When Self-Help Becomes Something We Do Together with Toni Jones
Shownotes
This week, I talk to Toni Jones about all things self-help. Toni is the founder of Shelf Help, the world’s first self-help book club and over the last decade she has read 1,000 self-help books while building a global community around reading, reflection and connection.
We explore the difference between trying to optimise yourself and actually learning how to care for yourself. Toni shares why she thinks curiosity, experimentation, and connection can shift our approach to endless self-improvement culture.
We also talk about emotional avoidance, self-trust, and the experience of becoming more visible to other people after years of keeping parts of yourself hidden. There’s a beautiful conversation here too about friendship, community, relationships that deepen over time, and the vulnerability of letting yourself be seen.
Toni Jones is a journalist-turned-bibliotherapist and the founder of Shelf Help Club. She hosts The Bibliotherapists podcast and has spent the last decade exploring how books, reflection, and shared conversation can support emotional wellbeing and personal growth. Her new book, You: A Beginner’s Guide, brings together many of the ideas we explore in this episode.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by wellness culture, exhausted by trying to hold everything together, or wished someone would just say, “you don’t have to figure this out on your own,” I hope this conversation keeps you company.
Shelf Help | You (A Beginner's Guide) | The Bibliotherapists Podcast
Books, authors, podcasts and talks mentioned in this episode
• Paul McKenna, Change Your Life in 7 Days
• Brené Brown, Rising Strong
• Brené Brown, TED Talk: The Power of Vulnerability
• Brené Brown, TED Talk: Listening to Shame
• Glennon Doyle, Untamed and the podcast We Can Do Hard Things
• Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love and Big Magic
• Amir Levine, Attached and Secure
• Alexandra Elle, The Company We Keep
• Shahroo Izadi, The Kindness Method
• Will Bowen, A Complaint Free World
• Suzy Reading, Self-Care for Tough Times
This is A Thought I Kept — Weekly conversations about the ideas that stay. Listen every Monday morning for a new thought to hold onto this week.
About Claire Fitzsimmons
Claire is the host of A Thought I Kept, a wellbeing writer, author and the co-founder of If Lost Start Here. As a Certified Coach and Emotions Coach Practitioner, Claire helps people navigate the everyday lost moments and all the feelings, from anxiety to grief, overwhelm to disconnection.
Buy Claire's first book, If Lost Start Here: Wellbeing for the Anxious, Disconnected or Uncertain here.
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Find out how to work with Claire here.
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The music for all episodes from August 10th was made by Leon in the Wilderness.