Hybrid Event: Kathleen Smith, True to You, with Michelle Brafman

East City Bookshop welcomes Kathleen Smith to discuss her book, True to You, in conversation with Michelle Brafman.

Note on Format: This hybrid event will have both an in-person component with limited seating as well as a virtual broadcast via Zoom Webinar. Both in-person and virtual attendees will be able to pose questions to the authors during audience Q&A.

COVID-19 Information: Please note that East City Bookshop continuously monitors public health guidance to ensure the safety of customers, authors, and our staff and reserves the right to adjust in-person events. Masks are encouraged for all in-person attendees.

ABOUT TRUE TO YOU

A Guide to The Theory and Practice of Creating Authentic Relationships
When’s the last time you felt as composed as you portray to your boss, family and friends? If there’s a discord between the two, you’re not alone. Humans are master pretenders—we often seem stronger, calmer and more mature than we really are, while the truth is we’re full of doubts and self-criticism that pushes us to borrow reassurance from friends, beliefs from strangers on the internet, or attention that, in the moment, makes us feel successful, but leaves us totally hollow and burnt out.
True to You is a relatable self-help guide for people who want to learn to live less focused on others’ reactions and more confidently by their own principles. Readers will learn how to:
· Interrupt relationship patterns that keep you stuck.
· Rely less on praise and approval from others.
· Develop a solid sense of self in anxious times.
· Build more authentic and rewarding relationships.
Dr. Smith uses examples from the lives of her therapy clients to explain how we borrow confidence, calmness, and beliefs from our relationships and offers actionable steps and exercises for building a life with your own best-thinking. With a healthy dose of humor, she unpacks the science of our social nature, explaining why we try so hard to be what others want us to be and how we can start living from the inside out. By learning how to be more responsible for yourself, rather than over-responsible for everyone else, you can find the freedom to develop richer relationships, pursue what’s important to you, and feel steadier in this very anxious world.

KATHLEEN SMITH is a licensed therapist and writer who lives in Washington, DC. She is the author of Everything Isn't Terrible: Conquer Your Insecurities, Interrupt Your Anxiety, and Finally Calm Down, as well as an associate faculty member at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, teaching leaders around the globe how to "think systems." She has written for popular publications such as Slate, Salon, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, and more, and she writes the popular newsletter, The Anxious Overachiever.

MICHELLE BRAFMAN  is the award-winning author of the novel Washing the Dead, the linked short story collection Bertrand Court, and her latest novel, Swimming With Ghosts. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Oprah Daily, Slate, LitHub, The Forward, Tablet, and elsewhere. She teaches fiction writing at the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing Program and lives in Glen Echo, Maryland.

Host or Publisher East City Bookshop