Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Happy to Help

Adventures of a People Pleaser

ebook
1 of 2 copies available
1 of 2 copies available

A Brit&Co Most Anticipated Books of 2025

Amy Wilson, co-host of the award-winning podcast What Fresh Hell, takes a funny and insightful look at how women are conditioned to be "happy to help"—and what happens when things don't go that way.

Amy Wilson has always been an ultimate helper. As a big sister, Girl Scout, faithful reader of teen magazines, personal assistant, sitcom sidekick, and, finally, mother of three, Amy believed it was her destiny to be a people pleaser. She learned to put others first, to do what she was told, to finish what she started, and to look like she had everything under control, even when she very much did not.

Along the way, Amy started to wonder why doing it all had been her job. Still, when she tried to hand over some of her to-dos, no one was particularly interested in taking them. And when she asked for help, in return, she got advice: have a sense of humor, quit nagging, and stop trying to be perfect.

Amy dutifully took on these goals—with varying degrees of failure—until the day she started to question if something else needed to be fixed besides herself.

Hilariously relatable, Happy to Help is a collection of essays about how you can be the one everyone else depends on and still be struggling—how you can be "happy to help," even when, for your own sake, you shouldn't.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Booklist

      November 1, 2024
      For all the women who do too much, who raise their hand to volunteer when they really would rather not, who feel the need to make sure everyone is happy and everything is running smoothly, Wilson gets it. T he author and host of the popular podcast about motherhood, What Fresh Hell, Wilson (When Did I Get Like This? 2011) delivers a collection of insightful, humorous essays packed with appeal for women of all generations and life stages. She knows that a lifetime of being conditioned to be a people pleaser is not going to end with just saying no--it's more complicated than that. To that end, she offers fresh perspectives on topics like the pandemic and its far-reaching effects, the allure of multitasking and the pressure for productivity, assumptions about motherhood and gender, and the unique challenges of raising adolescents. The book is part memoir, part survival guide for recovering people pleasers. Some of the strongest essays chronicle the challenges of illness--the author's and her children's--and of navigating an often bewildering healthcare system.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2024

      Wilson, cohost of the podcast What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood, unravels the invisible workload of women caregivers in her second essay collection (after When Did I Get Like This?). As the oldest of six children, Wilson felt that caregiving came naturally to her. She carried that torch through her days as a Catholic schoolgirl, then as a student at Yale, as an actor in Los Angeles and New York City, and now as the mother of three children. Wilson's 18 serious yet humorous essays concentrate on the pandemic days, but there are references to her middle-school diary entries and to her thoughts when, more recently, each of her children encountered serious medical issues, including seizure disorders, migraines, and long-term COVID. In the standout essay "Do What Matters," Wilson argues that electronic planning systems and calendars only make more work for caregivers who believe productivity is bliss. VERDICT This engaging collection is reminiscent of Erma Bombeck's essays on family life. Recommended for women's studies collections and discussion groups.--Joyce Sparrow

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading