet our needs that we get that done if we are in a healthy relationship with a secure spouse there are times when they fulfill us, but they aren't ever going to meet those unmet needs that we didn't get from a parent, that's why we are responsible for meeting our own needs as adults. If you experienced trauma of any kind as a child it's crucial to do the work to heal those wounds now, or hopefully before you get married and have your own children.

I'm glad that I read this since I have never worked as a Clinician, but do have a background in psychology that I really loved in College. I think that books dealing with psychology still interest me to this day. There are so many important facets that this book covers that there were not anything new concepts to me, but I still enjoyed reading it. I have a couple more that I would like to read, and I'm just going to wrap this up by mentioning a few common sense things that she covered that aren't likely to be new to you either like emotional availability, communication, asking your spouse for what you need from them from time to time, etc. I did really like this and do recommend it to everyone, but one more comes to mind that I still remember reading and it presented challenges that some couples face that can be challenging that I would highly recommend since the core theme was that usually when couples argue it is the same argument that they continue to repeat only with a different surface level or superficial topic that's new. But underneath it all it's the exact dynamics, and I read it a few years ago which I would love to read again, but I'm running behind since I read this after the Publication Date so I'm not going to have a chance. This one the focus is on you throughout the entire book. This one has to do with both you and your spouse and I'm recommending that one which is more complex. The title is called, "Secure Love," by Julie M. I liked the one about spouses a little better if I was going to pick only one I'd choose that. I still loved this and think it has so much to offer so you can read both since they're entirely different. Or you can pick one, or depending on whether you're not into psychology then you don't have to read either. I think I'm repeating myself now so I leave you with recommending both, but of course it's entirely our choice. 4.5 Stars!

Publication Date:

Thank you to Net Galley, Megan Sherer and, Sounds True Publishing for generously providing me with this Spectacular ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own, as always.

#ChooseYourSelf #MeganSherer #CHOOSE YOUR SELF
BY: MEGAN SHERER

About 4.5 Stars!

As a mother of two young adult sons in their early twenties, but significantly as a married wife, I still found quite a bit in this non-fiction title, called, "CHOOSE YOUR SELF," by holistic therapist and women's coach the key points of this book is to love yourself. The Author, Megan Sherer is much younger than I am, so we aren't quite in the same demographic, but I could tell she was so much younger than I am, so some of her references reminded me when I was in my very early twenties. She did write quite a comprehensive book about insights she learned about herself by giving a lot of examples of her first four serious relationships starting with the first one that sounded lighthearted and sweet. I think that her second serious relationship was with a young man who sounded like he was the most critical of the four she describes as being the most toxic sounding to me. This had a lot of helpful information that I really could see as a book that I wish that I read when I was around twenty years old, but my self development has grown past a lot of her encouragement of dating or most significantly taking a year from abstaining from dating for at least that long or more which I don't see myself in that situation.

I did for a time put my children's needs always ahead of my own which I think for me is the kind of mother I always want to be. I did see for about five years where I went through a time when I went along with doing things that she described where women have to be careful not to fall into the trap of doing things that I really didn't want to do. Part of that is being a good partner when you're in a long term marriage. But I can see this author's point of not losing who you are by some of the examples she gives by being inauthentic to the point where she molded herself into who she was in relationships where she pretended to like Seafood in one of her relationships when she truly hates it. I think that I enjoyed the short section, and have read the book that she used in her bibliography about Attachment Theory. That's used frequently in the past five years in therapy, and although my education about it agreed with her definitions of the four Attachment styles.

I do agree that in order to have a solid foundation in a romantic relationship it's crucial to love yourself, before you get involved in a mature romantic relationship. There is a multitude of information about how you really need to heal your childhood trauma in order to be able to wisely choose a compatible spouse who is going to love you, you have to love yourself first before ever considering getting married. If you aren't in that place yet I wouldn't recommend even considering getting married. You have to be willing and have a strong enough sense of self and be willing to walk away from the relationship if "the one," doesn't share your core values.

I do recommend this book highly since there are a lot of self reflection questions at the end of each chapter so be prepared to do a lot of writing inside of your journal. When you are presented with a new area of the wealth of information presented in this book, the author will ask you to answer questions that she'll ask she also gives you plenty of writing prompts which I think we can all relate to no matter how old you are or what your current romantic relationship status is, there's always room to keep growing. I think that for a young woman of around thirty-three years old she does make a lot of sense when she talks about cleaning up old patterns, and I found plenty of interesting content except that being married for three decades which I plan on keeping that relationship in tact I can't spend a year of being single or more to work on just myself, since it's not realistic for my life circumstances.. But I did like the idea of that had I read this before I got married, and I think that I think that healing core wounds is another crucial point that a lot of the information presented here could save people from a great deal of heartbreak if that is something that gets done before you end up picking the wrong spouse.

