It’s about time I revived a book with joy at its core, bearing in mind I work with my clients to find joy in their work. At a time when the world and work feels heavy, “Chose Joy (relieve burnout, focus on your happiness and infuse more joy into your everyday life) by Sophie Cliff promised to be a perfect antidote. If you’ve been eyeing up this title too, then why do you join me in reflecting on “Choose Joy”? *
Sophie Cliff burnout out experience is the trigger for, and the opening for the book. She had all she “thought” she wanted: an exciting career at the Walt Disney Company, a new chapter with her fiancé, a busy social life and travel. Yet, in 2015 she found herself back in the GP, wondering why she felt so physically and mentally unwell. Ten years ago, in summer of 2016, a life altering bereavement led her to refocus and reanalyse her life; “Choose Joy” capture this all perfectly. She changed her life significantly, becoming a trained positive psychology practitioner and researcher, and now had bought all her learning into her “day job”.
As the “blurb” states: “Research tells us that joy has a whole host of health benefits, and now, using the tools in this book, you can start taking the necessary daily steps toward building a life that lights you up instead of drags you down.”
While her work is research-backed, this book is not about a deeper exploration into the how or why of burnout (if you want that, there are other titles, including Burnout (solve your stress cycle). What you get is a gentle but impactful handholding, with tools and techniques that allow you to feel in control of your life again. As the title promises, it encourages you to inject joy back into every aspect of your life in gentle, achievable ways. At a time when you may be tipping into burnout, overwhelmed and exhausted, it gives you enough structure and care to feel like you can make these changes; not just for now, but for life.
What the book does so well, is highlight why and how joy is an impactful antidote to burnout and the life stressors that lead to it. Each chapter has examples form Sophie Cliff’s experience, easy to access tool and end of chapter recaps to help keep you on track. If you haven’t experience 1:1 coaching, or lots of self-reflection work before, it’s got some “back to basics”, namely values and goal setting.
I’d like to think that Sophie Cliff and I would get on if we met; there is so much cross over in what we do, and I love how accessible and personable her book is. She has managed to convey a complicated topic in a such a reassuring and knowledgeable way! Having gone through her recommended read list, there are a few that we have in common (I’ve listed the reviews in this article) so looking forward to following more of her work!
Like some of the books that I review, I’ve intentionally kept my “Clara Cliff Notes” out of this review; the core of the power of this book book is identifying what is important and relevant to you. Many of us risk running to burnout by living by other’s standards and measurements of success. I don’t want to influence your experience of this great book by sharing too much of “my lens” on life!
Have you read “Choose Joy”? I ‘d love to know how you are bringing more joy into your life!
If you like this, you may also enjoy.
Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan
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Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance.
