The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary
Catherine Gray
Dec 2019 · Aster · Narrated by Catherine Gray
4.0star
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9 hr 50 min
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**From the Sunday Times Bestselling Author**
We're told that happiness is in the extraordinary. It's on a Caribbean sun lounger, in the driving seat of a luxury car, inside an expensive golden locket, watching sunrise from Machu Picchu. We strive, reach, push, shoot for more. 'Enough' is a moving target we never quite reach.
When we do brush our fingertips against the extraordinary a deeply inconvenient psychological phenomenon called the 'hedonic treadmill' means that, after a surge of joy, our happiness level returns to the baseline it was at before the 'extra' event.
So, what's the answer? The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary theorises that the solution is rediscovering the joy in the ordinary that we so often now forget to feel. Because we now expect the pleasure of a croissant, a hot shower, a yoga class, someone delivering our shopping to our door, we no longer feel its buzz. The joy of it whips through us like a bullet train, without pause.
Catherine Gray was a grandmaster in the art of eye-rolling the ordinary, and skilled in everlasting reaching. Until the black dog of depression forced her to re-think everything.
Along the way, she discovered some surprising realities about the extraordinaries among us: that influencers risk higher rates of anxiety and depression, high-rollers are less happy, and huge frothy weddings increase the likelihood of divorce.
Learning how to be exalted by the everyday is the most important lesson we can possibly learn. In Catherine Gray's hilarious, insightful, soulful (and very ordinary) next book, you may learn to do just that.
PRAISE FOR CATHERINE GRAY'S WRITING:
"Fascinating" Bryony Gordon.
"Not remotely preachy" The Times
"Jaunty, shrewd and convincing" The Telegraph
"Admirably honest, light, bubbly and remarkably rarely annoying" The Guardian
(p) 2019 Octopus Publishing Group
We're told that happiness is in the extraordinary. It's on a Caribbean sun lounger, in the driving seat of a luxury car, inside an expensive golden locket, watching sunrise from Machu Picchu. We strive, reach, push, shoot for more. 'Enough' is a moving target we never quite reach.
When we do brush our fingertips against the extraordinary a deeply inconvenient psychological phenomenon called the 'hedonic treadmill' means that, after a surge of joy, our happiness level returns to the baseline it was at before the 'extra' event.
So, what's the answer? The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary theorises that the solution is rediscovering the joy in the ordinary that we so often now forget to feel. Because we now expect the pleasure of a croissant, a hot shower, a yoga class, someone delivering our shopping to our door, we no longer feel its buzz. The joy of it whips through us like a bullet train, without pause.
Catherine Gray was a grandmaster in the art of eye-rolling the ordinary, and skilled in everlasting reaching. Until the black dog of depression forced her to re-think everything.
Along the way, she discovered some surprising realities about the extraordinaries among us: that influencers risk higher rates of anxiety and depression, high-rollers are less happy, and huge frothy weddings increase the likelihood of divorce.
Learning how to be exalted by the everyday is the most important lesson we can possibly learn. In Catherine Gray's hilarious, insightful, soulful (and very ordinary) next book, you may learn to do just that.
PRAISE FOR CATHERINE GRAY'S WRITING:
"Fascinating" Bryony Gordon.
"Not remotely preachy" The Times
"Jaunty, shrewd and convincing" The Telegraph
"Admirably honest, light, bubbly and remarkably rarely annoying" The Guardian
(p) 2019 Octopus Publishing Group
Ratings and reviews
4.0
1 review
Laura Marinello
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January 5, 2020
This is the first book other than Harry Potter that I've so keenly pre-ordered, and I regret nothing! As always, Catherine is an amazing narrator and wordsmith, finding the accessible midpoint between serious psychology and fun pop culture references. She's insightful, real, encouraging and provides an interesting perspective on the modern day striving for the unattainable extraordinary. 4/5 stars as I found the first section a bit slower and more research heavy than expected.
About the author
Catherine Gray is author of five books, including The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober. She's sold over half a million books in English-speaking territories, her work has been published in the likes of Stylist, Marie Claire, The Lancet Psychiatry and the Guardian, and her books have been translated into nine languages. In 2018, Catherine founded charitable campaign Sober Spring, a three-month sabbatical from alcohol, and she now runs it with Alcohol Change UK, for whom she is an ambassador. She's been sober since 2013. Catherine lives in Hove and when not writing she enjoys falling off a paddleboard, giving her plants names like 'Cassandra' and 'Miguel', and spamming Instagram with pictures of dogs. Instagram.com/unexpectedjoyof Twitter.com/cathgraywrites
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