As a woman who had most of her six kids in her 30s, Larson knows what it’s like to be subjected to unsolicited thoughts, ideas, and criticisms from various people in her life. All of their input made her feel like she was “shrinking,” she says, but it also compelled her to explore constructive and innovative new ways to live a satisfying life. Larson shares how she did so in an open, conversational tone that’s both empathetic and authoritative. Over the course of this book, she presents the practice that she devised in a clear and comprehensive fashion. It’s starts with four steps—“Notice,” “Name,” “Check,” and “Hand It Back”—and concludes with a rigorous, multipart self-assessment that readers can revisit. Some might find it easy to dismiss a TikTok personality and her self-healing practice if she wasn’t as self-aware as she is in these pages. For example, she’s forthright about her decision to eschew doctors and hire a midwife to help deliver her third son, Clay; the pregnancy did not go well and required the immediate intervention of an obstetrician. “I put myself and Clay at risk by overcorrecting,” she writes with clarity. “I was so determined to hand back the fear and control from my previous births that I threw out the actual medical expertise I needed. I could have cost us both our lives.” Larson further elaborates on themes of shame and accountability, defining the former as being “paralyzing, [and] past-focused” and the latter as “empowering, [and] future-focused.” The author takes a few positions regarding pregnancy and motherhood that some readers will disagree with, but the sober self-interrogation she displays throughout this guide makes it difficult to ignore. Instead, many will no doubt find her daily practice to be liberating.
