Self-Love Workbook for Women Review

We often talk about self-compassion for caregivers. This is our ability to be kind to ourselves and forgive whatever mistakes we make.

A distinct, but related, concept is that of self-love. 

As the name suggests, self-love is love and appreciation for yourself. It’s the idea of seeing yourself as being important, worthy of love, and valuable.

We’re not just talking about knowing these concepts either. It’s important to have an emotional sense of them as well. That’s the motivation behind this Self-Love Workbook for Women review.    

Why Look At Self-Love?

Self-love isn’t talked about that much these days. Perhaps it sounds too much like being selfish. Or, perhaps ideas like self-compassion, self-care, and self-help have garnered all our attention. 

Do we even need one more self-focused principle? 

The short answer is yes. 

In fact, self-love may be more important than any of the others, as it’s the basic principle. The more you love yourself, the easier practices like self-care and self-compassion become. 

The Self-Love Workbook For Women

I had a few different reasons for writing this Self-Love Workbook for Women review. 

The first isn’t glamorous – the book is available on Kindle Unlimited in my region. This made it an easy book to read and review. 

Beyond that, the book regularly comes up when I search self-compassion and I’ve been curious about what it offers. 

Finally, the book averages 4.7 stars on Amazon, across more than 19,000 reviews. I’m always interested by books this well received. Many are as good as the stars suggest, but some aren’t. 

Let’s take a look. 

What The Book Offers

As the title suggests, this is a workbook. That means there are plenty of fill in the gap pieces, along with exercises for you to follow. 

Strengths

Isn’t Too Big On Theory

This might sound odd – I love that there isn’t much theory in this workbook. There is some, including discussions about why self-love is important and why many people struggle in this area. 

I love this style, as countless books spend chapter upon chapter talking about the underlying theory and the evidence for it. It might even take half the book until you get to any practical information. 

The book also doesn’t spend too much time on why women struggle so much with self-love. It’s more focused on what you can do about this issue instead. 

This is valuable, as some books spend far too much time digging into those topics. Fierce Self-Compassion and Burnout are both examples of that pattern. With those books, it often feels like there’s a bigger focus on the cause of the problem than on potential solutions. 

Many Strategies

Instead of focusing on a single area, the Self-Love Workbook offers many different techniques and strategies. This is powerful, as we’re all different. You might get great mileage from some of the techniques, while others don’t help you at all.

Most of the time, it’s structured as a paragraph or a few paragraphs on why a given idea is important and then an exercise to get you engaged with it. 

While none of the topics are covered in depth, there’s enough information to give you an idea of the approaches and how they may apply to you. 

Weaknesses

The Book Is Simplistic

If this is your first foray into the world of self-love, then this workbook could be perfect. If this isn’t the case, you might find the book to be simplistic.

Many of the topics covered could use further examination. Some would be better explained in much longer sections or even an entire chapter. 

Even the language in the book is overly simplistic. To me, it sometimes felt like it was written for teenage girls rather than women. 

You’ll Need To Pick and Choose Techniques 

It’s important to be wise about yourself as you go through this book. That includes paying attention to which approaches are actually helpful for you and which are going nowhere. 

After all, we all respond differently and have our own distinct needs.

To do this well, you’ll need to trust your own sense of who you are and what you need. The issue isn’t limited to this single book. It’s true for any self-help book out there. 

Not Many Recommended Resources

The simplicity of the Self-Help Workbook wouldn’t be such a bad thing if readers were directed to resources for additional reading. 

For example, the book only takes a brief look at where negative self-talk comes from and some ways to combat it. Many people will need to consider the topic in more depth, which could include looking at CBT tools or some other therapeutic approach. 

Similarly, the book includes many questions and prompts for you to answer, but doesn’t talk much about how to integrate these answers into your life. You learn a little more about what you’re struggling with, but that’s about it. You’ll need to figure the rest out yourself. 

Doesn’t Acknowledge The Simplicity

Additionally, the author of the workbook doesn’t acknowledge that this book is simply an introduction. Instead, the exercises and perspectives are often written as if they are meant to quickly make everything better. 

This could be incredibly frustrating for some readers. They might feel like they’re failing at applying the principles from the book, when really those principles just aren’t powerful enough for many situations. 

May Be Triggering

Finally, a few reviewers mentioned that the book ended up making them feel worse, not better. This is partly because some sections talk you through overcoming very specific negative mindsets, like being worried about how you look in your swimwear or about eating in front of others. 

Those sections would be helpful if you experience those issues. If you don’t, they could introduce a new thing to be worried about. 

Similarly, some of the journaling prompts ask about difficult memories and situations, like times when you felt a specific thing or when something challenging happened. For people with traumatic histories, such questions could easily be very painful. 

My Self-Love Workbook for Women Review

The Self-Love Workbook for Women isn’t revolutionary. Most of the principles it highlights can be found in many other places. Some of them are even simply common sense. 

Yet, reading the book and working through the exercises can still be helpful. Doing so can help to undermine old stories about your worth and allow you to build new ones, one little piece at a time. 

The workbook may also help you to see the areas you currently struggle with. Even simply noticing which exercises you find difficult can be incredibly insightful. Once you know this, you can look for other resources that tackle those areas in more depth. 

Personally, I liked the book – as do thousands of other people. 

It was a refreshing change of pace from the theory and rhetoric heavy ones I’ve been reading lately and it was nice to see so many practical tools. Despite the simplicity, I found my relationship with myself shifted in a few areas.    

That said, this book isn’t suited for anyone facing serious mental health challenges or overwhelming situations in life. It doesn’t have enough complexity or nuance for those situations.