Untamed by Glennon Doyle

I read a review that called this more of a self help book than a memoir, and it is a good way to think about and approach the author's story. She was a closeted gay woman who married because she thought she had to, developed an eating disorder as a teen to have a locus of control, became an alcoholic as an adult, and was a deeply unhappy person who tolerates her husband's serial infidelity to keep her family together at the front end of her memoir. The first half makes a case for how we are born into society's metaphorical cages that teach us how to act, what to say, who to love, and who to be. Why? Because women are taught to be quiet, stifle our emotions, dream realistically, and fit the status quo, but many of these cages keep us from ever truly knowing ourselves or living freely, offering instead a life of elusive discontent that we avoid by drinking, convincing ourselves that "good enough" is good enough, or simply never looking straight at our problems because they're too much to bear. Then she meets the love of her life and she breaks free in almost every way possible. After blowing up her marriage and starting life over--you could even say she resets the starting line--she offers four keys to unlocking these cages: Feel It All, Be Still And Know, Dare to Imagine, and Build and Burn. These essentially translate to: Feelings are meant to be felt, you need to trust yourself, discontent is a sign you're in the wrong place, and new construction can only come from deconstruction.