Why should you read this book?

I'll discuss exactly why in my video review below, but let me share this blurb from the back cover:

Through Kirsten’s reciprocity-based approach, her clients find deeper meaning and fulfillment in their lives through a more profound connection with their community. Her clients start heart-centered businesses, organizations and passion projects that create healthier, safer and more equitable communities.

I hope the word 'community' and 'communities' jumped out at you. That's it. That's the core of everything humans do today. We want to contribute something of value to our community. Next Act Give Back teaches us how.

But there’s more. Much more.

If you take nothing else from that blurb, after 'community', take the words “profound” and “heart-centered” because that’s exactly what you find in this book.

It’s a book of stories. A book of emotions. A book of successes that were hard-won. It’s about women everywhere. I think, perhaps, it’s about me. And about you.

Let’s get personal

I lost myself in the introduction, where Kirsten shared her personal story with us. When I saw this quote, below, I knew this book would not disappoint.

Giving back doesn’t have to mean returning a gift to others. It can mean giving back to yourself. It can mean giving back to the dreams of how you were going to make a change in the world as a young college graduate.

She goes on, throughout the book, and in her work, of course, teaching us what change means, and how it isn’t a “new you” every time. It’s a new you built out of the “old” you. I don’t use the word old in its common sense, as pertaining to age. I use it as a way of thinking - you were who you were last year or the year before, and you would like to take that woman, that talented woman, and bring out the magic she has inside.

To give you a tiny bit of insight into the book and its teachings, here are 3 Essentials she says you need, to succeed.

It’s About the Essentials

It’s not about being a different person. It’s about turning into a beautiful butterfly and finding all the right flowers to pollinate.

I felt a profound sense of connectedness as I read this book.

I felt suddenly understood.

I felt open to the universe, alive in ways I hadn’t felt alive for many years.

Kirsten brought me back to my dreams and my purpose in life - which is here at Nurturing Big Ideas.

On page 39 the story of Ruth made me sit up and consume the words with an eagerness I have not felt in a long time. When Ruth adopts a new motto that says, “Humanity Vs Vanity,” I had to stop for a minute, close the book, and think about what that meant.

There are other places in the book that I did the same thing. In the middle of the book Kirsten talks about choosing - about understanding your dream of being a changemaker. She describes the different types and encourages readers to then describe how and why they chose the type of changemaker they did.

And, no, I’m not sharing that here. You have to buy the book and read it for yourself.

Meanwhile, I offer the book review in slide format, with my commentary, below. Watch for a video conversation with Kirsten, later this month on Nurturing Big Ideas Today on YouTube.