Jog On: How Running Saved My Life

Product Information

This funny, moving and motivational audiobook will encourage you to say ‘jog on’ to your problems and get your life back on track – no matter how small and scary those first steps may be. Mackie explores how running improves your self esteem, quells anxiety and generally improves every aspect of life. Apart from that, have I learned more about anxiety and other mental illnesses and what physical exercise does to help that.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Bella's brilliant love letter to running turns into an extraordinarily brave and frank account of her battle with anxiety.Yes you read that right, it’s not a totally serious hard read, some of the accounts shared did bring a smile to my face. I was a bit worried it was going to be a bit 'look at me, I'm now an amazing runner, regularly entering marathons' etc.

She found the perfect balance between talking about challenges and hard times, and giving hope for the future. Quite a relatable read which will hopefully motivate me to create a healthy relationship with running. There’s also too much politics and talk of privilege that I didn’t really come to the book to read, and to be honest… a skinny white middle class woman writing a book about exercise complaining that most of the representation of exercise from online content comes from skinny middle class women I found a bit irritating.

For further information about your statutory rights, contact your local authority Trading Standards department or consumer advice centre (for example the Citizen's Advice Bureau if you are in the UK). That said, for people who have little or no knowledge of anxiety/depression/PTSD and more, the detailed medical explanations may offer an insight. My first foray into fiction was with my book “How To Kill Your Family,” which came out in July 2021 and also ended up in the number two bestseller spot. I’m very fortunate to have never suffered with these issues so a lot of the text was a little wasted on me. I think if you're suffering from anxiety (and are considering to start running to help with your mental health) it might totally be worth checking this book out.

If you're curious about the benefits of running for mental wellbeing, I'd recommend giving this book a read. I’d say well over half of this book goes into almost excruciating detail about the authors mental health and trails of irrational thoughts, to the point where it reads more as a mental health book than anything to do with running. For me there was too many cold facts and not enough personal connection between the reader and author. Since then I’ve written an accompanying journal to encourage others to try exercise more for their minds than their bodies.Somewhat preaching to the converted, but nonetheless I found her motivational book to be quite inspiring. Most people think of running as something which is good for the physical body in terms of weight management, toning and generally looking good. I took up working out for the first time a year ago to help deal with anxiety and depression and while I totally see and feel the changes and acknowledge the link between mental health, physical health and exercise - I'd have liked to know more about the journey and feelings behind this book more than the numbers. It was down an alleyway and I just kept going back there because I was too ashamed to run anywhere else, as I thought people would laugh and shout at me. There are some good tips in here though, and I found it motivating for me particularly at the moment for my 10K training.

Following the split from her husband, Bella Mackie’s world is turned upside down, and as a result she has to find a way to cope not only with the trauma of her breakup, but also with her suppressed mental health problems which are now too hard to ignore. I had so many 'yes that's how I've felt' moments and it made me realise that taking regular medication to keep an overthinking brain on an even keel is nothing to be ashamed of, plus I really thought about my other coping strategies and mood boosters, which, in case you're interested, for me are any of the following:- Walking my dogs, a gym workout, kitchen disco and baking. I think how Mackie charts how running helped her come to terms with her anxiety and develop coping mechanisms was excellently done.

The side notes of other peoples' stories, and stats and general development of science of mind and body needing to be in sync was really good but yes, I didn't really enjoy it. I will definitely be trying bagpipe music when I feel the urge to either resign or virtually kill a work colleague.