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A review by shellballenger
Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down by Corey Keyes
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Type of read: Commuter Read.
What made me pick it up: Seemed oddly fitting for our world today. Additionally, I'm using it as my book for the TN R.E.A.D.S prompt of reading a book by or about a medical professional. I know I'm taking some liberties with the medical professional piece of things, but mental health is important, and I can read what I want. 😝
Overall rating: I'm not normally a big self-help book girl, but something about 'Languishing' stuck out to me, causing me to rent it from my local library. Like with any self help book, I don't think what the author writes on the page is the end all be all. If we could all be 'cured' by a single book, what a world it would be. I do, however, think it's up to us as readers to take the little nuggets that we read and apply them to our own lives to be the best person we can be - to ourselves and others. There's a lot to slog through with 'Languishing' but I do think that Keyes has a few golden nuggets that I will take and apply to myself. While I'm not sure that I agree with Keyes that if you're not flourishing, you're languishing, I do see why Keyes put it on a spectrum like that, and I think I could use that spectrum for a more focused self-check-in. But realistically, I don't think emotional, mental, and physical well-being are great on a limited linear spectrum.
Overall, I felt like 'Languishing' was dense and a little short-sighted with the approach that being a good human and working on your own languishing/flourishing cycle is as simple as changing your mindset and being aware of your surroundings and the reaction to those. As Keyes should know, for some individuals, that is simply not chemically possible without the assistance of outside help (drugs - prescribed or otherwise, counseling, therapy, meditation, etc.)
As I saw some other reviewers say - please do not take your health advice, especially that of what medications you should or should not be taking - from a random self-help book you picked up to read. Only you and your doctor can make the decisions on what is working for your body. As an individual who actively takes store-bought serotonin, I fully know I'm much better of a person when I take that little pill than I am when I don't. <b> Do not let a random author tell you what to do with your medical needs simply based on an overgeneralization that selfishly supports their own research and viewpoint. </b> I do have to add, for some of the research and studies Keyes included in 'Languishing,' I found myself wondering what the control was, what the length of the study was, if long-term studies had taken place, and how measurements - specifically for things that are as obtuse as feelings and emotions - where scaled and weighted.
Reader's Note: 'Languishing' is a "self-help" book that openly talks about mental health, mental health struggles, and the various side effects of poor and/or untreated mental health including things like self-harm, negative self-talk, or suicidal ideations, suicide, etc.
What made me pick it up: Seemed oddly fitting for our world today. Additionally, I'm using it as my book for the TN R.E.A.D.S prompt of reading a book by or about a medical professional. I know I'm taking some liberties with the medical professional piece of things, but mental health is important, and I can read what I want. 😝
Overall rating: I'm not normally a big self-help book girl, but something about 'Languishing' stuck out to me, causing me to rent it from my local library. Like with any self help book, I don't think what the author writes on the page is the end all be all. If we could all be 'cured' by a single book, what a world it would be. I do, however, think it's up to us as readers to take the little nuggets that we read and apply them to our own lives to be the best person we can be - to ourselves and others. There's a lot to slog through with 'Languishing' but I do think that Keyes has a few golden nuggets that I will take and apply to myself. While I'm not sure that I agree with Keyes that if you're not flourishing, you're languishing, I do see why Keyes put it on a spectrum like that, and I think I could use that spectrum for a more focused self-check-in. But realistically, I don't think emotional, mental, and physical well-being are great on a limited linear spectrum.
Overall, I felt like 'Languishing' was dense and a little short-sighted with the approach that being a good human and working on your own languishing/flourishing cycle is as simple as changing your mindset and being aware of your surroundings and the reaction to those. As Keyes should know, for some individuals, that is simply not chemically possible without the assistance of outside help (drugs - prescribed or otherwise, counseling, therapy, meditation, etc.)
As I saw some other reviewers say - please do not take your health advice, especially that of what medications you should or should not be taking - from a random self-help book you picked up to read. Only you and your doctor can make the decisions on what is working for your body. As an individual who actively takes store-bought serotonin, I fully know I'm much better of a person when I take that little pill than I am when I don't. <b> Do not let a random author tell you what to do with your medical needs simply based on an overgeneralization that selfishly supports their own research and viewpoint. </b> I do have to add, for some of the research and studies Keyes included in 'Languishing,' I found myself wondering what the control was, what the length of the study was, if long-term studies had taken place, and how measurements - specifically for things that are as obtuse as feelings and emotions - where scaled and weighted.
Reader's Note: 'Languishing' is a "self-help" book that openly talks about mental health, mental health struggles, and the various side effects of poor and/or untreated mental health including things like self-harm, negative self-talk, or suicidal ideations, suicide, etc.