Be Who You Came to Be
A Note That Changed My Life & the Secrets That Will Change Yours Too
A sincere self-help guide, Be Who You Came to Be is flush with morale-boosting advice.
Tara Renze’s encouraging self-help book Be Who You Came to Be guides women toward becoming their most authentic and fulfilling selves.
Asserting that in a lifetime, an individual might interact with eighty thousand people, the book declares that “ordinary people” can have an “extraordinary impact.” Stemming from the closing lines of Renze’s grandmother’s letter to her newborn son (“Be who you came to be. Love will guide you”), the book encourages mindset shifts, asking women to realize their innate value. Familiar subjects, including work-life balance, the fear of taking chances, and social media’s effect on one’s sense of self-worth, are part and parcel of its guidance.
Across three parts, the book forwards advice for pursuing fulfillment to find happiness, respecting authenticity in self and others, and overcoming fear. Its short chapters unveil “secrets,” or bits of wisdom said to lead to a better life, that are embellished by creative titles like “Instaglam and Fakebook,” “Three-Inch Heels,” and “Goal Digger.” Inspirational quotations also head each chapter to complement the text, while end notes address related topics like long-term health and the career benefits of positive thinking in a limited manner.
However, commonplace narratives and popular motivational tropes are given too much weight in the text early on, diminishing the impact of its delivery. In the second half, its examples are better differentiated, as with the story of Renze’s husband taking a chance on a career pivot despite no assurance of a job. Elsewhere comes a poignant story related to identifying one’s “Butterfly Goal,” or most grandiose goal: Renze discusses her lifelong desire to be a game-show contestant.
There are also pointed questions in the book’s latter half to help make its guidance toward introspection more actionable, as with a prompt to write down one’s goals and another to make a list of risks to mitigate one’s fears. Still, although positive reinforcement is its pervasive tool, the book’s particular guidance is too often vague. Further, its declared imperatives, such as to let go of detrimental mindsets, oversimplify the nuances of self-improvement work.
Rooted in constructive encouragement for women, the prose is nonetheless down to earth and genuine. While its steps to finding inner fortitude rely on cursory suggestions, such as to identify the things, people, and actions that create fulfillment or to use visualization techniques, and while it is overreliant on the mantra “Be who you came to be,” it does an able job of acknowledging the inherent difficulties of changing one’s ingrained feelings of self-doubt, disappointment, and unhappiness.
For women seeking personal fulfillment, Be Who You Came to Be is an approachable and energizing self-help guide.
Reviewed by
Katy Keffer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
