When I started writing the book outline for Our Breaking Point, the Delta variant was just making the news; now that my book is almost ready to launch, we have the 5th wave with Omicron knocking on North America’s door.
Just as the world starts to re-open it closes again. We saw that with Delta. Then as vaccinations started rolling out COVID regulations began to loosen and we could once again see our family and friends. We were hopeful.
With the 5th wave on its way we are exhausted, irritable and overwhelmed. I constantly hear phrases like, “I am so over this” or “I am so done with COVID”. Unfortunately, we can’t just walk away from it all. The Omicron variant is going to pull things back again and we are already losing our minds and losing it on each other.
Good news is that we are more prepared. Yes there are supply shortages but we likely won’t see toilet paper and Lysol wipes sold on the black market again. As Omicron migrates across our country, I am soon to publish Our Breaking Point: How COVID Has Us Exhausted, Irritable and Overwhelmed. Reading it you will discover how resilient we really have been – 2020 was nuts!
Here is my book description:
A powerful manifesto on COVID-19, what we’ve collectively overcome, and where we, as a society, will go from here.
2020 marked a sudden and dramatic change in all of our lives. Few events have affected the entire global population in the same way as this pandemic that wreaked havoc on our livelihoods, relationships, and general well-being. Not one of us was prepared, but as we come to terms with our ‘new normal’, we can start to process the shocking events that have happened to us in the last couple of years.
In Our Breaking Point, Treena Wynes takes us into the heart of the global pandemic to examine the ways COVID-19 has been burning us out. Even those who aren’t healthcare workers or homeschooling parents have been touched by the virus. Being socially isolated while simultaneously bombarded with constant, alarming news and negative information has amplified our stress in a way never seen before. Jobs were lost, relationships failed, and many of us got sick or had loved ones pass away. Our internal, mental exhaustion, though, extends in ways that are much less obvious and more lasting.
The arrival of COVID-19 sent us retreating to our own homes, limiting our communication to social media, phone calls, and video chats. These virtual interactions, which by nature cannot be as meaningful as in-person ones, caused a decline in our connections to nature, ourselves, and each other. In turn, this created an increase in technology addiction, social anxiety, and loneliness. Our mental health is declining, substance abuse is on the rise, and our common coping techniques aren’t always healthy. Many of us are struggling to persevere, and with society fracturing more every day, civilization itself seems to be on the brink of collapse.
With detailed research and insightful prose, Our Breaking Point examines all of these issues.
But there is also a ray of hope shining in the distance: a way forward to a time when all of this will be over. If we reframe the upheaval in our lives, we can start to see it as a type of rebirth. By taking advantage of this precarious time, we can revolutionize how we treat work, education, social connections, and even our well-being. Even at a low point of burnout and exhaustion, we must recognize some positives that will come from this pandemic–We may just need to break before we can rebuild.
Our Breaking Point is a sympathetic yet thought-provoking analysis of COVID-19’s effects on us as individuals and as a society, as well as a look forward to a post-pandemic future.
Our Breaking Point will be released end of December 2021.
