Know Your Worth: How to build your self-esteem, grow in confidence and worry less about what people think by Anna Mathur

Book Review May 20, 2021

My review

4/5 stars

I really enjoyed Anna Mathur's first book, Mind Over Mother, when I read it last year, so when I read that she had a new one coming out, I pre-ordered it. Know Your Worth sounded like it would be right up my nervous, unconfident alley - a guide on how to feel better about yourself and believe in yourself more.

The writing style was much was I remembered from the first book - a gentle, non-judgemental shining of a light on some sensitive topics that felt like a warm hug from an old friend. The author's background as a psychotherapist really helps her to speak to the reader as if they are the only one she's talking to - she's managed to make a mass-marketed book feel personal and individual. Her logic and reasoning was easy to read and follow as a way of working through personal self-esteem issues.

There are some tough issues tackled within the content, as is to be expected with something of this nature, which inevitably made for some uncomfortable reading at times, but there was never any pressure placed on following any of what was being said to the letter or on a certain timescale. Everything was direct and to the point, but never pushy or forced. The author's honesty about her own struggles with her self-esteem really helped in this, as it kept perspective on the fact that she's not asking the reader to do anything she hasn't already put herself through and learned from.

A particular chapter that really got me thinking was the chapter about the lessons we are unintentionally taught in childhood, most of which come from a place of good intention but get misconstrued in ways we don't foresee until we're adults looking back on our lives. It really made me think about what my young son is learning from my well-intentioned comments that I'm not even meaning for him too. That's the beauty of this book for me, not only is it making me think about how I treat myself, but also how I prevent self-esteem issues in my child.

I really enjoyed reading this and I think it would be a gentle way for anyone wanting to improve their self-esteem to introduce themselves of the idea doing something about it.

Book blurb

Your worth never changed. Your awareness of it did.

A strong understanding of self-worth is crucial to living an authentic and fulfilling life, yet so many of us have lost that sense of who we truly are and what we are worthy of. On the surface, this may look like low confidence, imposter syndrome, chronic busy-ness, exhaustion, overwhelm, fear or anxiety, but at the core, it's low self-worth.

In her second book, Sunday Times bestselling author and psychotherapist Anna Mathur will set you on a journey towards greater self-worth. Anna will use her personal and professional insight to guide you to a place of balance that will allow you to recognise and appreciate your self-worth, build your self-esteem, grow in confidence and worry less about what other people think.

Using Anna's own experience of embarking on this journey herself, and spending ten years facilitating her therapy clients to do the same, Know Your Worth will help you to understand why you feel the way you do, what perpetuates it and what the cost of low self-esteem has been for you. It will provide the coping mechanisms, habits and tips that will redirect your self-esteem on a healthy and fulfilling upward spiral and help you to escape the relentless desire to 'be better' and 'do more' with the realisation that perhaps you were actually far more acceptable than you first thought.