ASK YOURSELF THIS

A life coach outlines a 60-day action plan to start journaling, providing a series of questions for contemplation and some commentary from herself and a host of female friends and acquaintances.

This guide offers a road map for readers to take up the challenge of journaling for 60 days straight in order to form the habit since it is “the best self-coaching tool available!” Leid presents “Ask Yourself This” questions for Days 1 to 51, organized under the categories of “Childhood, High School and College Years, Early Adult Years, Adulting, Today, Inspiration and Motivation, and Beyond Today.” These questions include “Who taught you to ride a bike?”; “What career advice would you give your sixteen-year-old self?”; and “What life lesson took you more than once to learn?” For each query in these categories, the author delivers an introductory essay featuring a woman to whom she asked the question and a discussion of the response. Then a mostly blank page with the question is supplied. Each category also has a summary section of Leid’s own answers to all of the questions. For Days 52 to 60, the author gives readers a final set of questions on primarily blank pages to “Complete the #60dayjournalchallenge.”  

Leid is truly an inspiration in terms of her energy and enthusiasm. She developed this book, the third installment of her Friendship series, following her personal challenge, at age 49, to meet with 50 women during the run-up to her 50th birthday “to let each of them know what I’ve learned from them.” As the author notes in the manual’s “Going Forward” coda, her efforts in developing this series ended up “consisting of 152 dates with 144 different women. They are diverse in age, race, ethnicity, economic background, educational background, and political and religious views.” This wonderful diversity is reflected in Wallace’s stunning black-and-white portraits of most of the interviewees as well as Yalom’s many photographs of the author, a Korean adoptee in a Japanese American family. Thus, this guide is not the typical self-help book but instead offers a colorful mosaic of women and a taste of their experiences to help readers consider how to probe their own. While the volume’s focus is on midlife female perspectives, the questions and conversations generally have applications to all audiences. Leid makes a convincing case for the benefits of journaling in order to “help bring some of your unconscious beliefs to the surface so that you can reflect and consider whether they are serving you, and see if you need to rewrite any of those beliefs to support your goals. The process will also remind you that you have all of the skills, tools, and talents to manifest and create the life of your dreams.” The author also encourages readers to continue to engage with others. She recounts how she achieved this even during the pandemic shutdown, since “good friends reflect our soul,” and with pals we can “journal and grow together!”

An inspiring and invigorating self-empowerment guide that shows the value of connecting with others.