How to Become an Emotionally-Savvy Adult : A Program in Leadership

Imagine being at a turning point in life. Perhaps many wrong choices have been made which have resulted in failure in school or even incarceration. This program invites the learner to become tuned into their strengths and challenges, and to understand, at a deeper level, how important they are to family, friends, and community. The book includes forty lessons with compelling stories to teach a principle and provide activities to solidify the concept taught in a manner that is pertinent to the individual's life. The lessons are designed to enhance self-awareness, increase emotional intelligence, and encourage the learner in accountability to prepare them to become leaders for today's world. Instead of viewing life through the lens of "me" or "I" the new view will be how one can become an optimistic, emotionally savvy individual, leader, and mentor, who guide others to build bridges of peace and understanding.

An encouraging blueprint for how to become more emotionally aware.

Booth begins with a simple, twofold affirmation that guides the rest of her book’s insights: Every person is valuable, and is the ultimate guiding force in their life; that is, one isn’t guided by one’s circumstances, but by one’s decisions: “As you learn to think in a different, more optimistic way,” she continues, “you can embrace physical and emotional healing and wellness, compassion, and integrity.” In each of her fast-paced chapters, Booth presents a case study of a specific person (including a World War II pilot, an angry former prisoner of war, and others) who appeared to be at the mercy of their circumstances until they decided to make decisions that changed their lives, and others’, for the better; for instance, the ex-POW founded the nonprofit Victory Boys Camp for troubled youth. Each story is followed by explanations of the principles that create “emotionally aware adults” who are self-disciplined, integrity-based, motivated, and, perhaps essentially, able to “self-soothe.” These lessons provide a wide array of tools to access the strength, focus, and creativity to break free of bad habits: “If you stay locked into only one way of thinking, you will regress.” Booth’s debut self-help work begins with numerous testimonials from students she’s helped, and reading her book makes these successes easy to understand, as her tone throughout is consistently clearheaded and immensely encouraging. That said, the text would have benefited from a stronger edit to catch distracting typos (such as “he had a degree of self-restrain”). However, the sentiments laid out here—particularly those that refer to “releasing the toxins” of resentment, anger, and self-condemnation—will strike a restorative chord for readers whose current habits are their own worst enemies.

A readable and brightly optimistic call to take firmer control of one’s life.

—Kirkus Reviews