Brains and Breakthroughs
For the books that have helped me try, and try and understand what’s going on inside—the fog, the fear, the why.
by Brianna Wiest"Everything is hard, but you choose your hard. You choose what’s worth it. You don’t choose whether or not you’ll suffer, but you do choose what you want to suffer for.”101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think
by Brené Brown“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”The Gifts of Imperfection
by Robert M. Sapolsky"Depression is the pathological loss of the capacity to rationalize away reality. And thus, perhaps, “we’re better off believing in it anyway.” Truth doesn’t always set you free; truth, mental health, and well-being have a complex relationship."Determined
by Brianna Wiest“The greatest act of self-love is to no longer accept a life you are unhappy with.”The Mountain Is You
by Bessel van der Kolk“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”The Body Keeps the Score
by Gabor Maté“A society that fails to value communality — our need to belong, to care for one another, and to feel caring energy flowing toward us — is a society facing away from the essence of what it means to be human."The Myth of Normal
by B.J. Fogg"Stop judging yourself. Take your aspirations and break them down into tiny behaviors. Embrace mistakes as discoveries and use them to move forward.”Tiny Habits
by James Clear“You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.”Atomic Habits
by Mark Manson“The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.”The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
by Jen Sincero"You’re on a journey with no defined beginning, middle or end. There are no wrong twists and turns. There is just being. And your job is to be as you as you can be."You Are a Badass
by Ali Abdaal“When we can’t take ownership of the situation, we can still take ownership of the process.”Feel Good Productivity
by Johann Hari"Depression shuts down the very circuits that motivate us to get out of bed, to do things, to find joy… This isn’t about laziness; it’s a rewiring of the brain’s reward system."Lost Connections
by David D. Burns"Depression creates a set of distorted thoughts that convince us our efforts are useless and that change is impossible. These negative beliefs trap us in a cycle of despair, making even the smallest step feel overwhelming."Feeling Good
by Andrew Solomon"Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer… You can want to act but feel unable. It is a fatigue that is more than tiredness, a weariness that is more than physical."The Noonday Demon