Bookworm Review: Bloom How You Must: A Black Woman’s Guide To Self-Care & Generational Healing

You’ve just about had it.

Everything and everybody is on your last nerve, which marks the official end of any self-restraint you might’ve had. You’re out of patience, out of breath, out of any shred of willingness to give things more time. You’re out of cares. Nope, as of now, and in the new book “Bloom How You Must” by Tara Pringle Jefferson, you’re taking care of you now.

All it took was a minor health crisis.

With two kids, a freelance business, and eighteen hour days, Tara Pringle Jefferson had been experiencing a lot of pain that she usually powered through – until she couldn’t anymore. Her doctor examined her, then told her to take the weekend off. Seriously, rest.

This made Jefferson think. For generations, Black women had made sure what needed doing was done. How did they cope under oppression, overwork, few resources?

Looking into the lives of influential Black women in history, she discovered the secret: self-care. Even Coretta Scott King took time away from Martin and the family, Jefferson says. Black women have a legacy of self-care that’s usually passed down from mother to daughter, and it’s up to each woman to make sure she finds what makes her feel complete again.

Jefferson offers ways to get you started.

Physical Wellness reminds you to moisturize your skin, eat right, get enough sleep, and enjoy the body you have.  Host a sister circle for Social Wellness. Find your own definition of success for Professional Wellness. “Do church” in a new way for Spiritual Wellness. Don’t let a need for Mental Wellness to be stigmatized. Find your inner child, learn to play again, and tap into your Creative Wellness. And know that you are a child of survivors who gave you strength but who also passed down intergenerational trauma, so be gentle and kind to yourself. Remember: you’re still rehabilitating.

As with most self-help books, “Bloom How You Must” is full of a lot of commonsensical things you probably already know. Also, as with most self-help books, it’s always nice to be reminded, with the info you need all in one place.

The best thing about this self-help book is that author Tara Pringle Jefferson focuses exclusively on the self-care and well-being of Black women only. In doing so, she reaches into history to remind readers that the stress they’re experiencing today is a modern problem, but it’s also nothing new.  The care she advocates, therefore, has tinges of ancestry, which is comfortable but can also be surprising, in that she candidly discusses sex, relationships, and changing the way readers approach their spiritual well-being. Readers who are open and willing to change for better health and happiness may be taken aback by that, but it’s undoubtedly also going to leave you thinking.

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Men who are curious can absolutely read this book but it’s not for them – it’s purely for Black women who need help they can only get from inside. If that’s you, then find “Bloom How You Must.” Because you must have it.