Books for Community Care and Self-Care During Hard & Overwhelming Times
I’ve struggle for words about what the world feels like to me right now. I realized that it brings me a lot of comfort to know that I don’t need to come up with new words, opinions, or ideas on how to broach the turmoil I feel and see around me. I hope that this list of books can offer you some guidance and support through difficult times. I hope they offer you hope and peace when you need it, and challenge and growth when you also need that.
Let’s Talk About Community Care
When people talk about care, it’s often framed as something we’re supposed to do alone: better routines, stronger boundaries, more resilience. But during hard times, collectively and personally, that framing can feel not just insufficient, but just plan wrong.
Community care offers a different way of thinking about wellbeing. It recognizes that we don’t exist outside of relationships, systems, and shared conditions—and that care becomes more sustainable when it’s shared rather than shouldered alone. Community care can look like mutual aid, interpersonal emotional support, rest, shared resources, or simply having places where we don’t have to perform strength.
From a mental health perspective, this matters deeply. Humans regulate through connection. Especially during periods of grief, uncertainty, injustice, or burnout, community care helps nervous systems feel less alone and less overwhelmed. While individual healing work is still important, collective care reminds us that healing doesn’t (and shouldn’t) happen in isolation.
Sending you all lots of love, support, and solidarity.
The Serviceberry – Robin Wall Kimmerer
“All flourishing is mutual.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may be supportive if you’re feeling worn down by productivity culture, scarcity thinking, or the pressure to constantly “earn” your worth. Kimmerer draws on Indigenous wisdom and ecology to explore gift economies, ways of relating rooted in reciprocity rather than extraction.
What it offers:
A gentler framework for understanding worth and contribution
Language for mutual care and interdependence
A sense of belonging beyond individual effort
Possible emotional or trauma activations:
This book may stir grief around over-giving, exhaustion, or times when care was not reciprocated. Some folks may notice sadness or anger about how disconnected modern systems can feel from shared care.
Rest Is Resistance – Tricia Hersey of the Nap Ministry
“Rest is not a reward for work completed. It is a human right.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book can resonate deeply if you feel guilt or anxiety around rest, or if slowing down feels unsafe. Hersey frames rest as a collective, spiritual, and political act—especially for bodies shaped by chronic pressure and expectation.
What it offers:
Validation for deep exhaustion
A trauma-aware critique of grind culture
Permission to soften internal demands
Possible activations:
This book may bring up discomfort, shame, or fear around stopping—especially for those whose safety or belonging once depended on productivity, caretaking, or achievement.
Care Work – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
“We keep us safe.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may speak to you if you’ve felt unsupported by traditional systems or pressured to be self-sufficient. It centers disability justice, mutual aid, and care networks that exist outside of individualism.
What it offers:
Validation for interdependence
Models of care beyond “do it all yourself”
Language for collective survival
Possible activations:
Folks may notice grief around unmet needs, abandonment, or anger toward systems that failed to provide care. It can also surface longing for community that can often feel hard to access.
All About Love – bell hooks
“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may be supportive if you’re questioning relational patterns, people-pleasing, or what healthy love actually looks like. hooks invites readers to rethink love as a practice rooted in care, honesty, and accountability.
What it offers:
A grounded definition of love
Language for boundaries and self-respect
A framework for relational healing
Possible activations:
This book can bring up grief about relationships that lacked care or safety. Some folks may feel tenderness or sadness as they re-evaluate past dynamics through a new lens.
Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul – Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
“Sensitivity is not a liability—it is a form of wisdom.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book is especially resonant for highly sensitive, empathetic people who care deeply about justice but feel emotionally depleted by it.
What it offers:
Validation for emotional intensity
Tools for sustainable engagement
Permission to protect sensitivity
Possible activations:
This book may surface overwhelm, grief, or anger related to absorbing others’ pain or feeling responsible for fixing what’s broken.
Emergent Strategy – adrienne maree brown
“Small is good. Small is all.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may resonate if you feel overwhelmed by urgency or pressured to fix everything at once.
What it offers:
Permission to accept the nature flux and flow of our world
Resources for radical self-care, society-help, and planet-care
Guidance for staying purposeful in difficult times
Possible activations:
Some folks may notice resistance or anxiety around slowing down, especially if urgency once felt protective or necessary for survival.
Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn – Omkari L. Williams
“Change doesn’t always require a megaphone. Sometimes it starts with a conversation.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may be especially supportive if you care deeply about social change but feel overwhelmed, burned out, or resistant to high-visibility activism. Williams reframes activism as something relational, everyday, and accessible. His practices are rooted in conversations, values, and small but meaningful actions.
What it offers:
A redefinition of activism that centers sustainability
Practical examples of how change happens in daily interactions
Permission to contribute without sacrificing your nervous system
Possible activations:
This book may bring up guilt about “not doing enough,” or grief around past moments when speaking up felt unsafe. It can also surface relief as readers realize impact doesn’t require self-exhaustion.
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times – Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams
“Hope is about taking action. If you don’t do anything, you’re not going to get hopeful.”
Is this the book for you at this moment in time?
This book may be a grounding companion if you’re feeling discouraged, helpless, or weighed down by the state of the world. Through conversation and storytelling, Goodall offers a steady, realistic hope that is rooted in resilience, connection, and responsibility rather than denial.
What it offers:
A calm, wise perspective on living through uncertainty
Stories that reconnect readers to purpose and continuity
A sense of hope that is active but not frantic
Possible activations:
This book may evoke grief about loss: environmental, collective, or personal. Some readers may notice tenderness around longing for stability or reassurance in uncertain times.
Care Practices Inspired by These Books
Practice reciprocal care, not one-sided giving
Let rest be preventative, not just reparative
Ask for help before burnout demands it
Set boundaries as acts of love
Treat sensitivity as wisdom
Stay engaged without self-abandonment
Allow for multiple truths and feelings, you can be hopeful about the future and feel disappointed in the present.
Channel anger and grief into intentional, purposeful, and sustainable action and care for your communities.
An Invitation for Deeper Reflection and Care
If this list resonates, you may be navigating burnout, emotional overload, or a longing for more sustainable ways to live and care.
Therapy can be a place to explore:
burnout and exhaustion
boundaries and people-pleasing
sensitivity and empathy
building support without shame
I work with adults who care deeply and want to live with integrity and values without burning out.
If you’re curious about therapy, I invite you to reach out for a consultation call. Together, we can explore what support might look like for you with care, connection, and sustainability.