Self Memoir

From the star of TLC's My Big Fat Fabulous Life and the YouTube sensation "A Fat Girl Dancing" comes an empowering memoir about letting go of your limitations and living the life you deserve. Right now. Whitney Way Thore stands five feet two inches tall and weighs well over 300 pounds, and she is totally, completely, and truly...happy. But she wasn't always the vivacious, confident woman you see on TV. Growing up as a dancer, Whitney felt the pressure to be thin.

If you struggle with a highly sensitive personality, this memoir and collection of stories will help you heal and flourish. Benita A. Esposito is a licensed professional counselor and best-selling author with four decades of professional experience. Even smart high-achievers have themes on their hero’s journey to the authentic self, and these were hers. What unconsciously drew her to an emotionally distant relationship or an emotionally abusive relationship? Why did she feel so hurt when others judged her? Why was she so tired? What compelled her toward self actualization?

It was a wrong turn that changed everything. When Luma Mufleh—a Muslim, gay, refugee woman from hyper-conservative Jordan—stumbled upon a pick-up game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia, something compelled her to join. The players, 11- and 12-year-olds from Liberia, Afghanistan, and Sudan, soon welcomed her as coach of their ragtag but fiercely competitive group. Drawn into their lives, Mufleh learned that few of her players, all local public school students, could read a single word. She asks, “Where was the America that took me in? That protected me? How can I get these kids to that America?”

The Possibility of Tenderness is a personal history narrated through the lens of the ‘grung’ and plants. It’s also a people’s history of the land, a family saga, an archival detective story through time. It’s the migration tale of a young scholar who arrives in Britain from rural Jamaica to study at Oxford to achieve ‘upward social mobility’ and who now lives in Roundhay Leeds. Suddenly, amidst his journey of dreams and class aspiration, the plants and people of his native district, Coffee Grove, begin to offer different ways of living, alternative dreams, and the possibility of tenderness.

First Lady Barbara Bush was famous for handing out advice. From friends and family to heads of state and Supreme Court justices, and certainly to her staff, her advice ranged from what to wear, what to say or not say, and how to live your life. She especially loved visiting with students of all ages, from kindergartners to college graduates. Full of Barbara Bush's trademark wit and thoughtfulness, Pearls of Wisdom is a poignant reflection on life, love, family, and the world by one of America's most iconic - and beloved - public figures.

For so long, people have been trying to tell your story. They’ve put you in a box. Made you feel less than, and challenged you to live life their way. You may feel frustration, anger, disgust. You’re hungry for success. You’re tired of giving your story away. In May 2013, Nate Howard made the front page of the LA Times for sparking a movement against racial profiling after 79 LAPD officers shut down his event at USC. Realizing someone was attempting to tell his story, he founded Movement BE, a nonprofit organization that helps young people discover their stories.

When I set off for Australia, I had no idea what I would find. There were moments of pure joy, times of struggle, and situations that, looking back, were downright ridiculous. Through it all, I found something I hadn't even realized I was looking for. As a teenager, I watched Australia's Bicentennial celebrations and felt something click. I didn't just want to visit—I needed to go. Over a decade later, after university and a stressful first job, I finally made it happen. I packed my bags, left everything familiar behind, and entered a year of the unknown. Inside, you'll find: • ...

Falling to Grace – A Powerful Journey from Brokenness to Purpose What if the lowest point in your life was the very place you were meant to rise from? Falling to Grace is a deeply personal and inspiring testimony of transformation, redemption, and faith. From a strict and conflicted childhood to serving in the U.S. Navy, from becoming a bestselling science fiction author to finally stepping into true identity, this memoir traces a remarkable path of struggle, discovery, and healing. Told with raw honesty and heartfelt conviction, this is the story of a life that seemed to fall apart—...

If you're tired of being at war with your body, then this book is for you. We've been convinced that happiness is something that only comes once we hit that goal weight, get those washboard abs, shrink ourselves down and change every part of ourselves. We believe that our bodies are the problem, but this is not true. It’s how we’ve been taught to see our bodies that’s the problem.... It's time for us all to stop believing the lies we've been fed about what it means to be beautiful and take our power back.

