Books to Help You Recharge When You’re Sick of Parenting: Get Re-inspired
Sometimes parenting just takes it out of me. I go through lulls, sometimes feeling terribly bleak and lost, sometimes just a minor low, when I forget why I'm doing what I'm doing. I just need a boost – a reminder that I'm not alone and I can keep doing this.
I've always been a reader and books offer a comfort and a recharge. Here are some I reach for over and over.
I'd love to hear the books you turn to for inspiration. The ones I've listed are like good friends for me, ready any time to share their wisdom. When I'm tired, unmotivated and feeling low I mostly need books I pick up and open to any page and just read a bit to lift my spirits, and these offer that.
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Books to Re-inspire My Parenting:
- Momfulness: Mothering with Mindfulness, Compassion, and Grace
- Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood
- Busy but Balanced: Practical and Inspirational Ways to Create a Calmer, Closer Family
- Parenting with Presence: Practices for Raising Conscious, Confident, Caring Kids – This is a parenting book that manages to offer advice, but keep it real.
- The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
- When I'm exhausted and perplexed by my kids behavior I love the Ames and Ilg series. They tell you what to expect at each age, and sometimes just knowing your child is simply exhibiting normal behavior for their age is remarkable spirit lifting. Lately I often turn to:Your Four-Year-Old: Wild and Wonderful, Your Eight Year Old: Lively and Outgoing and Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old.
Books for when I don't remember what it means to be a whole human being:
When it comes down to it, I'm happiest when I'm feeding my creative soul instead of only focusing on being mom.
- The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubenstein
- Sometimes in the course of our daily grind I forget there is more to raising my kids than survival mode. Skimming thorough books with gorgeous photos remind me that it's worth it to make space for the artful in our life. I am frequently inspired by Jean Van't Hul's The Artful Year: Celebrating the Seasons and Holidays with Crafts and Recipes–Over 175 Family- Friendly Activities
- Any books that feed my creative soul. Currently those include a drawing lab book, one on learning to do hand lettering and the occasional cookbook that's as fun to read as it is to cook from. The point is sometimes just look at a book that reminds you of the things that bring you joy.
What books (or blogs) do you turn to to perk you up when you have low energy and low motivation? Please leave your recommendations!
Alissa Zorn is an author, and founder of the website Overthought This. She's a coach and cartoonist passionate about helping people overcome perfectionism and shame to build authentic, joyful lives. Alissa is certified through the International Coach Federation and got her Trauma-Informed Coaching certification from Moving the Human Spirit. She wrote Bounceback Parenting: A Field Guide for Creating Connection, Not Perfection, and is always following curiosity to find her next creative endeavor.