Book Review: "Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently" By Marcus Buckingham

When my son was born, I decided to stay home. I actually worked 5 days after my maternity leave and was exhausted and sad. I was sad at leaving my baby home, even though he was with his grandparents and I thought I was going to be missing him growing up. I was stressed because I had to wake him up earlier than normal to get him ready and myself work-presentable to then either drop him off by grandmas or a few days my in-laws came over to our house. It was a tough week, especially being sleep deprived and since I was breastfeeding. I don’t know how working mothers do it, but I have enough to handle at home that I couldn’t do it all. It also didn’t make sense for me because what I made at my job would have only left me a few hundred dollars a month after childcare, work clothes, gas, on-the-go lunches and all the other related expenses.

I have been a stay-at-home mom now for 32 months and even though my children are everything to me, I sometimes feel like I am missing something. I just finished reading “Find Your Strongest Life” by Marcus Buckingham and I am glad I read it. His book is about helping women succeed by bringing “fulfillment, peace, and control” into their lives. What I liked is that the book was not a total self-help book, but more of a book of suggestions and ideas for making the most of what you have.

Even though I don’t work outside the home, I was able to use some of Buickingham’s ideas into my own life and day to day activities. I do think though that this book would be more helpful for working mothers (like we don’t all work!) It is just more insightful when you fit it into a life where you are working towards a career and struggling with missing your children. The author pushes women to focus on their strengths and not weaknesses and offers advice for building a stronger career and keeping it, working on your relationships, your future and most importantly juggling your kids.

This book was a quick read and even though it is a book for women written by a man, I enjoyed it. It was defiantly something out of my typical genre but I need all the help I can get and am always looking for new theories and suggestions!