Let It Go and Truly Believe that You are Enough

By Jenn DeWall, Owner of Jenn DeWall Life & Career Coaching and
CWCC Member

Book Review:  I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t): Making the Journey from “What will People Think?” To “I Am Enough” by Brene Brown

We’ve all read the books that are considered “page turners”.  We’re so engrossed in the story that we find ourselves staying up late by our bed side table lamp eating up every word.  Typically this experience and obsession with a book for me has been reserved for fiction books, either ‘chick literature’ or suspense, but Brene Brown has changed my experiences and added self-help books to my page turner selection.

In Brene Brown’s book, I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t): Making the Journey from “What will People Think?” To “I Am Enough” she invites us to learn more about the shame we experience as women.  For those of you that don’t know Brene Brown, she is a research professor and has focused the majority of her research in this book around how women experience shame.  Shame? Right? Now I know that may not get you as excited as Fifty Shades of Grey  or a Danielle Steele novel but I promise you it is.

Her book offers us the opportunity to play the lead character by applying her research on shame to our own lives.  Her book begins by sharing the many definitions of shame and circumstances that different women feel shame.  As I read other women’s stories I couldn’t help but see myself in their situations. The women’s stories ranged from not feeling adequate in their careers, not being good enough mothers, to shaming themselves for not having the perfect body. It was an epiphany for me as I realized that in so many ways of my life I was shaming myself for “not being good enough,” or not feeling like “I’m successful.” The book empowered me to make a change and start loving myself versus judging myself.

The success of the book lies in the tools she provides to build our own shame resilience.  Not only are other real women’s stories beneficial but the frosting on the cake is that you finish reading feeling inspired and that you are enough!  You truly feel one step closer in understanding and combatting the self-shame and sabotage we do to ourselves.  Another perk, she teaches us the effectiveness of empathy and how we can apply it to not only reduce the judgment on ourselves but also we can use it to connect with others. Are you a mother? A CEO? If you’re connecting with people on a daily basis you can benefit from better understanding how to empathize.

Overall this book was a quick read.  I read it in chapter increments to allow ample time to absorb the information. I was so inspired by the read that I created my own blog series for women called “Shame to Shine”.  The series is an opportunity for women to anonymously share their stories of shame and how they were able to overcome them with other women so we don’t feel alone!

What would it feel like to let it go and truly believe that you are enough?

 

About Jenn:
Jenn DeWall is a certified Life & Career Coach and Motivational Speaker for Young Professional Women. Jenn is a trailblazer who challenges the status quo and works to empower women to live beyond their comfort zones and flourish in their lives and careers. She is the founder of a women’s empowerment group as well as a leadership consultant for a local HR start up. Jenn worked in Corporate America for a large fortune 500 company for almost a decade, which empowered her to become a coach and help women become leaders in their organizations. She is a nationally accredited certified coach with an MBA whom has a vast amount of knowledge and experience on what it takes to be a leader, find happiness, and create the life you love. Jenn founded her own coaching practice, Jenn DeWall Coaching, which offers both one on one, group coaching, and motivational speaking. www.chooseyourhappylife.com

Contact Jenn at jenn@jenndewallcoaching.com or call her at (608) 206-3464.