I Am Here: The Journey from Fear to Freedom

In this spirited guide, LeMieux (Born to Shine), founder of The Shine Project, a women’s empowerment organization, provides readers tools to help with difficult personal situations or times when one feels directionless. After a long court battle, the young children LeMieux and her husband had adopted and had been raising for four years were returned to their biological family, plummeting LeMieux into deep despair. Determined to lift herself out of depression, LeMieux developed a process for reframing thoughts she dubbed “clarity mapping,” which she outlines here and offers ways to redefine one’s thoughts, such as thinking of anger as passion or failure as growth, and suggests five questions to guide one’s daily routine: What is my intention? Why am I worthy? Who can I serve? What can I set down? Who is the truest version of myself? She wraps up by encouraging readers to cultivate inner strength by working through seven affirmations (such as “I am a fighter” or “I am free”) and learning to hope and trust. Readers who appreciate the work and perspective of Brené Brown will enjoy these confidence-building practices. (May)