Author Dawn Owens signed copies of her book “Like Me or Not” Tuesday at Yates-Chance Christian Bookstore. (W.C. Mann for The Tribune)
CULLMAN – As if Dawn Owens didn’t have enough to do as director of The Link of Cullman County, she decided to add “author” to her resumé. Worthy Publishing has just released her book “Like Me or Not,” which deals with approval addiction, an unhealthy preoccupation with pleasing or gaining the approval of other people.
Counselors will say that an emotionally healthy person should want the approval of others, but that approval, or lack of it, should not determine a person’s sense of self-worth. This is the dilemma Owens sought to address in her faith-based approach to healthy self-esteem.
Sixteen chapters, including the introduction and conclusion, address various aspects of approval addiction and offer biblical principles for identifying and overcoming issues like people-pleasing, insecurity, comparison and jealousy. Originally conceived as helpful tool for 20- to 40-year-old women, the book has received a positive reception from men as well, and from readers of all ages from young adult up, according to Owens.
“From what I’ve been hearing so far,” said Owens, “it’s been very helpful and tangible for people to read through a chapter and get a good grasp of how to work on that area of struggle for them.”
On Tuesday, the official launch day for “Like Me or Not,” Yates-Chance Christian Bookstore hosted a book signing. During a short lull in a steady stream of customers who threatened to buy out the available stock of copies, The Tribune talked with Owens.
“Originally, I started to write the book because I recognized that I was probably not the only person that struggled with approval addiction, and, as I talked with others, they kept saying, ‘Oh, yeah, with social media it’s becoming even more of a struggle, but that was about seven years ago.
“Then I went through a journey of trying to start The Link of Cullman County, and found myself stuck in the struggle of trying to navigate listening to others, believing their opinions, beliefs–and a lot of times they were naysayers in what I was trying to start–and so, through that battle, realized that there might be a story in this for others to hear, and not only get a picture of what it looks like to overcome approval addiction, but then what it also looks like to walk out your purpose in it. And so, that’s really what the book is about: to inspire others to do what God has called them to do.”
“Like Me or Not” is now available in bookstores, as well as online from distributors like Amazon. For more information, visit https://dawnmowens.com.
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