I was so excited to pick up Aundi Kolber's second book, Strong Like Water. In this book, she expands on themes from her first book (Try Softer) and encourages her readers to go deeper with strength to become your truest self. That self is not unaffected by past pain and trauma, but rather seeks growth and change through it.
Like her first book, Strong Like Water pair solid psychological research with Christian truth and values. While I can't say that I agree with every Biblical interpretation the author makes, I feel like her point comes across well - the God who loves us wants to see us healed. He wants to heal us and help us move from "situational strength" (a strength that helps us survive stressful circumstances) to "transitional strength" where we live to our fullest potential, who we were created to be. It is in this transitional strength that we can truly love your neighbor and work for change in the world. A person living from a place of transitional strength is grounded and present and alive, even in hard situations.
This book is written in a voice of love and compassion, from a person who has been there both in her own life as well as alongside others in her therapy practice as they have walked through very real challenges in life. It is well written, and easy to read, yet important to savor. The exercises and practices that are suggested at the end of each chapter seem very useful as well as stepping stones to growth.
Though it may sound like it, this is not a quick fix self help book. It is also not a book that encourages picking yourself up by your bootstraps or "arriving" at some mythical end point on the road to personal change or better mental health. It is a book that recognizes growth and change is a journey, not a destination. (I don't mean to sound cheesy, alas.) I appreciated that Aundi used many personal anecdotes to illustrate the trajectory of change in her own life. Though she did include (highly edited) client stories, I felt her personal illustrations made the book very relatable and real - but I am of a similar demographic to her from what I know via social media (a white Christian woman in my late 30s living in an upper middle class setting). Though the author is not a person of color, she does include some points about ongoing racial trauma, and from following her on social media, I believe advocacy in that realm is important to her. I mention this not because it is a focal point, but because it is brought up several times throughout the book.
I highly recommend this book, and am sure I will return to it again in the future.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
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Reviews with images
So good I bought several!
This one is a keeper! So glad Aundi wrote another book after Try Softer. Strong Like Water has helped me connect all the dots, to make better sense out of what I’ve been experiencing with my own autonomic nervous system. Don’t you love a book that helps you make new meaning of what you’re going through? And it’s one that offers practical steps to try and apply right away to make changes that leave you feeling more resilient, more confident in your own skin, and more grounded. This book has offered a gift of real inner-awakening. It gave me names, vocabulary and language for talking about the feelings and challenges I’m facing. That alone is a HUGE GIFT, and yet there are so many more laced throughout the pages of this book. Breakthrough. Major shifts. Healing. These are the words that come to me as I reflect on Strong Like Water. I’m so thankful for the treasure that Aundi has released into the world by way of her writing.Also, if you know anyone who struggles with sudden sensory-neural hearing loss, single sided deafness or other vestibular and/or sensory issues like hyperacusis and sound sensitivity, this book could be a game changer for them too. It’s taught me new tools to keep in my toolkit as on-the-go resources to grab anytime that sense of flooding and overwhelm begins to rise up within. I had no idea how much my life would be impacted by hearing loss and readjusting to sounds through a cochlear implant, but my nervous system is the blessed recipient of strategies gleaned from Strong Like Water. I'd give Aundi Kolber a giant hug if I ever got the chance, because her book has given me new hope that I hadn't thought was possible till now. Thank you, Aundi!#gamechanger #transformative
Top reviews from other countries
Sieglinde May
Another Compassionate Resource from Aundi Kolber
Reviewed in Canada on March 21, 2023