Burnout - the secret to unlocking the stress cycle
This book was a recent find for me and I am so glad I stumbled across it. It is written by two successful women, who also happen to be sisters, Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA.
The Authors (photo cred to mprnews.org)
This book is for women, written by women, and is a must read if you find yourself feeling consistently overwhelmed, perpetually exhausted, dissociated, just going through the motions or on the verge of what might be feeling like an emotional and/or mental breakdown. If you are like many women, and you are nodding your head to one or more of these feelings, then keep reading.
Across time women have been viewed as the natural care givers in all aspects of life. In the modern world we currently live in, there is this premise women need to be able to do it all; with style, a smile and grace. We are looked upon as “The Nurturers.” We are expected to give every part of ourselves, and every single ounce of our precious energy, in the pursuit of caring for others. Falling short, in any way, can causes us to feel like a failure as a human being and as a woman. There is this overall impression we as women need to be calm, pretty, kind, generous to a fault and pointedly attentive to others feelings and needs at all times. If we can’t, we should hang our heads in shame, and be diligent in finding ways to punish ourselves for the discrepancy. The authors refer to this phenomenon as “human giver syndrome.”
The one who tracks it all and punishes us is referred to as the monitor and the “madwoman” in the attic, the psychological attic that is. The voice in our head doing its best to keep the score between the person we believe we are, and the woman human giver syndrome tells us we should be. They offer tips and ideas of how to work through naming/befriending your madwoman, understanding and overcoming human giver syndrome and different ways you can unlock the stress cycle within you. There is also quite a bit of tasteful humor to go along with it!
What I personally found to be the most helpful was the different ways suggested to deactivate the stress cycle by releasing your emotions and the negative energy that goes with them, which we call stress. They talk about how to cry in a healthy way and suggest different options to get your body moving, in order to release the energy stress leaves with us. There is a big difference between ignoring or processing stress and releasing it/moving through it.
I found out about the book via Brené Brown’s podcast from her Unlocking Us series on Spotify. If you connect to any of these ideas, pick up the book and its accompanying workbook and get started!
You can find the book on Amazon (whom I am an affiliate of and from which I receive a commission from) by clicking here. If you found this post to be helpful, remember to pin it for later as a reference or to share it with others who might be interested in it as well.