Burnout

One to pick up from the library, I think. It started out strong for me, but consistently lost momentum and logical structure. I literally had to make myself an outline to make sure I hadn't missed some major ideas meant to tie things together.

The bit describing really concrete stuff you can do to purge a stress response from your body was great. It's also super helpful to be reminded that one must deal with the stress separately from dealing with the stressor - they don't necessarily have the same solutions.

The stuff about expectations, frustration, positive reappraisal, and generally dealing with the stressors (as distinct from the stress) was pretty good. Also having content about deciding when to quit - helpful.

Then the structure of the book kind of petered out and we got a mix of chapters about stuff that's generally good for people: Meaning, rest, human connection. I feel like pretty much everyone knows this stuff.

I felt personally similar during the chapters about how the patriarchy causes extra stress for women. Some revolutionary content here for women who haven't gone over this ground, but I'm pretty confident now in my relationship to Human Giver Syndrome and the Bikini Industrial Complex, so while I nodded along, it didn't add a lot for me.

Finally, we get a section about how everyone has a personal Mrs. Rochester in her head and you have to make friends with her or feel compassion for her. I didn't understand this or connect with it at all. The meaning was really foggy to me, not well explained.

I also have to give a demerit for over-the-top cutesiness expressed in constant references to Disney movies (CONSTANT), and silly made-up words that seemed to have little to do with sincere communication and all to do with ostentatious quirkiness.

Still, I'm glad I read it just for the first few chapters, and the occasionally gems thereafter!