Looking for the best self-care books? I’ve got you covered.
The list below includes must-read books on taking care of yourself and prioritizing your overall well-being and health.
Best Self-Care Books
1. A Year of Self-Care by Dr. Zoe Shaw
This self-care book offers simple daily exercises for taking care of yourself.
The book contains bite-sized self-care tips to focus your mind on positive thinking and self-love for a year.
With daily practices, it’ll empower you with the tools and knowledge to continue on your own self-care journey.
What’s in it for you
- An inspiring self-care journal that’ll help you gain a more positive outlook and improve your overall well-being
- 365 simple, stimulating daily exercises to help you commit to self-care
- Supportive strategies and 15-minute motivational exercises
2. Good Vibes, Good Life by Vex King
Drawing from his personal experience and intuitive wisdom, Vex King guides you on the journey to self-care through inspirational messages and beautiful illustrations.
This self-care book focuses on helping you manifest positive vibes while eliminating toxic energy.
What’s in it for you:
- How to practice self-care and prioritize your well-being
- How to cultivate healthy habits like meditation and mindfulness
- How to manifest your goals using tried-and-true techniques
- And so much more!
3. The Self Care Prescription by Robyn Gobin
This self-care book aims to empower you to find purpose and balance in your life, work, and relationships.
It helps you improve your well-being with solutions-based, self-care techniques that work.
More importantly, you’ll learn to create a personalized self-care plan.
What’s in it for you:
- Actionable strategies to fight anxiety, demotivation, and other negative feelings
- How to practice self-care daily
- A comprehensive approach to self-care, including the physical, emotional, spiritual, vocational, intellectual, and social areas of your life
4. After the Rain by Alexandra Elle
After the Rain offers 15 lessons on overcoming obstacles, building confidence, and cultivating abundance.
In the book, Alexandra Elle shares her own journey from self-doubt to self-love.
Part memoir part guide, After the Rain is filled with insightful reflections on courage, fear, loss, love, healing, and acceptance.
What’s in it for you:
- Empowering affirmations and meditations to practice in your own life
- A soulful self-care guide that’ll help you embrace all the love, beauty, and opportunity life has to offer
5. Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
We all know the importance of healthy boundaries in achieving work/life balance, coping with toxic people, and enjoying rewarding relationships with friends, partners, and family.
But how do we express our needs, learn to say no, and be assertive without offending other people?
In Set Boundaries, Find Peace, Nedra Glover Tawwab presents simple, powerful strategies for establishing healthy boundaries in our lives.
Drawing from the latest research and best practices, the book’s strategies will help you express your needs clearly and without apology.
What’s in it for you:
- End the struggle, learn to speak up for your needs, and enjoy the freedom of being your authentic self
6. Resilient by Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson
These days, strengths like grit, compassion, and gratitude are vital to long-lasting well-being and resilience in our ever-changing world.
In Resilient, Dr. Rick Hanson teaches you how to develop 12 inner strengths for feeling less stressed, staying calm in the face of trouble, and pursuing opportunities with confidence.
What’s in it for you:
- Practical suggestions, personal examples, and insights
- Effective ways to interact with others and deepen important relationships
- How to develop more self-compassion, self-worth, inner peace, and joy
7. Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
The Japanese say that everyone has a reason for living—an ikigai—and finding it is the key to living a happier, longer life.
In this book, the authors reveal the secret to longevity and happiness—according to the people of the Japanese village with the highest number of 100-year-olds.
What’s in it for you:
- Practical tools for discovering your own ikigai and infusing happiness into your daily life
Best Self-Care Journals
8. Burn After Writing by Sharon Jones
Burn After Writing is a self-care journal that aims to help you spend more time self-reflecting.
Through the journal’s thought experiments and insightful questions, you’ll learn new things while letting others go.
And when you’re done with the journal, you can hide it, toss it, or Burn After Writing.
What’s in it for you:
- Reflect on your past, present, and future, and create a book for you, by you.
9. Self-Care Check-In by GG Renee Hill
Self Care Check-In offers guided journaling with effective self-care strategies.
Packed with research-based techniques, this self-care journal will help you cope with stress, cultivate your values and goals, and take concrete steps toward positive change.
What’s in it for you:
- Inspiring quotes and actionable prompts to guide you through self-reflection, goal-setting, active planning, and decision-making
- Daily exercises
- Three steps to self-care
10. No Worries by Bella Mente Press
No Worries is a 12-week self-care journal that’ll help you process and reframe your thoughts to reduce your worries.
