We are currently in an age of self-care routines and wellness days. These routines can include activities like exercising more, eating hearty meals, or listening to your favorite playlists. While these things are important factors on the physical side of self-care, the mental and emotional side can often be overlooked. What good is a day off if you still come back to school or work exhausted? Then there is the need for self-improvement. Self-improvement is defined as the improvement of knowledge, status, or character through one’s own efforts. It is the striving to improve ourselves in all facets of life. As college students, we might not want to read anymore, but here is a list of must-read self-improvement books to help you on your way.
“love in my language‘ by Alexandria Elle
In this book, Alex dives headfirst into vulnerability and shares some of her deeper and darker moments, intermingled with messages of faith, hope and seeking her light. This compilation of poetry and narrative essays explores the specifics of trial and error coupled with the challenges of success and failure. The pages of Love in my Language are filled with reminders that peace is never too far away.
“The Body Is No Excuse, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love‘ by Sonya Renee Taylor
This book is the direct result of an online movement started by Taylor in 2011. The online community’s mission is to cultivate radical self-love and body empowerment. It was an important framework for the then burgeoning body positivity movement. This book will encourage you to question your beliefs about your own body and how oppressive systems have been set up to discourage those who don’t conform. Read this book if you want to take your first step into a world of radical acceptance, releasing your relationship with shame and welcoming it with liberation
“you are your best‘ by Tarana Burke & Brene Brown
In a wonderful collaboration, Tarana Burke and Dr. Brené Brown brings together a dynamic group of Black writers, organizers, artists, academics and cultural workers to discuss the issues they have dedicated their lives to understanding and teaching: vulnerability and shame resistance. Burke, the founder of the “Me Too” movement, contacted Brown hoping she would be on board to read and digest an easier-to-understand book specifically for black women. They do so in this collection of essays by various authors that discuss trauma and the Black experience with a sense of transparency that allows the words to resonate fully with the reader and is thought-provoking.
“Your life is already art and just waiting for you to make art”
Tony Morrison
While this is just a short list of books that encourage self improvement, there is a vast body of literature that can be helpful as a guide on your self improvement journey.
