At the beginning of the year, publishers typically release a slew of “new year, new you” books – guides to eating better, losing weight, decluttering your surroundings, and changing your thoughts to become a better person. But 2022 is different, and the trend has moved away from cheery, self-help platitudes and towards the reality of accepting who we are, as we are. Here are four new books coming out this year that respect the same person you’ve always been.
Ten years ago, Susan Cain captured the hearts of introverts with her groundbreaking bestseller Quiet; in her next book, Bittersweet, Cain explores how sorrow and longing make us whole. Many experience bittersweetness while listening to a sad song, appreciating something beautiful, or considering the passage of time. But rather than being a state of weakness, bittersweetness empowers us to work through painful thoughts, accept loss, channel intense feelings into creative endeavors and build stronger connections with others. Grounded in research and combined with memoir, Cain’s latest will appeal to anyone who seeks to understand how accepting bittersweetness can help you achieve transcendence.
Daniel Pink explored motivation in Drive and timing in When; in his latest, The Power of Regret, Pink considers how looking backwards actually moves us forward. Regret is a misunderstood emotion that many willfully avoid engaging with; however, regret is the motivator for reframing our perspective that can lead to better decision making and greater acceptance of ourselves. Shaped by ten thousand responses from a World Regret Survey he launched, Pink encourages us to look in the rearview mirror in order to move forward and truly live a life without regrets.
Psychotherapist Whitney Goodman – known as @sitwithwhit to her nearly half million Instagram followers – has had it with relentlessly chipper and trite responses to expressions of anxiety, depression and burnout. In Toxic Positivity, Goodman declares freedom from “looking on the bright side” when we’re feeling down; it’s another form of oppression that ends up making people feel worse that deters is from revealing emotions that are not dripping with positivity. With refreshing candor, Goodman proposes a more realistic worldview that balances difficult feelings to live a more authentic life.
In the December issue of British Vogue, Wendy Syfret asks the question “Is Your ‘Meaningful’ Job Ruining Your Life?” If that sounds like a question you’d like the answer to, check out The Sunny Nihilist. We’re expected to find meaning everywhere – at work, with a partner, on social media, in church – yet while we strive and sometimes even achieve these goals, they often fail to bring us the happiness we desperately seek. Syfret asks readers to consider a touch of nihilism – the philosophy that, in short, states that “nothing really matters” – as an antidote. A little nihilistic thinking frees us from the burden of seeking meaning everywhere, freeing us to simply enjoy our lives free of unreasonable or unachievable expectations.
~posted by Frank B.
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