The journal will guide you to self-reflect, identify the sources of your anxiety, and prioritize your well-being and mental health.
What’s in it for you:
- Self-care ideas, fear-setting exercises, and habit trackers
- Therapy reflections and monthly progress tracker
11. Self-Care: A Day and Night Reflection Journal by Insight Editions
This guided self-care journal helps you cultivate mindfulness and prioritize your well-being amid a busy lifestyle.
The 90-day journal aims to provide a space for you to record your thoughts and activities and consider how they impact your physical and emotional health.
What’s in it for you:
- Beautiful illustrations
- Develop positive thinking, overcome stressful situations, and cultivate a general sense of well-being
Best Self-Care Books for Men
12. Unf*ck Yourself by Gary John Bishop
In Unfu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop offers tools and advice for becoming your authentic self and overcoming the burdens holding you down.
Bishop asserts that your own negative self-talk is the main obstacle standing in your way and shows the way to living the life you were meant to have.
What’s in it for you:
- An honest, no-nonsense, self-empowerment guide to pushing past your self-imposed limitations
13. The Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley
The Man in the Mirror is a Christian book that focuses on helping you overcome common obstacles to spiritual growth and become a better leader in all aspects of your life.
Offering incisive questions, practical advice, and biblical insights, this book will challenge you to self-reflect, identify your problems, and make the necessary changes to love yourself, God, and others better.
This book is especially geared toward Christian men hoping to fix their relationships, establish financial strength, and set priorities in their lives.
What’s in it for you:
- Timeless advice and principles for becoming a better man
Best Self-Care Books for Women
14. Self-Love Workbook for Women by Megan Logan
One of the best self-care books for women, this workbook will help you embrace who you are and discover how much there is to love about yourself.
You’ll embark on a self-discovery journey by understanding self-love and practicing exercises to build your self-esteem and improve your relationships.
What’s in it for you:
- Practical techniques
- Inspiring prompts and activities
- Empowering affirmations to create a life filled with greater self-love and purpose
15. Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
A revolutionary self-care book for women, Burnout explains why women’s burnout experience is different than men’s.
It provides a simple, science-backed plan to help women manage emotions, reduce stress, and live happier lives.
What’s in it for you:
- How to complete the biological stress cycle and return to a relaxation state
- How to wholeheartedly love your body
- How to prevent and recover from burnout
16. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
In this groundbreaking book, Rachel Hollis reveals the 20 misconceptions and lies that hold you back from living productively and joyfully.
Along the way, she entertains and encourages you to do whatever it takes to become the joyous, confident woman you’re meant to be.
What’s in it for you:
- Specific practical strategies for moving past common obstacles
17. The Witch’s Book of Self-Care by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
An odd one in this self-care books list, The Witch’s Book of Self-Care is an awesome guide to spiritual self-care with a witchy twist.
The book will teach you to nourish your spirit and body with herbal remedies, rituals, and spells inspired by witchcraft.
You’ll learn to pamper your mind, body, and spirit with meditations, spells, mantras, and activities to help you stay healthy, channel joy, soothe stress, relieve sadness, and embrace your inner strength.
What’s in it for you:
- How to connect to the earth, exercise your personal power, and add a little magic to your daily life
- A ritual to release guilt
- Green space meditation, DIY body butter, and so much more!
Best Self-Care Books for Black Women
18. You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown
In this inspiring self-care book for Black women, Tarana Burke and Brené Brown join forces with a dynamic group of Black writers and artists to explore vulnerability and shame resilience from the Black point of view.
Featuring a potent essay collection on Black shame and healing, Burke and Brown create a space for Black women to be truly vulnerable and affirm the completeness of Black life and Black love.
What’s in it for you:
- How to take your armor off in a country where you’re not physically or emotionally safe
19. Self-Care for Black Women by Oludara Adeeyo
This book offers 150 self-care exercises aimed at helping Black women renew their outlook on life, eliminate stress, improve their mental health, and prioritize their needs.
The book will teach you to radically put yourself first and concentrate on your own self-care.
What’s in it for you:
- How to prioritize physical and mental well-being as a Black woman
Best Self-Care Books for Black Men
20. breathe. by Brennan Allan Steele
breathe. is a 45-day guided self-care journal that offers a space for healing and promotes wholeness for Black men.
It aims to help Black men reclaim their own stories, reflect on their identities, and more fully understand their emotions.
What’s in it for you:
- Prompts and activities to help you write your own story