Book Review #116 : Surviving Stress

Title	Surviving Stress: Rediscover the Awesome You!
Author	Vidhu Bhatnagar
Publisher	Educreation Publishing, 2017
Length	251 pages
ISBN	9781545708200
Subjects	Self-Help

”Surviving Stress and Rediscover The Awesome You!" Is a book that helps you learn to deal with stress constructively. Stress in everyday life is a killer in itself and when we become parents, the stress multiplies. The first section in this book deals with my ways of surviving stress, balancing between work, patients, kids and home with patience and acceptance. 

This book is divided into two sections - the first section deals with the lessons regarding stress management and the second is devoted to learning about the societal conditioning and rediscovering our awesomeness. 

Vidhu explains how societal conditioning restricts our growth; how we need to identify our bonds so as to free ourselves and become our awesome self. Identifying the clutches of conditioning and then disentangling from them is the second part in this book. 

“Surviving Stress” is a sincere attempt by Dr Vidhu Bhatnagar to throw light on the delicate and hidden threads that hold the life together. It is these threads that need to be cherished and nourished so that they become stronger with each passing day. Deriving learnings from her own experiences, the author explores the mesh that we build around us and make our life more complicated. The book aims to offer a more simplified and more realistic approach to understand the complexities of life. 

The book is extremely well written. The language is simple, yet riveting. The editing is superb. The book is divided into several short chapters which make it super easy to read and help us retrospect on one aspect of our life that hampers our ability to live happily. This book is simple and practical. Some stories urge us to reflect on our flaws and accept them. The title of the book is catchy and apt. The cover of the book, however, fails to catch attention because it is very simple. 

The book is interspersed with wonderful quotes. The tips offered are not unique, really. They are common enough to have been tried and tested. So the author is sharing useful information, without being preachy. Truly inspiring. If are struggling with stress, this book could be your ultimate saviour. 

Rating - 4/5 

About the author : 

Dr. Vidhu Bhatnagar completed her graduation in 1999 from AFMC, Pune and has been practicing as a full time professional, since then. She proceeded to commence her post-graduation in Anesthesiology in Dec 2003. She was blessed with her first born in August 2006 and the second born in Jun 2009. She commenced her super specialization in NeuroAnesthesiology in Jan 2011 and successfully completed the same in Dec 2013. She is presently working in a tertiary care hospital as an Associate Professor and Neuroanesthesiologist. The stress of pursuing higher education, handling relationships and managing kids was overpowering and it took some time for her to realize the ways and means to handle everything optimally. She became an ardent follower of alternate healing practices including Reiki and Pranic Healing during this journey. She also is a Tarot card reader and Oracle Card reader and paints 'Mandalas' for relaxation.