Customer Reviews

I Am Not Superwoman: Further Essays on Happier Living

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I've followed Michele Woodward's xxx and blog for some time now. She has a way of sending a message I need to hear when I need to hear it. Her posts are clear, fluff-free and light on "woo-woo" (not that there is anything wrong woo-woo. I'm a big fan. But I understand how it can scare some people away).

Every week, Michele publishes blog posts about finding a job, transforming your career, finding your authentic voice and listening to it, beliefs, finding meaning, purpose, personal growth ... you get the idea. Although she calls herself a Career Strategist, she is much more. So, when she announced her latest book "I am not Superwoman" had been published, I was psyched.

A book of bite-sized nuggets of wisdom couldn't have come to me at a better time. I'm in the midst of personal transition. I recently relocated to Georgia from Tennessee, my youngest child is leaving for college next week, my husband and I downsized from our house to a small apartment, and I need to figure out a way to bring in coin while I start my own life coaching training and practice. If anyone could use advice from a master life coach, it's me. When my copy arrived, I picked it up, flipped through the pages and let providence decide where I landed. I stopped at "Finding a Job 2.0", which was exactly what I needed at the moment. It offers tactics to finding open job positions and getting interviews.

The next day, I read "The Expectations of Others" and realized I often determine my own success based on what I believe my husband, former colleagues, or family and friends expect of me. Other stand-out essays include "Finally Un-stuck", "When Your Job is a Soul-Sucking Hellhole," and "Money Changes Everything."

I've read more than half of Michele's essays, so far. Some days I need her advice more than others, so I keep "I am not Superwoman" close at hand, just in case a dose of sage advice is in order. Like right now. I just flipped through the book and found the essay "Your Hidden Treasure."

Just what I needed.

Finished Michele's new book last night. It was a delightful, down to earth read with practical AND funny advice for those who feel like they have to be superwomen in all aspect of their lives...read it, laugh, and learn!

Get comfortable and grab a cup of java or glass of wine and give yourself the gift of reading Michele's new book of essays.

These essays are for you IF you want to

smile and

laugh and

be lovingly encouraged and challenged to STOP living and breathing to please all the others in your life and START consciously considering if what your doing with your life, relationships and career feels satisfying.

If the answer is "no" Michele offers clear, practical advise to get on track with a life that will light a spark in you that is bound to grow into a flame.

You feel Michele's belief and investment in herself and YOU from the first page. Reading Michele's book is like sitting down with a dear friend. Michele's warm spirit and generosity will flow from the pages of the book to the depths of your heart.

Right from the start of an early essay in this book ("Mama Ain't Happy"), Michele emphasizes the importance of being real with yourself in order to enjoy the fullness life has to offer. And, she got me right away by mentioning "...my fabulous guy readers" who she enlists to help the women they love. I read lots of stuff written purportedly for women--the writers are often more willing to be vulnerable and advise from a place of cooperation rather than the Mount of High Advice Most Professional which many guys come from--and I appreciate it when the writer acknowledges the few who are reading who are not women.

Michele gets it. She understands that, while it is seldom spoken of, we all aspire to a greatness which hides our faults. She espouses a different greatness, one which exalts our strengths while acknowledging our weaknesses. Not Superwoman or Superman, just the happiest, most-fulfilled "us" we can be, and we get there by doing lots of what we love to do.

Here's the thing: Michele's version of great is sustainable. Any attainments built on a false impression are not. Michele's concepts are life-fulfilling and energizing. Coming from an invented persona is depleting and depressing. Pretty clear choice!

She includes essays on the Important, the Mundane, and the mundane things which turn out to be vitally important. What I love about this collection are the many ways of connection which are offered the reader. Different people will discover their own "Aha!" moment in different places within the covers of the book.

For me, the essays which address the topic of getting unstuck--and there are half a dozen which touch on this to a greater or lesser degree--proved to be the most helpful.

Still, the overarching message, and what I wish to close my little review by focusing on, is that fear is not where we must stop, but a road marker we can note as we fly right past it. Love is the destination, the fuel for the vehicle, and the connecting bond with all those close to us.

When we learn to become aware of how fear is controlling our decisions, we can face the fear which underlies the made-up nonsense we pretend is our justification, walk toward it to see its true, scaredy-cat nature, and become enamored with Love as fear's replacement in our lives. When we start in a place filled with Love, our choices are easier, less complicated, more powerful in moving us forward, and we can provision a happy life for ourselves and for those we come into contact with.

And, while this is not something Ms Woodward directly addresses, when I become happier and more fulfilled, I provide unspoken permission for anyone who sees or knows me to do the same. This is how things get better for all of us: one happy person at a time, influencing others to reach for that state by letting go of fear and becoming Love.

I heartily recommend Michele Woodward's book!

I was already a fan of Michele Woodward's work before reading this book, but even more so after it. Michele gets it right again and again:

Lead with joy; break some rules; misbehave; make a new normal for yourself.

I can't get enough of this type of uncommon wisdom!

What's even better is that Michele shares personal experiences to show this isn't just lip service; she walks the talk.

Big thumbs up for I Am Not Superwoman!

Michele Woodward is a friend, but that doesn't keep me from loving her book, I Am Not Superwoman. It is a collection of essays, worthy of a second read, pulled from the stash of weekly writings first published in her excellent blog, Life Frameworks.

Those who are familiar with Michele's career achievements and the happy home life she has fashioned for herself, might see an irony in the claim she makes in the book's title. In fact, although she would say otherwise, it is possible that Michele actually can leap tall buildings in a single bound--and has. Regardless, Michele's writing is aimed at persuading the rest of us that our lives have value, over and above the external things we acquire and the successes we accomplish. And she makes us listen by writing words that comfort and ring true.

I recently had the opportunity on Women Are Not Funny Radio to interview Michele about her book and raised my concern that potential readers might get the wrong idea--particularly from the title. That potential readers might think she was advocating under achievement. That she was advocating "throwing in the towel."

But she explained that instead her approach was more about advocating personal growth through self-acceptance. Here is what Michele said, "The whole point of 'I Am Not Superwoman' is that it's great to not have to appear to be perfect. It's great to kind of revel in your imperfection because that is really where creativity lies, and that's really where openness is, and that's where the promise of real growth is."

I recommend this book unreservedly.