I do wish that she gave anonymous clients who she's helped as a more frequent example, but maybe she had enough examples she could pull from her own past since she had used her own life experiences as examples throughout most of this book when bringing up as many topics as she does that make this book as one that I really think that everyone could find some part of themselves in the wide range of topics. It's not about blame if you grew up with either both or just one parent that didn't for some reason meet your childhood needs. That's a strong theme in this book in regards to it being crucial to be able to meet your own needs now that you're an adult. Our spouses aren't to be expected nor should they be put in the position to be expected to meet our needs that we get that done if we are in a healthy relationship with a secure spouse there are times when they fulfill us, but they aren't ever going to meet those unmet needs that we didn't get from a parent, that's why we are responsible for meeting our own needs as adults. If you experienced trauma of any kind as a child it's crucial to do the work to heal those wounds now, or hopefully before you get married and have your own children.

I'm glad that I read this since I have never worked as a Clinician, but do have a background in psychology that I really loved in College. I think that books dealing with psychology still interest me to this day. There are so many important facets that this book covers that there were not anything new concepts to me, but I still enjoyed reading it. I have a couple more that I would like to read, and I'm just going to wrap this up by mentioning a few common sense things that she covered that aren't likely to be new to you either like emotional availability, communication, asking your spouse for what you need from them from time to time, etc. I did really like this and do recommend it to everyone, but one more comes to mind that I still remember reading and it presented challenges that some couples face that can be challenging that I would highly recommend since the core theme was that usually when couples argue it is the same argument that they continue to repeat only with a different surface level or superficial topic that's new. But underneath it all it's the exact dynamics, and I read it a few years ago which I would love to read again, but I'm running behind since I read this after the Publication Date so I'm not going to have a chance. This one the focus is on you throughout the entire book. This one has to do with both you and your spouse and I'm recommending that one which is more complex. The title is called, "Secure Love," by Julie M. I liked the one about spouses a little better if I was going to pick only one I'd choose that. I still loved this and think it has so much to offer so you can read both since they're entirely different. Or you can pick one, or depending on whether you're not into psychology then you don't have to read either. I think I'm repeating myself now so I leave you with recommending both, but of course it's entirely our choice. 4.5 Stars!

Publication Date: May 6, 2025! AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE NOW! A HOLISTIC THERAPIST TAKES YOU ON AN INNER JOURNEY TO HEAL OLD WOUNDS WITH COMPASSION & INSIGHTS! SHE IS A GUIDE TO GIVING YOURSELF SELF LOVE! THIS HEALING IS NECESSARY SINCE FROM NOW ON YOU'LL LEARN TO RELY ON YOUR SELF MAKING US LESS FEARFUL OF HEARTBREAKING RELATIONSHIPS! CHOOSE YOUR SELF! :

Thank you to Net Galley, Megan Sherer and, Sounds True Publishing for generously providing me with this Spectacular ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own, as always.

#ChooseYourSelf #MeganSherer #SoundsTruePublishing #NetGalley

Now this is the kind of book I wish I had read when I was a young adult because I always felt as though I needed to be in a romantic relationship and if I was single or going through a breakup, I usually felt like a failure. I love how the author drove home the point of creating and sustaining a beautiful relationship with yourself because that’s the first and most crucial relationship we will ever have in our lives. Thanks to this wonderful book, I had to do the work and go back to my past so that I could take a hard look at how my previous choices formed my current habits and how my turbulent teenage years had affected my mental health and the ways that I show up for myself, my loved ones and romantic partners. It’s totally true, when you choose to have a loving relationship with yourself you will have the kind of peace and happiness that so many people can only dream about.

Absolutely necessary and important discussion on why women deriving their value and self-worth on romantic relationships alone is hollow and how to build a fullfilling, valuable, fantastic life without that as the focus. I enjoyed how the author covered so many varied topics and explained every facet of why our lives can be and should be full with or without romantic love or marriage.

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

I love the layout, it makes it so simple and easy to read! The name is catching but the story is telling. It really did open my eyes.