Review of Between Fear and Love, SELF-WORTH: The ties that bind

Review of Between Fear and Love, SELF-WORTH: The ties that bind.
by Lauren Cropper

Reviewed by Alastair Rosie

A long time ago in a world far far away, I read a couple of books by John Powell. The title of one stands out in my memory. Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? He answered the question in the book. I am afraid to tell you who I am because you may not like who I am…

It was one of the very few self help books I’d recommend to anyone because it got to the heart of the matter without the psycho babble so prevalent in those kinds of books. I don’t normally review them because I hate being preached at, in case you’re wondering I’m an ex baptist boy turned horribly atheist with paganistic overtones.

Thus when I downloaded Lauren Cropper’s book Self Worth I wasn’t sure it was the kind of book I’d read let alone review. It cost me just under a pound but I can honestly say it’s worth a lot more than books written by veteran psychologists and therapists. This woman writes from the heart and lets it all out. Her struggles to find some degree of self worth are frighteningly familiar to most of us, there are no terrible tales of trauma, she doesn’t hang out her dirty laundry she just tells it as it happened to her.

The version I had was divided into easily readable sections that can be digested in bite sized chunks, starting with A humble origination of fear through uncovering fear and ending with loosening the grip of fear. Part two begins with unconditional love and ends with guilting your way out of love. She moves onto an understanding of self worth, self confidence and starts us on a journey towards self worth and changing our attitudes.

There are no magic cures here, no little pills, just honesty about her own mistakes and how she found her way forward. In that way it’s like a breath of fresh air. There is a simplicity about this book that runs counter to the complicated theories put out by therapists. At the heart of it is love for others and ourselves, respect for others and ourselves and adopting an attitude of gratitude. I know some may turn up their nose at that, especially here in Britain where we live under a perpetual cloud of doom and gloom but perhaps it really is that simple.

I guess in finishing this review I have to admit there’s something about intimacy, exposing ourselves and risking rejection that draws others to us. I’ve tried some of the techniques in this book a few years back and they worked, while I kept doing them. She writes with freshness and honesty, sprinkling anecdotes throughout the book. The only thing I baulked at to be honest were references to God, but he and I have been having an ongoing argument for decades, but even that is set out in a way that is all encompassing, even if you don’t believe in the man upstairs.

Having read Cropper’s book once for review purposes I know it’s one I’ll go back to again and again to check my progress. For me it’s a game changer, a fork in the road and once you have the information and providing you have some degree of self honesty then this is the book for you.

A welcome addition to my growing Kindle library and a fantastic read. I give it five out of five.

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