We wake up atop the dirt of our childhoods with a shovel in our hands. In our pocket is a crumpled note with conspicuously familiar handwriting. It says, "Good luck."

We aren't born into a self. It is created without our consent, built out of our childhoods, our circumstances, and chance. But in the busyness of adult life, we rarely have time to think clearly about the questions that matter most: Who am I? What am I made of? How much of how I act boils down to avoiding the things that make me feel small? We bury these questions, but they drive our behavior far more than we give them credit for. They are our puppet masters.

Writing with the passion and clarity that made his debut, To Shake the Sleeping Self, a national bestseller, Jedidiah Jenkins brings together new and old writings to explore the eight themes all of us face as we find our way in life: ego, family, home, friendship, love, work, death, the soul.

As he examines the experiences that shape us into who we are, Jenkins leads readers in a wide-ranging conversation about finding fulfillment in the people and places around us and discovering the courage to show our deepest selves to the world.