author Kristen Houghton
"My guest tonight from NYC is Kristen Houghton, author of the phenomenal new book, "AND THEN I'LL BE HAPPY! Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness and Put Your Own Life First." I've been leafing through it for the last two days and I've got to say, I love it!" said Jesse Dylan, host of The Good Life on chataboutit.com, an affliate of WCBS radio, last night. He went on to say that Houghton's unique style of telling the true stories of women who sabotaged their happiness, followed by 'solutions 101' that enable readers to make positive changes for happiness in their own lives, makes the book refreshing and different.
When asked what inspired her to write the book, Houghton answered,
"I wrote an article called "The Elusive State of Happiness" based on my own experience of always putting myself last on my to-do list and putting my own happiness on-hold. The article generated so much email and regular mail that I was overwhelmed and definitely knew there seemed to be an unhappiness epidemic of sorts. I selected 100 women from the mail I received and interviewed them coming up with 14 distinct stories that had a common theme: Women postpone their own goals and dreams for other people in their lives. We sabotage our own chances for happiness. The one theme which ran through all the stories was that women put their own goals and dreams dead last on their to-do list. Our own happiness is never our first priority.
"Putting yourself last has a lot to do with conditioning and society. We're certainly not born this way. Even in 2010, women see themselves as the one who can and should take care of everyone else before they can satisfy their own needs. Our First Lady, Michelle Obama, has said that when their first daughter was born, she gave up her morning exercise routine, something she loved to do. But her husband kept the same routine as before the baby was born. You see this with a lot of couples. The mother always puts herself last. Society expects this. The mother is the one who sacrifices the most of her needs and wants. Both parents can be excellent parents, but only one feels the need to place personal goals on-hold."
Houghton continued,
"We also suffer from “myth of perfection” which is very harmful to women. That's the idea that in today's world, not only can a woman have it all and do it all well, she absolutely must! In a landmark interview in 1992, no one less than the great Katherine Hepburn said that the "perfection idea" was a horrible mistake for women.
"Something has to give eventually for the woman who seeks to be perfect in all things and that something most often is her health. Many women self-medicate with alcohol or prescription drugs to maintain a facade of perfection. We do it to ourselves. Perfection is overrated, a little messiness in life is healthier."
AND THEN I'LL BE HAPPY! Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness and Put Your Own Life First," is published by GPP Life an imprint of Globe Pequot Press. With a foreword by Dr. Janet Taylor, clinical psychiatrist at Columbia University and a contributor to the TODAY Show on CBS, Kristen Houghton's book has won praise from readers and critics alike. It is well on its way to becoming a best-seller.
