BOOK REVIEW: Life Is Not A Stress Rehearsal

Loretta LaRoche is a stress management consultant, a motivational speaker, author, and humorist. If you have been lucky enough to have caught her PBS shows, you know how well she uses humor to make her point, and to help you to do the same. 

I highly recommend her book, LIFE IS NOT A STRESS REHEARSAL. It is full of examples of how to get rid of so much in our lives that cause stress. 

 

One piece of advice that Ms. LaRoche repeats constantly is to not only celebrate your friends who are a little crazy, but celebrate the crazy in yourself. “People who don’t feel pressure to conform to societal standards live longer, happier lives”. 

 

Think about it. What would our world be if Edgar Allan Poe had taken anger management classes or if Van Gogh, Picasso, or Emily Dickinson had spent their lives learning self-empowerment rituals instead of practicing their art and feeling their pain? Do any of us want our tombstone to read, “Here lies Jane Doe. She was pretty much like everybody else”?

Another pet peeve of hers is that we do not allow ourselves to have fun. We need a “fun timer” to tell us that it is time to have fun and not to wait until we finish everything that is in our time organizer.

She even covers my personal pet peeve. We are not taking interaction with real people seriously enough. When we spend more time getting involved with the characters on the so-called reality shows, but have no idea what is happening to the real people around, we lose something in ourselves. The chapter “Who Wants to Be an Idiot?” says it best. “Instead of passively watching people talk, we need to talk to people”.

Loretta LaRoche has an impressive list of awards, eight bestselling books, a weekly newspaper column, and is a much sought after panelist and lecturer. Her books or TV appearances will do much to replace the stress in your life with humor. LIFE IS NOT A STRESS REHEARSAL is a good place to start.