Glennon Doyle wants you to know, and believe, that you really can do hard things. Her latest offering is a guidebook prompting readers to explore what she calls life’s “20 essential questions.”
“We circle around the same 20 Questions throughout our lives. Inside this book are those questions — and the answers that saved my life,” Doyle said in notes shared by her publisher.
The author and podcaster previewed her new book, and its accompanying tour, on TODAY March 9. The title comes from the podcast she co-hosts with her sister, Amanda Doyle, and wife, Abby Wambach, who are co-authors.
Doyle said the book was inspired by her difficult past year, when she and the two people she leans on most were experiencing turmoil. Her sister was diagnosed with cancer. Her wife, retired soccer player Wambach, lost her brother. And Doyle was diagnosed with anorexia.
“For the first time, they were all drowning at the same time. So they turned toward the only thing that’s ever saved them: deep, honest conversations with other brave, kind, wise people,” notes from the publisher reads.
"We Can Do Hard Things" by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach and Amanda Doyle
The book is a collection from those conversations with luminaries and artists, including Ina Garten, Justice Ketanji Brown, Cheryl Strayed, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Emily Nagoski, Esther Perel and more.
The conversations led to two revelations, the authors say: We are not alone and we do not need to stay lost.
“As they wrote down every life-saving answer they discovered, they realized they were creating their own personal survival guide,” the official description said — which led to this book.
“This book is a place to turn to when you feel clueless and alone; when you need language for how you feel; when you need clarity in the chaos. A place not to learn—but to remember—what you already know. A place to save yourself, again and again,” the publisher continued.
Doyle is the author of “Carry On, Warrior” (2013), “Love Warrior” ( 2016) and “Untamed” (2020).
This is her first book in five years. In an interview with TODAY.com after her broadcast appearance, Doyle explains why she took a break from writing.
Simply put, she says that when she writes, she “leaves the world,” physically and emotionally. But she found herself in a happy place — one she didn’t want to leave.
“I was writing my way out of unhappiness for a long time. I’ve always spent my life trying to change something to become more comfortable on the planet. My religion, my hair. For the first time in my life, I just felt happy and comfortable. I didn’t want to leave my life to go into a room and be alone. I wanted to be with my wife; I wanted to be with my life,” she says.
And so, Doyle brought her sister and wife into the fold and turned them into writers. “I figured out how to not disappear and stay in my life and also create wisdom and beauty,” she says.
In the past, Doyle never read the books she wrote until after they were done. Now, she finds herself turning to the book over and over again.
“Hard times in parenting, when I feel like I need to get regrounded in my marriage — I just turn toward that chapter,” she says. “It’s like little crumbs that get me right back on the path.”
She hopes people use the book in the same way. “Every time they find themselves spiraling, they go back to save themselves,” she says.
For this new release, Doyle spent time whittling down questions, landing on just 20. But she foresees a sequel on the horizon.
“There are many more questions and I’m assuming many more books,” she says.