Best Books for Living a Fulfilling Life

I wouldn’t say I was a bookworm growing up.

It’s not that I didn’t like reading. It just wasn’t typically my first choice when I was looking for something to do on slow days.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to really love to read and I’ve especially fall in love with non-fiction books. I think it’s because I can take something I’ve learned from these types of books and apply it to real life. However, finding the time now seems to be a struggle. (It’s like I have 3 kids and a full-time job or something! 😉 I know you mama’s feel me.)

All the same, here are a few books I’ve ready “recently” (recently being a rough term…) that have really made an impact on my life. So I’m not talking about books that are mediocre. These are books that changed my heart and my soul. They changed my way of thinking. They encouraged me to live a more fulfilling life.

I don’t want to give you a full-on middle school style book report, so I’m just going to include my main takeaway from each one, then link these to Amazon so you can check them out more for yourself.

*Also, I double checked and all of these books are also available in audio if you’d rather listen than read. (Yay!)

Present over Perfect – Shauna Niequist

Main takeaway: Slow down, be present, and savor the little moments.

The tagline for this book is, “Leaving behind frantic for a simpler, more soulful way of living.” I remember seeing that tagline and thinking, this is a book I need to invest some time in.

Through Shauna’s writing, I felt the whispers in my heart telling me to slow down. To savor. To take in the moments that are right in front of me. To take time to be with my kids instead of waiting for the next phase to come along (which is still a challenge, trust me, but reading this book helped.)

I’m also grateful that this book reminded me it’s ok to say NO. To turn down things that don’t light our souls on fire and instead make room for connection and a slower pace.

You can check it out here:

Girl, Wash Your Face – Rachel hollis

Main Takeaway: Life should be lived! The good, the bad, all of it. We only get this one life so let’s not waste it by holding ourselves back.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, my guess is that you’ve heard of this book. So if you haven’t read it yet, let me explain why it’s so important to me and how I think it can help:

When I picked up this book, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was May of 2018 and I was coming out of a really long and difficult season in my life. Brooks was about 5 months old and the entire year beforehand had just been hard.

I don’t know precisely what it was about reading “Girl, Wash Your Face,” but after I read it, I felt like something inside me woke up. Like I had spent so much time worrying about what others thought of me and worrying about trying to do everything perfect or live up to some sort of false societal standard.

I honestly owe this blog’s existence to this book, too. I knew when I finished it that I wanted to do something that made me feel fulfilled, and this blog was the answer.

I don’t want to go all overboard and gushy here, but this book truly pulled me out of one of the toughest seasons of life I’ve been through so far. It reminded me that I get to decide how I respond to what happens in my life, and I don’t have to wait for someone to give me permission to go and live. (Plus, I’m decently certain Rachel and I could be besties IRL if she even knew who I was. 😂)

You can find more info here:

You are the Girl for the Job – Jess Connolly

Main Takeaway: God created us for a purpose, and we need to trust Him and lean into that instead of running away from it.

I think there’s a lot of talk out there right now about doing whatever it is that makes us “happy.” And while I LOVE leaning into our purpose and finding ways to use the gifts God has given us, I also think that searching for “happiness” is topic that’s maybe a bit over-hyped.

In this book, Jess reminds us that we are enough right where we are, right where God placed us, because He put us there and He says we’re enough. Right away in the introduction to this book she said 2 things that I still remember (and had to look up to quote correctly, obvi):

1. “You’re placed where you’re at, with what you’ve got, on purpose” and 2. “This is our invitation to strip off defeat, kick fear in the actual face, and get over ourselves so we can get on with living the wild and wonderful mission that He has for our lives.”

I mean, come on. The rest of the book goes into ways that we can embrace our present, get over fear, and quit comparing. There’s so much more, but again, I’ll let you check it out for yourself instead of giving you a 20 minute book report. (You’re welcome. 😊)

Check it out here:

Curent Read: 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth – John C. Maxwell

Main Takeaway: It takes intention if you want to better yourself or grow.

This is my current read, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure about it before I picked it up. I’d heard of John Maxwell before, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to relate to his books as he’s not the typical author I choose to read from.

However, this book has been so good so far! John has a way of writing that is to the point and full of stories to pull the whole picture together. Plus, the guy has been around the block a few times and has so much wisdom to share! If you Google it, he’s written at least 17 books in his lifetime.

I’ve gathered up so many good nuggets of information from 15 Laws so far. It’s chalked full of tangible ways to change your thinking and questions to ask yourself for self-reflection.

The whole goal of the book is to get the reader to be intentional about growing and stretching outside his or her comfort zone, and let me tell you, this book is doing that for me. As much as I like to think that personal growth is something that just happens, this book is reminding me that we have to be intentional about growth.

Here’s the link for more info:

Up Next:

I have two books on my mind that I want to read this year yet and I could not be more excited about them!

Fierce, Free, & Full of Fire by Jen Hatmaker.

This one hasn’t released yet, but you can preorder it now for April. Jen is honestly one of my favorite author’s on the planet. Her sarcasm and truth resonate so much with my life! I’ve read about every one of her books to date and I know this one is gonna be a killer. There’s no other person I’d want to teach me how to fully embrace who I was made to be than Jen because she’s living proof that it can be done.

Update: I was able to snag an advanced reader copy of this book so I think I’m going to have to pause on “15 Laws” and dive into this one instead! I just love Jen Hatmaker too much. I can’t let the book sit there and stare at me. It feels like I’m cheating on it or something. (Sorry, that got weird.)

Anyway, here’s the link:

Grace, Not Perfection by Emily Ley.

I had a friend text me the first few pages of the introduction to this book, and I was sold. The world needs more of this message to simplify and stretch for growth instead of perfection. This book is currently sitting in my cart, ready to come my way as soon as I can finish the other two books I’m digging into right now. I’ll keep you posted on how I like it, friend. 😊

For more info:

Wrapping Up.

There you have it. A few books that have changed my world and send me on a path to living a more fulfilling life. I hope you find these helpful!

OVER TO YOU: What books have you read that changed your way of thinking? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below! Let’s start a conversation and share some book learning. 🙂