Jean Carnahan was the first lady of Missouri when her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, who was running for the U.S. Senate, and their son, were killed in a plane crash. When Mel Carnahan was elected posthumously (beating John Ashcroft), Jean agreed to take his seat in Washington and served in the U.S. Senate during 9/11, the anthrax attacks, and the vote to go to war in Iraq. During a time of intense and almost unimaginable personal loss, she managed to keep her head up and her heart open.

Are you standing at the crossroads of midlife, grappling with the unraveling of old identities and the uncertainty of what's ahead? Self-Reckoning offers a raw and inspiring account of transformation, resilience, and self-discovery after 40 and divorce.

Dr. Jeffrey Gurian shares in his book Healing Your Heart, By Changing Your Mind - A Spiritual and Humorous Approach to Achieving Happiness how he has learned through his own personal experience and years of study to overcome all the above and more. Burdened with a severe stutter until he was in his 20's and beyond, seemingly unable to be helped by therapy, and combined with the confusion of A.D.D. and a bit of O.C.D. thrown in, he was faced with having to deal with that for the rest of his life.

Now in his late seventies, Sir Ranulph Fiennes looks back on a lifetime of exploration, and draws powerful, inspiring lessons that we can all use when faced by the tribulations of everyday life. Having crossed both Polar ice caps on foot, climbed Everest and the Eiger, served in the SAS and circumnavigated the world along its polar axis—a 53,000-mile odyssey that has never been repeated—'Ran' looks back from the summit of an incredible life.

In the 1990s, Steve Farrell cofounded and led two high-growth technology companies based in Silicon Valley that were featured in the INC500 and spanned the United States and Europe. A New Universal Dream is the inspiring story of Steve's journey from the pursuit of wealth and traditional ideas of success toward a more fulfilling life of caring and service to others and to humanity. It's also the story of the potential each of us has for profound change.

In The Field by Julian Bound A unique journey across the world from documentary photographer and National Geographic photographic contributor Julian Bound. Funny, poignant and often touching, a story of capturing world events, conflicts and culture on camera whilst living on the road as a photographer. From the child soldiers of a Burmese liberation army to photographing the moment Nepal’s 2015 earthquake struck, In The Field tells of encounters within Java’s active volcanoes, Cairo’s Arab Spring, Bangkok’s coup d'état, and a venture into covert photography for a government in ...

Life can be tough—but it helps to know other people have come through hard times with a smile on their face. In Make Your Own Sunshine, Janice Dean shares inspiring stories that will lift your spirit and touch your heart. Good people are all around us doing selfless deeds, from a firefighter who bravely battled for his colleague’s health after 9/11 to a good Samaritan who secretly pays for the coffees of everyone in line behind him. You can’t help but smile hearing about the teacher who cut her hair to make her student feel better.

Permission to Fly tells the true story of boy born into a kind and happy family who grows to realize the executive world his father inhabits may not be his destiny. Thanks to his remarkable mother, Layng is given "permission to fly" early on. Armed with optimism, curiosity, creativity, determination and a wry sense of humor, he begins his amazing journey of many painful-but-educational steps and missteps.

An Italian memoir. Laine gave up her job as a nurse, sold her home and gave away most of her belongings. She has three desires bubbling at the heart of her choice: to write a book, paint a picture and climb a mountain before she died. A man with a van took most of her remaining belongings, along with her basset hound Basil, down to the heel of Italy over 1,500 miles away, where she would spend the next four years. If it all seemed like a folly, then she was willing to take the risk. She moved to a house that she had only spent a week in the year before. She knew no one and yet she had ...

In Our Brave Foremothers, discover an intergenerational, intercultural bouquet of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women lifted into the significance that they deserve. From Etel Adnan to Mary Jones, Thelma Garcia Buchholdt to Pura Belpré to Zitkála-Šá, here are 100 women of color who left a lasting mark on United States history. Including both famous and little-known names, the thoughtful profiles and detailed portraits of these women herald their achievements and passions.

Is it ever too late to overcome the adversities of our past? Set in the South during the 60s and 70s, The Art of Straightening Nails follows Robert Rhodes as he reminisces about his life. His childhood had not been a pleasant, innocent experience. Aside from the poverty and the endless disappointment his family endured, the boy had also known personal challenges of neglect and abuse. As an adult, Robert continues to be fettered by his past. Even a religious conversion doesn't resolve his struggles. After realizing the source of his lifelong pain, he confronts his past in a dramatic climax ...