Nothing Changes until You Do : A Guide to Self-Compassion and Getting Out of Your Own Way

Best-selling author Mike Robbins had a life that many little boys dream of. Drafted by the New York Yankees directly out of high school, Mike decided instead to postpone his professional baseball career until he finished college. After a successful stint at Stanford, he began life in the minor leagues as a pitcher with the Kansas City Royals organization, where he played for three years until an injury benched him for good. This devastating disappointment changed his life in wonderful ways that he could have never imagined. He now teaches and speaks around the world about teamwork, emotional intelligence, and the value of appreciation and authenticity. In Nothing Changes Until You Do, Mike’s third book, he looks at one of the most important and challenging aspects of life—our relationship with ourselves. Even the most successful person struggles with this delicate relationship, which has created an epidemic of self-criticism, self-doubt, and thinking that our value is directly connected to the external world—our jobs, our finances, our appearance, our accomplishments, and so on. Through 40 short essays, Mike shows readers that none of this is true, and brings to light a new way to look at life. With themes spanning from the importance of trusting yourself to the benefits of vulnerability to the strength inherent in embracing powerlessness and change, Mike will help readers get out of their own way, so they can live a good life. He shows that with a little self-compassion and a healthy dose of self-acceptance, anyone can turn away from the negatives that manifest because of a critical self-perception—things like unkindness, addictions, sabotaged relationships, unnecessary drama, and more. Making peace with ourselves is fundamental to happiness. The suggestions, insights, and reminders of this book will allow readers to have more compassion, more acceptance, and more love for themselves—thus giving them access to more compassion, more acceptance, and more love for the people (and everything else) in their lives.