Stress-Proof Your Life

by Elisabeth Wilson

"Let's face it, if you're the type of person who enjoys lighting lavender candles and spending an hour in the bath every night 'chilling out', then you're probably not the type that's going to get that stressed to begin with. Stress-proof your life is for the people who struggle to find time for a shower much less a bath. It's for the ones who are still clicking their mouse or ironing a shirt at 11.30pm. The ones who don't take their annual leave and worry that stress is affecting their health and relationships. Or they would worry if they weren't so knackered and that report wasn't due in at 9am. It's going to take a lot more than a candle-lit bubble bath to sort them out..." Elisabeth Wilson.

Stress is not a generic thing although it's always treated that way. Some people are really good at avoiding some stresses without realising that they are slaves to another kind. Elisabeth looks at the sources - occupational, genetic and environmental - and reveals 52 clever techniques and ideas that focus on the causes rather than simply telling people how to deal with the symptoms.

Here are just some of the chapters to be discovered:

* Admit your addiction!

* The power of positive stress;

* Give a little, get a lot - why volunteering could be the best decision you've ever made;

* Too stressed to sleep? - it happens, here's what to do if it happens to you (Strictly no lavender candles);

* and The 'stop and collapse' effect - if you're fed up with getting sick on the very first day of your holiday, here's how to prevent it.

With the "52 Brilliant Ideas" series readers can enhance their existing skills with negligible investment of time or money and will substantially improve their performance over the course of a year. Each of the 52 chapters tackles a single aspect of the subject in an entertaining and lively way. At the end of each chapter is a "how did it go?" feature which allows readers to reflect on the lesson in a classical experiential learning pattern. The tone of each book is personal and informal; readers will feel as thought they are having a one-to-one with their favourite coach.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Ebooks, Management

272 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

c2005: Stressful read! Mainly because they are such good ideas but I know that I am not going to be able to manage to do most of them. However, there are a lot of little hints and ideas that I already use and they do mostly work. The idea of a tick box for cleaning particular rooms - appears intially to be a little anal, but does help to provide a structure to an aimless and mostly depressing activity. Also, the idea of setting particular time limits for tasks is also very useful. Well worth a read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifty-two 'ideas' for helping to reduce stress. Some of them were fairly obvious (delegate, eat more healthfully, get more rest...), some I had read before (try seroius aromatherapy, spend an hour in a flotation tank...) and others were really quite inspiring, such as techniques to get through procrastination, and ways of prioritising.

Each 'idea' has a couple of pages with explanations, personal anecdotes, and then a couple of questions-and-answers from people who have tried the suggestion and found it difficult. It made for quite interesting reading even when the idea itself was not particularly relevant to me.

I read this on my Kindle after downloading it free from amazon, over a couple of weeks. While it wasn't the greatest book ever (and there were a few formatting errors and spelling mistakes) it did contain some useful suggestions, one or two of which I have taken up - and I certainly can't complain about the price!

[Chanouel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't learn anything new from this book but it was a nice reminder of some techniques that I used to apply and don't anymore. Although the author is pretty free with nutrition, supplements, herbal medicine and the likes advice. I'm not sure I would feel safe applying all her "remedies" without consulting a doctor first. I guess I'd be stressed about it...
That's it, I have nothing more interesting to say about this book. Go, carry on...nothing more to see here.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book has some really good ideas that can be easily applied to work with a busy schedule. I found myself highly entertained by her anecdotes. This was the first book I read on my Kindle, so I had to get use to not being able to look back and forth and some of her "brilliant ideas" work well with other ideas.

[Kirsty ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little read. I already practice a lot of the ideas in this book but for anyone on the start of their journey to a better, more stress free life it's a great place to start. Full of useful tips and exercises.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author: Elisabeth Wilson
Title: Stress-Proof Your Life: 52 Brilliant Ideas for Taking Control
Description: 52 short chapters each describing a way to decrease the stress in your life.
Source: free for kindle
Writing style: Easy to read. Nothing special.
Audience: Stressed people.
Major ideas: I think the idea is to read—and implement—one idea per week for a year, at the end of which, you will have a remarkably stress-free life.
Wrap-up: Some of the ideas are good, and some are a little bit out there (aromatherapy, supplements, etc.). Some are nothing more than common sense. The book has value if you actually follow through on the ideas that click with you—and just ignore the rest. 3/5*

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blech. I got this book as a kindle freebie, so what can I expect? Well, I expected it to be proofread at least. So many typos and words completely left out, I was completely distracted. This was written more for a working professional and not a woman like me. Because I have chosen to be a stay-at-home mom it's just not practical for me to schedule in "floating naked in pitch darkness and utter silence for an hour at a time in heavily salted water..." once a month as suggested. I don't drink tea so I can't brew myself a cup as often as suggested. I may, however. try yoga and a lavender bath every once in a while.

