In her captivating book, Iyanla Vanzant asks, “What is the lesson in abuse, neglect, abandonment, or rejection? What is the lesson when you lose someone you really love? Just what are the lessons of life’s hard times?” Ms. Vanzant effectively answers those questions by weaving the heartache she experienced through life lessons learned, forgotten, and learned again.

Yesterday, I Cried is a must-read for every woman whose emotional wounds are open and painfully sore. Ms. Vanzant uses her story as an “example of how yesterday’s tears” can “become the seeds of today’s hope, renewal, and strenghth”. As one contributor to the book remarked about Ms. Vanzant’s life journey, “you really, really paid your dues”. From the Preface to the Epilogue, readers will find this statement to be hauntingly accurate.

Personally speaking, as someone who was an unwanted, neglected, and abused child, as someone who was told and, for too long, believed she was poor and ugly, and as someone who was raped as a child, I began to view my own life journey as one of triumph after reading Yesterday, I Cried, not failure. Reflecting on my life made me realize how much I have overcome and how strong those challenges made me. It was my ”A-ha!” moment. I realized “the pain of the past” has not remained “today’s reality”. This realization became cathartic for me, an oasis of healing.

Through her thoughts and words, Ms. Vanzant became a good friend and confidante, someone I could turn to, when needed, for sage advice and honesty. Whatever shape, form, or fashion your life lessons take, Yesterday, I Cried is a powerful, self-help guide to healthy introspection and growth.