Good Burdens
How to Live Joyfully in the Digital Age
by Christina Crook
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Pub Date 12 Oct 2021 | Archive Date 30 Nov 2021
Nimbus Publishing | Nimbus Publishing Limited
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Description
The things we're most proud of in life - the child we're raising; the marathon we completed; the major project we hit out of the park - these required all of us: all of our attention, all of our loves, all of our effort. Could we control the outcome? No. Were we all in? Hell, yes. These effortful pursuits are what digital well being pioneer Christina Crook calls "good burdens".
In thoughtful prose, Christina Crook's insightful follow up to the acclaimed The Joy of Missing Out makes the case for increasing intentionality in our day to day lives, unlocking the building blocks of joy, and offering concrete solutions for flourishing in the digital age. Using historical data, real life stories from leading mindful tech leaders and rich personal narrative, Good Burdens advocates for a realignment of our energies, online and off, towards effortful pursuits - cultivating relationships, community, and creative projects that bring lasting joy.
In Good Burdens, Crook will instruct us on:
- Mastering the Algebra of Joy — how to fill our lives with the warm relationships and right works that bring us more joy
- How to live more fulfilling lives in a world dominated by screen time
- Be our full selves on and offline
- Make the time off our screens as meaningful as possible
- Feel good about the time we spend with ourselves and loved ones
- Counteract online fatigue by prioritizing focal practices like walking, gardening, or other hobbies
- How to build life-giving habits that support our ongoing well-being and success
Good Burdens will provide practical, research-based solutions to help readers begin to reclaim joy, unplugging from toxic influences, and retake decision-making power over their time and emotional energy. It is intended to be a poetic and affirming guide to taking real steps towards joy.
Advance Praise
“I smiled throughout this profound little book. Good Burdens is a powerful reckoning for an unchecked technological zeitgeist palliating us with frictionless convenience and comfortable distractions that divert our attention from life-giving experiences and our ultimate goals. Crook’s call for a reclamation of effortful living, on and offline, stands to steer our lives toward destinations brimming with joy—those of purpose, caring, creativity, and community. Gratefully, the notion of ‘good burdens’ is already transforming how I show up in my world.”
–Kelly Riback-Small, Executive Creative Director and bestselling author of The Conscious Creative: Practical Ethics for Purposeful Work
“Fully understanding our relationship to technology is a vital question for all of us as humans. Christina is ready to have that conversation.”
–Tiffany Shlain, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, author of 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week
“Once again Christina Crook shows us that the one thing we shouldn’t miss out on is her heartfelt, soulful thoughts on where we can tap into the joy around us.”
–David Sax, author of The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781771089784 |
| PRICE | CA$21.95 (CAD) |
| PAGES | 208 |
Featured Reviews
jenny l, Reviewer
This is an intriguing book, part self-help, part memoir.
I found it very thought-provoking and will be reflecting on this book for a while.
[I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]
Meaghan B, Reviewer
While I tend to steer away from any kind of well-being/self-help title, Good Burdens is an amazing exception. In the age of technology, learning to take a deep breath and enjoy fresh air is important.
Avory F, Reviewer
My initial impression as I started to read was "I don't think this is going to teach me anything new." I was reminded of Zomorodi's Bored and Brilliant, and a bunch of mindfulness books. But on the other hand, as books in the genre of mindfulness in a digital age go, this one is short, accessible, and a fun read. It's full of personal stories and exercises, and while the stories are distinctly white suburban middle class (with several "capitalism isn't evil!" caveats that made me sideeye), they do provide some insight into the concepts.
Crook started out anti-tech, but is open to possibilities for how tech can be used mindfully (with purpose). She doesn't directly address disability (and occasionally uses ableist terms like "lazy"), but does provide a framework for using tech meaningfully, and a reminder that we can't be all things to all people online or off.
My biggest takeaway was around the idea of a joyful burden that your "ship" is meant to carry. Readers are encouraged to dig into the metaphor of a ship (drawing on the etymology of "burden") to think honestly about purpose and capacity, and I love this exercise! I've been thinking a lot about how effort isn't necessarily bad. As Crook writes:
"It is in these great effortful pursuits that we experience not only the outer reaches of our abilities but our limits, requiring us to rely on others and in turn deepening our love of the people and projects that mean the most to us. They're good burdens."
There's a lot about presence, beating FOMO, and being intentional about information (and not overreliant on online feedback!) Spaciousness, curiosity, and purpose are embedded throughout Crook's recommendations. Creating local communities of care is also a central theme, emphasizing deeper everyday connections, though also a little depressing in COVID. I found myself excited to go make connections... in five years. When it's safe.
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