Learning to Love Myself: A Review of Alex Aubrey's Poetry on Self-Discovery
When people think of the word poetry, a multitude of thoughts come to mind, from spoken word and emotion to rhythm. People often associate poetry with expressing one’s feelings on paper, following a specific format and arrangement. Others think of reading and writing poems as a chore, due to the lyrical sentences that are confusing to read and hard to analyze. Alex Aubrey’s poetry book “Learning to Love Myself” perfectly encapsulates the journey of self-discovery and self-love.
A Journey of Self-Discovery and Empowerment
“Learning to Love Myself” is written for individuals embarking on a journey of self-love. With words of empathy and empowerment, this book offers guidance in strengthening one’s perception of and relationship with oneself. The book feels like the advice of a big sister and being the eldest it’s one I will hold dear to me and pick up when I need a gentle reminder to love myself and let go and live in the present.
Relatability to Young Readers
It is relatable to young readers, as the problems that the book talks about are ideas of personal growth, something that adolescents in particular experience frequently. This sort of self-discovery is important to help young readers understand who they are and what they value. The idea of being alone can provide them with the ability to explore their own feelings without influential peers or parents.
Embracing Solitude and Self-Validation
Aubrey’s poetry helps her readers embrace the ability to be content when alone. She helps us realize that people don’t always need validation from others to feel good. Her poetry shows that self-love can lead to healthier relationships with others in the future. Aubrey writes, “It is the hardest thing to learn how to be alone again.” She continues this thought in another poem where she writes, “There will come a day where you think more about the present than the past.”
Volume and Variety: Finding a Connection
What sets this collection apart is the number of poems it holds. There are so many poems that it is likely that every reader will find a piece that they connect with. As one reader noted, they've seen this book recommended to me on Instagram a lot of times and while reading through the quotes, I couldn't help but feel so connected. Like honestly. I decided to buy the book and just by reading it once, I can already see myself reading it a lot more. I am very happy I picked up this book. It truly was what I needed.
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Reader Reflections and Resonances
Many readers have found solace and positive reinforcement within the pages of "Learning to Love Myself." One reader, working on overcoming two years of depression and grief, shared that "these are positive reinforcement on loving yourself and you are worth it!!!" Another expressed gratitude, stating, "I am so grateful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted." The book's messages seem to resonate deeply with those navigating personal challenges. One reader shared a particularly moving experience: “Jeg vet at det er ganske vanskelig, jeg vet at det gjør vondt. Jeg vet at du har en million tanker i hodet ditt og at du gjentar de samme spørsmålene om og om igjen. Jeg vet at det føles som om denne smerten vil vare for alltid, og akkurat nå er det ingenting annet enn mørke foran deg. jeg vet at du føler at du kanskje ikke kommer deg gjennom. Jeg vet at en del av deg stiller spørsmål ved om det i det hele tatt er verdt å komme seg gjennom. Jeg vet. i kveld blir det vanskelig. og det vil i morgen også. og kanskje natten etter. men hei vet du hva? du har vært gjennom dette før. og du kan gjøre dette igjen. du vet du har dette i deg. jeg tror på deg. du kommer deg gjennom det. du kommer over det. akkurat som alle gangene før.”denne boken🥹🙏nylig døde min nære venn av selvmord, og de siste månedene har jeg klandret meg selv. Jeg plukket opp denne boken for litt motivasjon fordi jeg begynte å virkelig avsky meg selv, og jeg må si at denne boken virkelig hjalp meg til å reflektere over hva som har skjedd og lærte meg å ikke legge skylden på meg selv for noe som var utenfor min kontroll i øyeblikket.Jeg skriver bare mens jeg går, så beklager hvis denne anmeldelsen ikke gir noen mening, jeg prøver bare å få ut alle tankene mine på en gang😭😅vennligst ikke ignorer tegnene, se opp for dine kjære, hvis noen viser tegn på at de kan være suicidale, vennligst ta kontakt for hjelp🙏"
Critiques and Considerations
It's difficult to rate a poetry book, because it's something personal of course! So, either way, a poetry book is beautiful no matter what! But I give this one 2.5 stars unfortunately. Most of the quotes that were in here I have already read somewhere else and from other writers. So it did not feel unique or anything. Yes they were beautiful and I love to have a reminder of some of the messages that are in here, but other than that I felt like I have seen and heard these quotes many many times before. Sorry! There were some good poems in here, but as a whole the book wasn’t well crafted. There were some verb tense typos that were obvious mistakes rather than artistic choices. Many of the poems were so identical that they felt like drafts of each other instead of separate poems. Furthermore, many of the poems were so short they felt more like affirmations than fully developed poems. Overall not a bad experience, but not a poetry book that I plan to reread or purchase. At least some credit is due because it couldn't have been easy to go through hundreds of instagirlies' posts and decide on only some dozen captions to post as a "poetry" book.
A Source of Journal Prompts and Reflection
I think this one will be a great source of journal prompts. This was such a beautiful insightful read 🕊️Some poetry feels quite abstract and is full of really complex metaphors, which has its own place and is good and its own way, but this just feels like reading my own thoughts. The words in this book are exactly what I needed to hear and I think it's something everybody should read at least once because it just allows you to appreciate and reflect on yourself. Poetry can be quite confronting and difficult to read at times but this one is just very reflective and I think it has a positive and uplifting tone even though it reveals things about yourself that you need to face or difficult truths you need to accept ❤️It's validating. It's reassuring. It tells you exactly what you need to know, and it teaches you to love yourself. 10/10
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tags: #alex #aubrey #learning #to #love #myself
