When therapist Nedra Glover Tawwab took to social media during the pandemic, she quickly developed a following.
People pulled up her videos to hear about setting boundaries, self care and managing good relationships with others.
Now Tawwab has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and is a two-time New York Times bestselling author, and on Friday, she’ll appear at the National Writers Series in Traverse City to talk about her latest book, “Drama Free,” which deals with navigating difficult family relationships.
Tawwab was born in Detroit, went to Wayne State University, and later moved to North Carolina. She spoke with IPR’s Ed Ronco. Listen to their conversation through the audio player.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On why she wrote “Drama Free”: “The big question after ‘Set Boundaries, Find Peace’ was ‘What if it’s your family?’ That’s the thing that I got most often: These boundaries sound wonderful, but when you have a mom who’s overbearing, or you have a father who has a substance abuse issue, or siblings who are bullying you, how do we even bring those relationships to a healthier space? How do we even set boundaries? How do we start to address those issues. There have to be some tools for us to be in these relationships while maintaining our sense of sanity.”
On the difficulty of addressing problems in a family: You’re more connected to how people feel about something…. We have some inner knowing that this isn’t going to go so well, or they’ll be upset, or they’ll be mad at us. They’ll give us the silent treatment. A lot of our work with family is learning to deal with ourselves — learning to deal with our discomfort around how people respond to us. Learning to deal with not always being able to change other people.
On self care: “I really believe in the process of therapy in many ways. I still read self-help books. I still journal. I still use workbooks. I do a lot of the stuff that I suggest. It is helpful when you’re consistent with it. … I really try to be on the prevention side, and take care of myself throughout the day.”
