HOLIDAYS ARE HAPPIER WITH AUDIOBOOKS. Make your holiday travels, errands, cooking sessions, and all the rest more enjoyable by listening to an audiobook. From bestsellers, to thrillers, to self-care, you can find the perfect listen for any moment. Give yourself the gift of audio this holiday season. I have written about it before; I’m a self-help junkie. I like the emotional high I get from seeing myself as capable of change. I also enjoy feeling like I am riding along on someone else’s big-change journey. That might be why I like listening to self-help audiobooks the best. Often the author themselves will jump in and read the book, laughing and enjoying and regretting along with me as both the author and I try to change our lives. This time of year, there is a self-help book for any resolution. No matter how you want your life to improve, delving in and listening along with one of these options is sure to put you in a mental space to focus on your new goal.
Self-Help Resolutions and The Audiobooks to Reach Them
Stop The Cycle of Mindless Consumerism
The More of Less by Joshua Becker This book is an honest look at how Joshua Becker discovered minimalism. Rather than just promoting getting rid of your stuff, it focuses on why fewer things that are sturdy and needed will make life better. He focuses in on how marketing of many kinds can sweep us up into purchases we don’t need and debt we don’t want, which is a welcome discussion after the holiday season, when sales and discounts are trying to draw us in.
Get Vulnerable and Get Your Goals Accomplished
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown If Becker sees breaking the consumerism cycle as helpful to living a great life, Brené Brown sees vulnerability and honesty as key to moving forward. She talks about the dangers of going through life so guarded that you don’t even allow yourself to believe in your dreams; this book is a great way to pump yourself up and accept that failure is an option. Without acknowledging that option and your fear, though, it can be hard to move forward.
Organize Your Home So It Looks Beautiful and Neat
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo It’s been said before, but Kondo’s book can be a pretty amazing audiobook even if you don’t intend to perfect your home organization system entirely. I found that listening to a few minutes of this book made me look at my living space differently. I was able to more quickly set aside time for decluttering, figuring out things that needed to be donated, and resist things like junk mail that I didn’t want coming into my house to begin with. Whether this book truly “changes your life” or just puts you in a cleaning mood, it’s not a bestseller for nothing!
Pursue Contentment Instead of Constant Striving
The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutter If we all took happiness as seriously as the Dalai Lama did, I think we’d make such different choices in life. This book is a great way to calm yourself and remember some of the important things in life, and if you happen to be in a stressful, intense, or otherwise overwhelming season of life, even just listening to the words of this book can bring such perspective. I didn’t have the goal of contentment and happiness before I started the book, but it made me want to pursue it.
Make Work Not Such a Struggle
It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried This book does a great job of questioning a lot of the rules of the road when it comes to modern workplaces: the equating of hours to effort, the super-demanding bosses, the buzz-word-y mission statements. While you may like some of the things this critiques, it really breaks open the sacred notions of “great workplaces.” I loved seeing that there isn’t just one way for a workplace to do great things, and that believing there’s a one-size-fits-all model makes people pretty miserable sometimes.
Use Yoga to Stop Doing the Diet Thing
The Yoga of Eating by Charles Eisenstein Okay, so maybe what you want is a real diet book, one that tells you what to eat each day; that’s fine too. I found that this book is a pretty great way to think about food, seeking the nutrients, pleasure, and camaraderie that make food so great without turning it into misery. I’ve enjoyed my food more since reading it, and I feel more at peace with my choices. It was like un-training myself to have some really negative self-talk about food, and I liked it.
Figure Out Your Money Situation
The Power to Prosper by Michelle Singletary Singletary has written a lot about personal finance, and I can definitely advocate her 21 day process. January isn’t usually a month where we have a ton going on, and the holidays often prove a shock to to even the most regimented budget, so why not make now the time to evaluate your best moves and your next steps in your finances? It’s approachable and inspiring, qualities of my favorite audiobooks.
Improving in Pretty Much Any Area
Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin Rubin has made it her mission to “get” habits, personalities, and behaviors in a way that allows her to give positive, friendly advice about making change in your life. If your goals don’t fit into the categories above, consider this book for any other goal you are working on: it’s all about the will to change and the power to follow through. New Year’s Resolutions don’t have to be unattainable. With self-help audiobooks, you’ll find that your resolutions come to fruition. It’s like having an awesome, encouraging friend in your earbuds, telling you that you can do it, and they were able to do it too.
