Do You Have A Second?

Book Review for Courtney Phillip’s book of gentle reminders.

Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

This book is written by poet and author, Courtney Phillips and I’m super excited to write this review because I am such a huge fan of hers. I met her on Instagram through a dear friend of mine and fell in love with everything she writes. Once I got to know her and became friends with her, I adored her even more as her constant motivation to work towards her goals and dreams is truly inspirational. Not only that but, she is also one of the kindest and sweetest human beings I have ever met. So, of course, when Courtney put out this gorgeous book of gentle reminders, I had to purchase it immediately!

This is not a poetry book. This book touches on another one of Courtney’s passions which is advocating for those who live with and struggle with mental health and mental illness. Do You Have A Second? is a “book of gentle reminders.” It is so much more than that though. It is carefully put together so that not only are you getting sweet, raw, and loving reminders… You are also getting some extra amazing things. The collection of reminders is separated into 9 chapters, the last one concluding the book. Each chapter hits on an important theme of mental health:

• stay
• calm
• negative Thoughts
• let’s talk about you
• self-love and self-care
• motivation
• helping others
• distractions and reasons to smile
• do you have a second?

I especially loved the “helping others” section of the book because I have never seen something like that inside of a book like this before and sometimes, it’s not as easy to comfort others when they are struggling even if you have struggled in similar ways before. These reminders open up a way of thinking where you can more actively support your friends and loved ones which I think is such an important and amazing things to include in a book like this.

I was quite blown away by the love put into this book. You could easily think that it could be quite simple, especially given that Pinterest is full of affirmations, mantras, etc, but this book is very special. Not only is it full of loving affirmations and notes… It is also full of incredibly helpful information and exercises. This is not just a “book of quotes” and when I realized that I became extremely excited about it!

This beautifully put together book has breathing exercises and tips for ways of dealing with stress, panic attacks, negative thinking, and more which I really liked and was impressed by. When I was finished reading it, I immediately put it on my 12 year old daughter’s tablet for her to read as well because I believe that it could be a huge help to her while dealing with her anxieties and trauma that she has gone through in her previous life situation.

I absolutely recommend this book, especially if you find yourself struggling with your mental health; I plan on sending it to a couple of my friends as a holiday gift! If you would like to pick up a copy for yourself, your daughter, or maybe a friend… You can grab it here through Amazon!

If you don’t already follow Courtney Phillips on Instagram or Facebook, please do! She is such an amazing writer and person; you won’t regret it!