16/10/2024
📖 REVIEW of Rising Strong by Brené Brown:
Upon reading this heartfelt guide on building our own narratives when faced with challenges and ‘face-down’ moments, intercepted with Brené’s monologues as she rumbled with her own struggles, I was struck by the honesty displayed by Brené in this book. The concepts explored were rather abstract, but Brené demonstrated through her own expressed vulnerability and the way she guided readers through them that they can be easily digested if one remains open hearted and minded. ❤️🧠
The key lessons I learnt from this book revolved around the ‘Rising Strong’ process, which is the journey we go through when we stumble or fall in the face of a challenge and eventually rise back up with resilience from such an experience:
💡 The Reckoning → When we encounter a difficult situation, we ought to be willing to reckon with one’s emotions. This involves recognising any felt feelings (e.g., on edge or triggered), getting curious about what’s happening and how the feelings are connected to our thoughts and behaviours.
💡 The Rumble → Be honest about the stories we’ve made up about our struggles and be willing to revisit, challenge and reality-check these narratives that dig into topics like boundaries, shame, blame, resentment, heartbreak, generosity and forgiveness. This part will allow us to uncover key learnings about who we are and how we engage with others. It’s the part of the process that allows us to integrate our unpleasant experiences and memories into our story to become more whole. A practical way to do this is by journalling our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, actions and the stories we are making up about a situation. This will allow us to identify patterns, tendencies or biases within our cultivated narratives.
💡 The Revolution → Eventually, if done effectively, we arise from the rumble by integrating key learnings that emerge from the rumble into how we live, love, lead, parent and participate as citizens. This transformative stage in becoming more integrated with the lessons from our experiences have tremendous ramifications for not only our own lives but also for our families, organisations and communities.
Overall, I’d give this book a robust 4.5/5 ⭐️
