Celebrated South African actress Euodia Samson is a multi-talented woman.
She has starred in some of the country’s biggest productions, including M-Net’s highly-rated drama series, “Summertide”.
The Cape Town-born actress and TV personality was also nominated for an Africa Movie Academy Award for her role in the Netflix movie, “Angeliena”.
Samson is acclaimed for her work on shows such as “Arendsvlei”, “Waterfront” and “Onder Draai die Duiwel Rond” , and she has a diploma in communication and counselling from the College Of Applied Psychology (SACAP).
Adding to her list of achievements, the 54-year-old released her second self-help book, “Know Thyself”, earlier this month.
This comes after the success of her first foray into the publishing world back in 2022, when she released her “Heal Your Gut” cookbook.
As a tension and trauma release therapist, she is well-versed in offering self-help advice.
Samson explained that she released her first book to promote a healthy living lifestyle and good eating. But her second book, which is semi-autobiographical and details her journey to rediscover herself, takes a more holistic mental health approach.
“The book has personal anecdotes on various topics of discussion and I hope this will allow others to tell their own story, and accept it all; the good, the bad, and the ugly, and celebrate their journey as I am doing.”
In order to put “Know Thyself” together, Samson had to “wholeheartedly embrace” her journey and overcome doubts about writing due to her dyslexia throughout her school years.
The health and wellness ambassador decided to become an author three years ago when her sons moved out and found herself with more time on her hands.
Samson started doing a daily Facebook Live show, which was so well received that it encouraged her to expand her counselling and consultation work.
“As a tension and trauma release therapist and counsellor for the last eight years or so, one realises that there are things people have blind spots for.”
“They repeat cycles of behaviour and get stuck in patterns that are often destructive and have no clue as to why they do it.”
Samson added that counselling was a platform to delve into the exploration of the human mind, and why we perpetuate certain behaviours.
“Everyone does not have the resources to come to counselling and (others) are still hesitant to seek it,” said Samson, adding that the book and subsequent speaking engagements were her way of making healing more accessible.
She added that “Know Thyself” also focused on the areas that she personally had to work on.
“I had to do an in-depth exploration of self, to fully understand myself, my triggers and my beliefs about various things and get to the origin of those understandings, as to not only get to a place of true acceptance of myself but also to have a clear idea of what will make me truly happy and content,” she said.
Samson believes that the book would be particularly helpful for those over the age of 30.
“I do find that late 30’s and middle aged people seem to have more of a crisis as their set friends, behaviours, interests, job environment suddenly do not bring them the joy and satisfaction they once did; and then they start grappling with the reasons why, and often, like I mention in my book, one starts blaming and naming and shaming everything external for their lack of joy but it’s the inward things that need looking at.”
“Through the exercise portion after every chapter, I hope that readers will not just read the book but do the exploratory exercises to truly benefit from this book.”
Samson’s passion for self-help and doing the inner work have also led her to take on more speaking engagements on the topic.
“I hope to expose a bigger audience to exploration of self and the benefits to be gained from this process, who might not necessarily have the resources to pay for therapy or have traditional understanding of seeking outside help for things they are struggling with,” she said.
“I strive to bring hope and relief and if nothing else, an understanding of the self to a wider audience.”