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3 Takes on Glennon Doyle’s Untamed

IT’S UNANIMOUS

Glennon Doyle has taken the world by storm many a time. She toured with Oprah; she’s BFFs with Elizabeth Gilbert. She (in)famously married soccer star Abby Wambach after becoming a worldwide phenomenon because of the memoir she wrote about staying with her husband, who’d repeatedly been unfaithful. Her newest book, Untamed, speaks to an entirely different and more nuanced side of Glennon (which you’ve likely seen if you’re one of her 1.1 million Instagram followers).

Untamed touched so many people on our team, we’re making a collective case for why you should pick it up for yourself and your best girlfriends ASAP, if you haven’t already.

Annie Nogg, Career & Life Coach

Favorite quote or passage: “When I see a joyful confident woman moving through the world with swagger, I’m going to forgive myself for my first reaction because it’s not my fault—it’s just my conditioning. First reaction: Who the hell does she think she is? Second reaction: She knows she’s a goddamn cheetah. Halle-fucking-lujah.” I love this quote so much a) because it speaks to our natural conditioning including how to notice it/break free of it, and b) because it celebrates women stepping into their power. 

Why You Should Read It: I recommend Untamed to my clients—especially women—to send this beautiful gift of a book forward. It’s as if Glennon’s heart got a mouth and dictated this book to her. It’s a beautiful account of how one woman shed all of the shoulds and moved into an unapologetically gorgeous life of trusting and honoring her intuition. I love to help clients view themselves from the inside out (as opposed to the outside in) and this book is a fantastic example of how to do that. 

It’s as if Glennon’s heart got a mouth and dictated this
book to her.

Nicolle Mackinnon, Healers Managing Editor

Favorite quote or passage: Choosing a favorite passage or quote from this book was one of the trickiest intellectual challenges I’ve had this month! While reading it, I took photos and highlighted at least 30 paragraphs or pages—it just kept speaking to me on a soul level. But this one, which encompasses an important, book-long theme, stands out:

“I love myself now. Self-love means that I have a relationship with myself built on trust and loyalty. I trust myself to have my own back, so my allegiance is to the voice within. I’ll abandon everyone else’s expectations of me before I’ll abandon myself. I’ll disappoint everyone else before I’ll disappoint myself. I’ll forsake all others before I’ll forsake myself. Me and myself: We are til death do us part.

What the world needs is more women who have quit fearing themselves and started trusting themselves.

What the world needs is masses of women who are entirely out of control.”

We need more women who are entirely out of control, who trust themselves first and who aren’t willing to ‘set themselves on fire to keep other people warm’.

Why You Should Read It: That theme is why you should read it—because we need more women who are entirely out of control, who trust themselves first and who aren’t willing to “set themselves on fire to keep other people warm” (another Untamed gem). That’s not to say we shouldn’t take care of others. But our priorities need to be to ourselves, unlike they have been for so long, for so many women who were told that their wants should always come second (or third or fourth or fifth or last).

Also: Read this if you grew up in a religious system that doesn’t fit you anymore or if you’ve experienced any kind of chronic or long-standing (or mystery) illness. Glennon has been there, and she knows what you need to hear, because she needed to hear it herself.

Elizabeth Kendig, Healers Founder

Favorite quote or passage: “We can do hard things” stopped me in my tracks—literally–on a long walk. The words arrived like a messenger exactly when I needed to hear them most: in the middle of building a new business which required learning and doing a bunch of hard things I had no idea how to do. Now it’s become a mantra. Like a new-and-improved version of “I think I can, I think I can” but more affirming and effective because it acknowledges that the thing IS hard. Let’s not pretend it’s not. It’s hard AND ALSO I can do it.

Glennon’s voice in my ear was a rally cry, a reminder that you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you.

Why You Should Read It: Truth be told, I almost didn’t read this book. I’ve celebrated Glennon’s entire literary catalog but Untamed didn’t seem . . . necessary. I already feel pretty untamed. But my book club selected it and I proceeded to devour while on long walks during a challenging time. Glennon’s voice in my ear was a rally cry, a reminder that you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you. Don’t stop because you’re different, keep going because you are. We can do hard things because if we don’t who else will?

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