[Gokhan]

Practical ideas are floating in this book so far ( I read half of it already!)
Most of the time the author is just telling us what to do not in a giving an advice kinda way which is very shallow considering we don't live the same lives may not even have similar personalities.
But it was free on Amazon for Kindle which was a good start for me.
"I shall suck every bit of info and toss it in the bin."

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of an impulse buy for the Kindle. I'm not a particularly stressed out person as a rule but life does get busy (borderline chaotic) and striking a balance is always a challenge.

Overall I found the book useful, there's lots of good ideas for managing your time more efficiently and different strategies for coping with stressful influences in your life - some of which might actually work.

[Natalie Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really that stressed in life, but I thought I'd read this for fun!! I've been reading this slowly, for a while now, and I finally finished it! I liked it. I think everyone could use more ideas to reduce stress in their lives.

*The book is written by a British author, so it was find of funny/cool to see the English spelling of words throughout. However, my brain wanted to edit all the spelling and make it "correct" ;)

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally finished this book, after popping in and out of it whilst reading others or when I knew I only had time for a quick read. Some of the ideas seemed like real pie in the sky type stuff. However there were a few ideas that I have actually taken on board or tweaked a little to work better for me. A lot of it is common sense too, ie drink plenty and exercise often but it was free on kindle and a learnt the odd bit of triva along the way. Not sure I'd want to pay for the book though.

[Emma Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole a good book. A lot of the ideas would require the person not to be really stressed or depressed because you need the get up and go to be able to put the ideas into practice. I took exception to the breastfeeding comments. The author needs to look at the world health organisation guidelines on breastfeeding and the information on unicef, extended breastfeeding has lots of benefits for both mother and child.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. We all get stressed and it was full of good ideas and motivation to get your life on track and improve the way you live. I wanted to go out and buy a copy for all my family and friends. I got it free on kindle and when I last checked it was still free. Go check it out yourself and download now, even if you don't read it for a little while.

[Daniel Shields · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, While I'm sure some people can benefit well from this. It's basically stuff most people should have figured out by now in life that everyone should eat well, avoid negative people and all that good stuff. The Reviews made me think this was groundbreaking..and maybe more people need to chill out and just be.

[Issa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Freebie on Kindle. After reading the reviews I expected so much more. Several reviews claimed it was different and real and it was really a collection of a lot of the cliches you always hear. There were a couple of interesting ideas but as a whole it was a bit disappointing.

[Candice]

kindle edition

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Great tips. I want to read it again and apply it.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really new that you don't already know. but sometimes it is good to remind yourself to stay on track. It is helping in my quest to reduce clutter.

[P.M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is New Age mumbo-jumbo - yoga, meditation, aroma therapy. So glad it was free for my Kindle or I would be mad at the waste of money.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good ideas here, great reference book

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful tips in here, although sometimes resolving the cause of stress is the best way to deal with things. And take control of what you can.

[Amanda Schaefer · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lot of really good ideas and the book is laid out well but there were a lot of typos. kindle freebie though so not surprising I guess

[Jude Brigley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awfully silly, don't you know old chap.

[zenbren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some great and refreshing strategies for simplifying your life and keeping stress at a healthy level

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of info, definitely one to keep going back to for info and ideas. I disagreed a bit with the author saying we needed a lot of stress continuously, but overall, thoroughly enjoyed this read.

[Amani · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lot of useful advices in this book to lose stress.

[Heidi Rothert · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliant ideas. love them!

[Bee Squire · Rating 4 out of 5]

My go to book when life gets to me. This lady has great ideas, empathy and humour. This is a great book to dip in to for a little help and love!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It provided a lot of common sense approaches to making life a little easier.