Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

Emily and Amelia Nagoski

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PeoplePsych says:

This is a great book for anyone dealing with stress, weather in their family or at work, but specifically helpful for women. The book explores how our society puts women in a position of stress and how burnout occurs for women. Throughout the book the offers provide personal stories illustrating their own experience of stress and how they beat the stress cycle. The tools and tips they offer are realistic and straightforward. But perhaps most importantly the authors provide insight into how our larger society impacts women, they recognize that individuals are influenced by the culture around them. The authors encourage women to see taking action around their stress as an act that will not only help themselves but change the culture and community around them.

I recommend this book because stress is such a persistent part of the lives of so many women I work with and in my own community. This book feels honest, kind and impowering. The authors are twin sisters and reading the book feels like hanging out with some smart and cool friends. And ultimately, beating the stress cycle means getting to live a more joyful creative and healthy life and that is an aspect of healing everyone deserves to experience.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This book is a gift! I’ve been practicing their strategies, and it’s a total game-changer.”—Brené Brown, PhD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Dare to Lead

This groundbreaking book explains why women experience burnout differently than men—and provides a simple, science-based plan to help women minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life.

Burnout. Many women in America have experienced it. What’s expected of women and what it’s really like to be a woman in today’s world are two very different things—and women exhaust themselves trying to close the gap between them. How can you “love your body” when every magazine cover has ten diet tips for becoming “your best self”? How do you “lean in” at work when you’re already operating at 110 percent and aren’t recognized for it? How can you live happily and healthily in a sexist world that is constantly telling you you’re too fat, too needy, too noisy, and too selfish?

Sisters Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, are here to help end the cycle of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Instead of asking us to ignore the very real obstacles and societal pressures that stand between women and well-being, they explain with compassion and optimism what we’re up against—and show us how to fight back. In these pages you’ll learn

• what you can do to complete the biological stress cycle—and return your body to a state of relaxation
• how to manage the “monitor” in your brain that regulates the emotion of frustration
• how the Bikini Industrial Complex makes it difficult for women to love their bodies—and how to defend yourself against it
• why rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are keys to recovering and preventing burnout

With the help of eye-opening science, prescriptive advice, and helpful worksheets and exercises, all women will find something transformative in these pages—and will be empowered to create positive change. Emily and Amelia aren’t here to preach the broad platitudes of expensive self-care or insist that we strive for the impossible goal of “having it all.” Instead, they tell us that we are enough, just as we are—and that wellness, true wellness, is within our reach.

Emily Nagoski is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life. She has a MS in counseling and a PhD in health behavior, both from Indiana University.

Amelia Nagoski holds a conductor with a DMA in conducting from the University of Connecticut. An assistant professor and coordinator of music at Western New England University, she regularly presents educational sessions discussing the application of communications science and psychological research for audiences of other professional musicians, including “Beyond Burnout Prevention: Embodied Wellness for Conductors.”

Life can be complicated, messy, and rarely progresses in a straight line. At PeoplePsych, a Chicago-based psychotherapy group, we specialize in helping adults who seek profound change in their lives. We offer services that affirm the dignity, worth, and value of each individual, and we are committed to providing a safe, non-judgmental space where clients can explore the challenges they face, whether related to mental health, emotional struggles, or life transitions.

To start your journey toward change, please contact our Clinical Coordinator at (312) 252-5252 or intake@peoplepsych.com.