How To Become An Emotionally-Savvy Adult

An encouraging blueprint for how to become more emotionally aware.

Booth begins with a simple, twofold affirmation that guides the rest of her book’s insights: Every person is valuable, and is the ultimate guiding force in their life; that is, one isn’t guided by one’s circumstances, but by one’s decisions: “As you learn to think in a different, more optimistic way,” she continues, “you can embrace physical and emotional healing and wellness, compassion, and integrity.” In each of her fast-paced chapters, Booth presents a case study of a specific person (including a World War II pilot, an angry former prisoner of war, and others) who appeared to be at the mercy of their circumstances until they decided to make decisions that changed their lives, and others’, for the better; for instance, the ex-POW founded the nonprofit Victory Boys Camp for troubled youth. Each story is followed by explanations of the principles that create “emotionally aware adults” who are self-disciplined, integrity-based, motivated, and, perhaps essentially, able to “self-soothe.” These lessons provide a wide array of tools to access the strength, focus, and creativity to break free of bad habits: “If you stay locked into only one way of thinking, you will regress.” Booth’s debut self-help work begins with numerous testimonials from students she’s helped, and reading her book makes these successes easy to understand, as her tone throughout is consistently clearheaded and immensely encouraging. That said, the text would have benefited from a stronger edit to catch distracting typos (such as “he had a degree of self-restrain”). However, the sentiments laid out here—particularly those that refer to “releasing the toxins” of resentment, anger, and self-condemnation—will strike a restorative chord for readers whose current habits are their own worst enemies.

A readable and brightly optimistic call to take firmer control of one’s life.

- Kirkus Reviews