If there’s one thing that writing this post has taught me, it’s that I need to seriously up my photography game. I can not do a good flat lay for toffee. If you can do them then you’re not human. No human can do that.

Sadly though, it would be snowing here in the UK. I can’t get outside to take photos without getting my book sodden. So a white sheet and some pretty badges will have to do.

But moving on…

Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown.

I was given this book off my mum for Christmas. When in doubt of what to get me, the go to option is a book. I love the things and others know this too. So I ended up with several books this year, hence why it’s taken me so long to get round to reading it. But I’m so glad I did.

This is a good book.

I knew very little about the author. I knew that she did some TED Talks (what I’ll probably end up watching again tonight), I knew she’s a researcher and I knew she’s got several books out. All in all, she sounded epic.

After reading her book, I can say that my initial thoughts were correct, she’s epic.

I don’t feel qualified to call this a book review, I’m not really educated enough in writing to call it that. So this is a bookish review, not 100% structured but not 100% a ramble.  It’s a good bit of both.

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I feel like this is the point where I’d say who this book is for.

Would only people of my age range read it? Would I recommend it to my mum or too my tutors at college, even my Nan?

Normally I’d say this is quite an easy bit to write. But with Braving the Wilderness I’m finding it a tad difficult. Not because I don’t think anyone would want to read it, but because I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reading this book.

I don’t believe there’s anyone who hasn’t got their own wilderness to be facing.

However, just saying that everyone should give this book a go feels a bit lazy on my behalf. So I want to highlight people who could possibly benefit the most. It’s not an exhaustive list, but these are who I’d particularity recommend reading Braving the Wilderness the most.

College/ University students – If you’re like me and have always been in a rather large friendship group growing up, going to college or uni can be daunting. Especially if you don’t know anyone there. Most of my friendships were made by accident, but I was never that accident prone in college. This meant me spending a lot more time on my tod. If you’re not used to facing the day without a big group of friends to back you up, being alone can be really daunting. I found reading it so helpful.

If you suffer from anxiety– Not everyone’s anxiety will impact them the same way mine does, we’re all individuals and what I might find easy, you might find hard or vise versa. So please don’t think that I’m saying this book will cure your anxiety, it won’t. I’m just saying that it gave me a new way to look at scenarios, what in turn helped me manage my anxiety at points, especially when it comes to being alone.

If you’re in a position of power or leadership – I’m a guide leader at my local unit. As a reader you might not think I’m in a position of power and you’d be right, from you’re perspective. But for the young girls at my unit, I’m in quite a position. As as small as my position might be, I still have a lot of insecurity’s. Feeling like you belong is hard work when you’re the youngest on the leadership team by at least 35 years. Not to mentioned the most inexperienced. Braving the Wilderness really helped my stance as a leader.

I’ve only just ventured to reading non fiction. In my eyes they sounded boring. Why on earth would I want to read about reality? I read to escape this world. But this isn’t a boring book. Her humor and pure bluntness kept me turning the pages. I can honestly see myself investing in her other books in the future.