Eisley Brandt, who has just completed 5th grade at Springs’ Murrieta Student Center, has authored a book with her father, Dan Brandt, entitled “My Friends That Are Not: Rewriting Your Negative Self Talk Script.” The book is about overcoming negative thoughts.
Eisley explained, “I wrote the book with my dad while we were learning about negative self-talk. My parents had noticed I was struggling with my inner thoughts. I was constantly hard on myself. We started writing little poems and drawing pictures to go with them. It was a fun project with my dad.”
Writing a book was a great learning experience, she said, and getting it published was a lot of work. But it has been worth the effort: “It’s been really exciting to see it done and to see people’s reactions.”
The Brandts have given out hundreds of books to schools, and have been invited to read it to groups of students. Both children and adults have told Eisley that they can relate to characters in her book. She continued, “It felt great to know we were making a difference to people.”
They’ve created a website (https://www.thinkingup.org/) where people can buy the book, and have packaged and mailed orders to purchasers throughout the country.
Eisley and her father were invited to Tedx Kids@ElCajon (https://www.tedxkidselcajon.com/) to give a presentation in April. She recalled, “Preparing for that was challenging. I had to memorize the entire 10-minute speech with my dad. Getting up in front of a big audience and cameras was stressful, but I am proud of us completing something hard.”
It is Eisley’s hope that her book will help readers talk about their struggles with negative self-talk. She said, “Once we identify the presence of these sub-personalities, we can determine whether what they are saying is helpful and if not (and most importantly) replace this negative talk with more positive and helpful thoughts. We need more positive thinking out there!”
