Advice from a Friend
I recently read 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do and I couldn’t put it down. Amy Morin gives good advice but what I enjoy the most are the real-life examples she shares. Morin is a licensed clinical social worker, an instructor at Northeastern University, and a psychotherapist. You may feel like reading this book is a counseling session at a very good price, or a long talk with advice from a friend. Her personal experiences bring the book to life and really make it unique and interesting for the reader.
13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do
Morin writes that mentally strong women do not insist on perfection. She quotes a woman who said, “Women are expected to work two to three full-time jobs. Men are expected to work forty hours and mow the lawn” (Morin 35). Despite some societal changes and women entering the workforce, Morin reports that across the globe the duties “haven’t shifted” (Morin 35). According to Morin, “Studies consistently show women tend to do the majority of domestic tasks, meal preparation, and childcare duties” (35). A study that took 50 years and included 19 countries was particularly interesting. In 1965, women in the U.S. did 7 times as much housework as men. In 2010, though it had definitely improved, women were still doing twice as much housework as men.
Another favorite chapter for me in 13 Things was on self-doubt. Morin reports on a study that showed girls believe men are smarter and more talented than women by age 6. What was so interesting to me was that at age 5, the kids in the study chose the smarter person to be the person of their same gender. But, one and two years later, that had already shifted. “Almost all of the children guessed the brilliant individual was a man. The results were the same when they were given images of children instead of adults,” Morin writes (79).
Other highlights for me were discussions in the difference of how women and men follow rules and consider failure. Morin also shares examples of women who took big risks to make changes that would effect everyone.
Who is the Surgeon?
She includes a riddle I used to ask my gifted students. A father and son are in a car crash and the father dies. The boy is rushed to the hospital, but the surgeon looks at him and says, “I can’t operate because this is my son.” How can this be? It is always fun to watch students trying to process this, and most do not come up with the correct answer. A couple of my students would get it in each class, but most would not, just like the study at Boston University. 197 students were asked this riddle and only 14% of them got it right: the surgeon is the boy’s mother (Morin 193).
Grab Your Copy Today!
I hope you check out 13 Things. The chapters are powerful and I believe they ring true. Mentally strong women don’t stay silent, don’t downplay their success, and don’t feel bad reinventing themselves, Morin notes. These are just a few gems among many. Each chapter concludes with a quick breakdown of what is helpful and what is not helpful. Morin also includes common traps. The chapters are also set up with the same format throughout the book. I found it to be very reader friendly.
To purchase other books by Morin like 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do & 13 Things Strong Kids Do, click here: https://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1535322&u=2319341&m=97137
