Almost two years ago, in January 2018, I started the “Smart Is Sexy” book club to give our women a chance to develop their minds as well as bodies. It started because I was searching for my own personal growth. After a break-up in 2017 I felt lost and spent a year reading every “self help” book I could get my hands on. In time as I healed the books turned from managing my grief and reclaiming my sense of self to managing my finances and celebrating my boundaries.
I love reading in general. And I love learning. So adding these two together into on activity was fun for me. I started the book club because I figured other women may also want to grow and learn about themselves. But I HATED the “self help” book category. I hate the word help. (Probably because I hate asking for help! lol.) But in all seriousness, help was a disempowering word and the whole point is to empower our women. Yesterday while searching audible I saw a FABULOUS word change from Self Help to SELF DEVELOPMENT. Yes!!!! Thank you audible/amazon. That is 100% correct. We are choosing to keep developing ourselves and that is a process I hope you choose to embark on every day.
I truly believe no matter how awesome your life is, you can still make it better. For me, reading self development helps me learn new things to try or consider. Sometimes I adopt the ideas, other times I think about them and decide what I already know or do is better. Either way I am empowering myself through knowledge and curiosity. Reading for me isn’t about needing help or trying to fix something that’s broken any more. It is about continuing investigating who I am, deciding who I want to be and choosing every day to be that version.
What I love about the book club is it gives me a chance to revisit books that I loved as I share them with others. I not only learn a lot when I first read a self development book, I learn even more the second and third times through. Depending where I am in my journey, different parts of a book speaks to me in different ways. I have a rotation now of about 10 books that I reread a time or two a year because I need to be reminded and empowered by the content. I love learning and growing and I’m so grateful so many authors provide material for me to digest on my journey.
If you’re interested in the book club, we are doing a social meeting (aka no book to read) Dec 22 at 4:30pm at Nakashimas where we will decide books for the upcoming 2020 year! Join the closed FB group: ADWi Smart Is Sexy for more information.