I don’t know about you but I love to read.
There are few things as cozy and relaxing to me as curling up on a lazy Saturday with a mug of coffee and a good book.
I love reading so much I have had a goal the last few years to read 100 books in a year.
This past year the closest I got to that goal was ninety books.
One of the things I love about reading is how it has the potential to broaden my horizons and help me grow as an individual.
Self- help books can get a bad rap sometimes. However, I find there are a lot of self-help type books that are great for Catholic Singles to read and learn about themselves.
Things like navigating conflict and emotions, healthy communication, and boundaries are important skills to have in your relational toolbox, whether with friends or family but most especially in dating.
Here is a list of books (that I myself have read) that have helpful, great principles for Catholics in 2020.
Boundaries in Dating: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Relationships by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend
This book is based off the original bestselling book Boundaries. Drs. Cloud and Townsend use the same game-changing principles and apply them to the wonderful world of dating.
I think this is a must read for every Catholic single who is navigating the ever-changing nature of online dating.
We all know that boundaries are necessary and vital pieces to having a healthy relationship.
Boundaries are great principles for people, regardless of their relationship status! We all should have and use boundaries in our daily lives.
The book does a great job of offering practical tips and ideas for the types of boundaries and how to implement them in dating relationships.
It also offers conversation starters of ways to talk about it with your significant other.
How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk: The Foolproof Way to Follow Your Heart Without Losing Your Mind by John Van Epp
Initially one of my girlfriends gave me this book as a joke. She’d had a long night listening to me wail and gnash teeth at my many frustrations with online dating.
At first when she sent me this book, I didn’t really expect much.
I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, this book blew me out of the water.
It is written by a psychologist who does an amazing job combining science and experience with his clients. He brings together the heart and head pieces to make healthy, smart choices about dating, relationships, and our choices around those both.
You’ll learn practical tools on important things like compatibility and basic relationship building skills.
There’s also a section about how to discuss sex and sexuality and all the other conversation topics that comes up with those types of conversations.
The book comes with various quizzes to take and reflection questions at the end of each chapter to allow the reader to think about and more deeply apply the principles in their own lives.
A great read! I have already bought several copies for my single girlfriends.
Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren’t by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Most of us have probably experienced people in our lives who feel safe to interact with.
On the flip side, many of us have also experienced dealing with people in life and relationships who are not safe to be around.
I personally found this book to be a helpful resource for me as I started dating again after my divorce and annulment.
I was anxious and scared about getting mistreated. This book helped me strengthen myself and inner trust muscles. I learned to trust that I already had the knowledge inside myself to make good and healthy choices around men, dating, and relationships.
This book is simple, direct, and to the point. It is broken up into three different sections.
The first section explains what are the traits and characteristics of unsafe people. It teaches you how do you sniff them out, so to speak.
The second portion looks at yourself: Am I attracting unsafe people? How so? How do I change that?
The final section explains what safe look like, while giving you the tools to decide if someone is a safe person or not.
This is a helpful book you can use in your dating life. But you can also apply the same concepts in all the other different types of relationships in your life.
There are lots of different books many of us would probably recommend (or not recommend) to our Catholic single friends.
I think these are the top three I continually keep telling others about. Hopefully you find them encouraging and insightful.
Are there others you might add to this list?
What are the books that have been healing and helpful to you as a single Catholic man or woman?
