JOANNA CAREW

This is my top 🔟 reading list for nurturing mental wellbeing:

📖 The expectation effect, by David Robson.

📖 Solve for Happy, by Mo Gawdat.

📖 The chimp paradox, by Prof Steve Peters.

🎥 The way … this is a movie but it’s so great its on my list!!

📖 The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce.

📖 Unf*ck yourself, by Gary John Bishop.

📖 Permission to feel, by Prof Marc Brackett.

📖 Teach us to sit still, by Tim Parks.

📖 Mindset, by Carol Dweck.

📖 Why has nobody told me this before, by Dr Julie Smith.

I have this habit of getting uber excited about a book, buying loads of copies, then handing them out to all sorts of people! Seriously, you’d think I was on commission 😆

I’d recommend you give book gifting to random people a go! Sharing is so uplifting and you pay forward joy and wellbeing to everybody you give a book to. Even if it turns out the book isn’t a fit for them, they can pass it onto someone else and so on!

Here’s a bit of info about my top reads:

The Expectation Effect is the book I have shared the most, EVERYBODY got a copy!!! I found it so inspiring to realise that the brain is a prediction machine and can be used to increase performance, reduce ailments, benefit from placebos, and genuinely enhance every area of your wellbeing. For example, prior to reading the book I was suffering from stress related headaches and my GP said there was nothing she could do, but using the book the headaches disappeared.

The Way is such a GREAT movie! I’ve watched it dozens of times over the years. Most recently was NYE as I sat alone at home, heartbroken after finally splitting with my husband just 5 days before Christmas. I cried through the entire movie yet felt revitalised and ready to face 2024 as a single woman.

Solve for Happy and The Chimp Paradox are focussed on managing your headspace. Both use languages I relate to and they make me feel empowered by returning control to ‘me’ so I managing my attitude, actions and emotions. Whereas previously in times of high emotion I would spiral on a negative autopilot and engage in negative behaviours, ruminating on the past, or terrified of the future. These books truly move you to the present ❤️‍🩹

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Teach Us to Sit Still both came to me when I was struggling with alcohol abuse and suicidal ideation. I was desperately unwell and they spoke to my soul, lifting me enough to help me realise that suffering doesn’t have to equal regression and death, that you can suffer trauma and gradually build momentum in a more positive direction. Life is messy and that’s ok.

Unf*ck Yourself leaves me a bit mixed. It made the list because it was this book that took me from my BSc to having the courage to pursue law and a solicitor training contract. Without it I can categorically say I would have been too scared to push forward. So it makes my top 10. On the negative side, I think it is a bit too harsh and unsophisticated to manage headspace long term – models like the Chimp Paradox are far more holistic.

Permission to Feel and Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before are brilliant reads with useful tools for enhancing wellbeing. They give you language for naming emotions, normalise mental wellbeing and how the stresses of life take their toll, and I have used many methods from these books in conjunction with other ideologies.

Mindset this book opens your eyes and builds substance around The Expectation Effect. I love it! The ability to have a growth mindset and thrive exhilarates me. I now believe I don’t have to be fixed in my thinking and beliefs – life is far more fulfilling with a growth mindset!

I hope this list is useful, I have read many many more books to do with wellbeing and personal growth, just these ones particularly reasonated with me.

I’d truly love to hear about your favourites – what makes your list? Drop your recommendations in the comments!