True to You: A Therapist's Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself

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'A beautiful blend of storytelling, science and practical tools. Smith uses her expertise to introduce true boundary setting tools to build (and rebuild) our relationships to others and ourselves.' Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play

When's the last time you felt as composed as you portray to your boss, family and friends If there's a discord between the two, you're not alone. Humans are master pretenders - we often seem stronger, calmer and more mature than we really are, while the truth is we're full of doubts and self-criticism that pushes us to borrow reassurance from friends, beliefs from strangers on the internet, or attention that, in the moment, makes us feel successful, but leaves us totally hollow and burnt out.

True to You is a relatable self-help guide for people who want to learn to live less focused on others' reactions and more confidently by their own principles. Readers will learn how to:

- Interrupt relationship patterns that keep you stuck

- Rely less on praise and approval from others

- Develop a solid sense of self in anxious times

- Build more authentic and rewarding relationships

Dr. Smith uses examples from the lives of her therapy clients to explain how we borrow confidence, calmness, and beliefs from our relationships and offers actionable steps and exercises for building a life with your own best-thinking. With a healthy dose of humour, she unpacks the science of our social nature, explaining why we try so hard to be what others want us to be and how we can start living from the inside out.

By learning how to be more responsible for yourself, rather than over-responsible for everyone else, you can find the freedom to develop richer relationships, pursue what's important to you, and feel steadier in this very anxious world.

Author Bio

Dr. Kathleen Smith is a licensed therapist and mental health author and reporter with over 10,000 subscribers to her weekly newsletter. An associate faculty member of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, she teaches Bowen family systems theory to leaders around the globe and is the only traditionally published author to bring this theory to readers, starting with her previous book, Everything (Isn't) Terrible. She has been interviewed by The New York Times and Washington Post about anxiety and burnout during the Covid pandemic, and her writing has appeared in Slate, Salon, New York Magazine, Psychology Today and more.