Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContacts: Beverly Rykerd, VP, Director of Publicity
brykerd@penguinrandomhouse.com
Chelsea Woodward, Publicist
cwoodward@penguinrandomhouse.com
FIND YOUR PEOPLE By New York Times bestselling author Jennie AllenA WaterBrook Hardcover | On Sale 2/22/22 “We know we need to do life with other people and have a supportive community around us instead of living in isolation, but we often wonder how when we’ve had friendships fail, we’ve been hurt, or we feel too busy to even make the effort. In
Find Your People, my dear friend Jennie Allen shows us how to make true emotional connections with the right people so that our authentic relationships can be healthy for all.”
—Lysa TerKeurst, #1 New York Times bestselling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries “…She is the power source behind a run of bestsellers… February will bring her newest title, a clarion call for creating deep, healthy, joyful relationships with
Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World.” —Publishers Weekly -----
The COVID-19 pandemic has been plastered across our newsfeeds for nearly two years. But the pandemic lurking behind closed doors all along?
Loneliness. A 2019 study found that three in five Americans reported being chronically lonely, revealing that long-term social isolation has been an issue since long before the era of social distancing, and it hasn’t gotten any better.
Jennie Allen, the breakout
New York Times bestselling author of
Get Out of Your Head (900k sold/38 weeks NYT list) and the founder of IF:Gathering—an organization that reaches a million women a year—says the #1 question she is asked online is, “
How do I make friends?”
Her new book,
FIND YOUR PEOPLE: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World (WaterBrook; on sale 2/22/22), is a timely and vital resource filled with real solutions for creating true community, the kind that is crucial to our mental and spiritual health. Scientists confirm that consistent, meaningful connection is a major contributor to our well-being, yet so many people hide behind the walls of their homes and hearts, afraid to be vulnerable and transparent.
Allen writes, “You’re not alone in feeling alone.” Having made a major move to a new city four years ago, Allen knows firsthand how difficult it can be simply to find new friends, let alone nurture a deep-rooted community. She is also familiar with the vicious cycle of opening up to others, getting hurt in the process, and then isolating herself again. But she writes, “I promise the battle (for friendship) is worth it!”
In
Find Your People, Allen bravely shares both the messiness and beauty of her own friendships, all the while inspiring readers to dive into the deep end and experience the full wonder of community for themselves.
Possible talking points for interviews include:-
Allen’s research spanning scientific studies, history, the Bible, and various cultures: Unlike modern-day America, 80% of the world’s population still exists in small communities/ villages. The West’s focus on individualism has led to a rise in chronic loneliness.
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Practical steps for making friends and taking superficial friendships to a deeper level: (1) Notice who is already in front of -
Which qualities you should look for in potential friends: (1) Availability. Look for people who say yes and show up even when it’s inconvenient or requires vulnerability, (2) Humility. Look for people who are willing to say hard things and receive hard things, and (3) Transparency. Look for people who will say what’s really going on in their lives.
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What compels us to hide behind walls and isolate ourselves. Pain and shame. Vulnerable people get hurt, but your friendships will only be as close as you are vulnerable. Self-protection isn’t worth the cost of continuing to live isolated and sad.
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Allen’s move to a new city and how she built a new community. She didn’t have friends nearby for several months after moving to Dallas, but she wanted people to do everyday life with, so she set out to find five friends within five miles.
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Allen’s panic attack toward the end of writing her book. Ironically, as she was writing a book about finding your people, she felt like she was losing hers. But she decided to fight back against the lie that she was alone, and openly acknowledged to her people that she needed them.
For more information, visit www.waterbrookmultnomah.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennie Allen is the founder and visionary of women’s organization IF:Gathering, the host of the top rated Made for This podcast (17 million downloads) as well as the
New York Times bestselling author of
Get Out of Your Head, which was the #1 bestselling religion title of 2020. Her latest book is Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World
. She has appeared on shows such as Hallmark Home & Family, Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream, and been featured in various outlets such as Woman’s World, Brit+Co, Cosmopolitan.com, and Christianity Today.
Allen’s organization IF:Gathering is hosting its 2022 worldwide event March 4-5, 2022, livestreaming from Dallas into thousands of churches, family rooms and dorm rooms. Tickets for the Dallas location sold out in hours. The estimated viewership for 2021’s event exceeded one million women in all 50 states and 144 countries. For more information, visit www.jennieallen.com.
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