As the new year begins, many readers (including myself) have set high standards for our reading goals. A book that I had anticipated for my 2023 reading goal was It Didn’t Start With You, by Mark Wolyn winner of the 2016 Nautilus Book Award in Psychology. I unfortunately fell short on my 2023 reading goal, and did not get the chance to even start the book. However, January arrived. I had the chance to read It Didn’t Start With You, and its 256 pages seemed to fly by.

Wolynn makes sure to hook you from the very first chapter, his writing never lets you lose focus. Once the book is in your hand it has control over you. Wolynn writes of his highly educated self. He informs readers that he has evidence of why most of our trauma isn’t our fault. He explains how we unknowingly live someone’s else’s trauma, usually the culprit a family member. The author tells the readers about his patients, who believed they had developed trauma, but really just revealed itself, he explains how we all have trauma, it just takes a family member to unravel it. In It Didn’t Start With You, Wolynn explains why trauma is connected to us, from the very moment we are born.

 Throughout the book he gives us a new perspective on trauma, how to not be defined by it and how to let go. Wolynn explains how to end the cycle of trauma. The way he shares insights of his patients with seemingly endless cycles of family trauma, truly captivates his readers. The novel It Didn’t Start With You, should certainly not fall short on your 2024 reading list.