I am not the kind of person that reads “self-help” books. So how did I end up reading Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle? Well, I am working my way through the 2021 Indigo Reading Challenge and one of the categories is a “book to assist in self-discovery & self-care”. Burnout was one of the suggested reads for this category and since I battle stress, anxiety, and depression on a daily basis, I thought it would be a good read for me. I found this book to be very interesting. It reinforces my discussions with my psychologist and made me realize that there are other things in my life that cause stress and anxiety that I should address.

I was curious to know what other people think of this book, so I went on Goodreads to see what the reviews are like. Burnout has a 4.01 (out of 5) rating on Goodreads, but I noticed a lot of negative reviews for it. After skimming through some of the negative reviews, it seems like the issues people have with this book are:

1. They do not like the authors writing style; the book is too “cutesy”, has too many Disney references (lol) and is written in a “condescending” style. I can understand where people are coming from with this complaint. Burnout is kind of “cutesy” but the only thing I found really annoying is the repeated use of “patriarchy (ugh)”. Okay, we get it, patriarchy sucks. The authors are going for a conversational tone to make the information more palatable to their readers. If they had written it in a cold, clinical style that just presented facts instead of using examples and pop-culture references, I would not have finished this book. I can look past the “cutesy” writing and focus on the information they are presenting.
2. The authors talk too much about patriarchy. People seriously need to educate themselves. The authors not only provide tips for dealing with stress, but they also explain where women’s stress comes from: patriarchy! I think it is important for women to understand where their stress comes from. Patriarchy continues to have a huge influence over women’s lives. White cis men of European descent still wield a lot of control over women as they continue to predominantly hold positions of power in our society. They get to make up the laws that dictate what a woman can and can’t do with her body. They still earn more money they women. They still expect their wives to work, raise children, do all the unpaid labour at home (ie. cooking and cleaning) and, let us be real, look pretty while doing it. White cis men are the root of all of society’s evils. They are responsible for racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, and all other societal inequalities and they still perpetuate these inequalities to this day. The authors of Burnout are realistic enough to know that a woman cannot get rid of patriarchy on her own, but they encourage us to find ways to “smash the patriarchy” in our own lives.
3. The authors do not present any new information. Well, if you already know all the ways to deal with stress then why did you read this book? Because you are looking for a magical solution that makes stress *poof* disappear, and that does not exist. You must work hard to deal with the stress in your life, and you will never completely get rid of it. I can tell you that from personal experience. This book gives you the information you need to identify the stressors in your life and how to deal with both the stressors and the stress. Stressors and stress are two different things. Stressors are the things that cause your body to go into the stress response. Stressors can be things like, a co-worker giving you a hard time at work, your kid/pet getting sick, your husband doing something that pisses you off, worrying about going out in public because of COVID. Stress is when your body responds to these stressors by going into “fight or flight mode”. You need to be able to complete the “stress cycle” in order to calm your body down, but we cannot always do that because society has taught us that, for example, it is not appropriate to yell obscenities at your co-worker when they are being a dick (unless you want to get fired). So how do we complete the stress cycle? The authors of Burnout put a lot of emphasis on exercise. You have to be active so your body can release all the pent-up energy. It really works, trust me! My psychologist starts every session by asking me what my stressors currently are, and she is always asking me if I am still exercising. There is real world basis for the tips suggested in Burnout.

So this book reinforces what I already know from my sessions with my psychologist, but I found the chapter about the body mass index (BMI) to be very interesting. Apparently, the BMI was created by people who were employed by weight loss clinics and therefore had a “economic interest” in getting people to use their clinics. And apparently studies have found that people who are classified as “overweight” may live longer than people in any other category. My weight is something that is always at the back of my mind causing me more anxiety than I realize and than it should. As the authors of Burnout have helpfully pointed out, our weight and body shape does not stay the same as we get older, and our society’s obsession with thinness is rooted in, you guessed it, patriarchy. People need to stop being critical of other people’s bodies and mind their own damn business. I can eat healthy and exercise, but I have to accept that I am never going to be as thin as I was when I was a teenager. Easier said than done, but I am determined to work on it.

If you are looking for some ideas to tackle the stress in your life, I recommend you give this book a try. But do not be afraid or ashamed to seek in-person help from a professional.