IT'S ALL GONNA BE OKAY

Mental health educator Sunderland offers this practical self-help guide for personal growth.

According to the author, this is a self-help “bathroom book”: She’s organized it into brief, reader-friendly sections—perfect for reading two or three pages at a time. Sunderland claims to speak to harried, anxious, and overwhelmed adults with this blend of personal anecdotes, mental health insights, and practical advice for managing difficult emotions and cultivating resilience in the face of adversity. The author explores a period of her life when she felt overwhelmed by anger, fear, guilt, and sadness, ultimately realizing that there are no good or bad emotions: All are part of being human. Acknowledging these feelings, says Sunderland, can help prevent angry outbursts or crippling anxiety. She encourages readers to lean on a supportive person during this process, and not only recommends books and audiobooks that support change, but also provides suggestions for one’s “‘feeling better’ toolbox”, including the practicing of mindfulness, meditation, therapy, and self-care. The book’s final section explores how to build confidence by allowing yourself to go through multiple transformations, how to respond when “yucky days still happen,” and recognizing when a “long-ago bruise” (or past hurt) gets “poked.” Sunderland’s approach equips readers with straightforward strategies to instigate change in their lives. She also offers helpful visual metaphors, like envisioning emotional turmoil as a toboggan hill, where some paths are so well traveled that “it is now so slippery and icy that there is no chance of stopping or even slowing down.” Although readers are given helpful mantras like “I can only be me,” the book’s tendency toward short chapters results in too many surface-level explanations of complex psychological concepts.

A positive, reassuring guide to managing complex emotions and navigating healthy change in one’s life.