Self-Discipline in Difficult Times

Pressing Ahead (or Not) When Your World Turns Upside Down (Self-Help Essays)

By: Martin Meadows

Narrated by: John Gagnepain

Length: 1 hr and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

How to Press Ahead (and Should You?) When All Is Wrong

As much as we’d like to avoid suffering in life, all of us will occasionally face earth-shattering hardships. You might be dealing with one now, or perhaps your friend or a loved one is, or maybe you’d just like to prepare yourself for when one inevitably occurs in your life. Self-Discipline in Difficult Times is the right book for you if you want to learn how to press ahead as your world turns upside down.

Some of the topics I discuss in the book include:

• In which situations self-help advice helps and in which you should stay away from it
• How to avoid making a bad situation worse when you’re under too much pressure
• How to take care of yourself during difficult times without sabotaging your long-term goals
• How to begin the process of recovery with three fundamental strategies
• How to prepare yourself for inevitable future crises with an uncomfortable, but effective practice
• How to help a friend struggling with a crisis

Mental resilience is our most important tool for surviving a rupture. This book can give you some hope and comfort that you’re not alone in whatever you’re facing.

©2020 Martin Meadows (P)2020 Martin Publishing

Stress Management For Stressful Times

This book may be called Self-Discipline in Difficult Times, but the subtitle actually seems to better sum up what this book is about: stress management so that you can actually take steps forward when you feel like shutting down.

And it covers that subject well in a succinct time frame (less than 90 minutes total listen time).

While the narration was adequate (not my favorite narration, but listenable), the content was good, and I found this worth my time to listen to.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A timely and helpful guide

I am writing this review in the spring of 2020. I read this book while waiting for results of my Covid-19 test. Talk about a difficult time! I tested negative, but it still isn’t clear why I have symptoms. This book gives me something to hold onto in a very uncertain time. It points out that priorities change and it’s good to be gentle with ourselves, but going too far into a lack of structure has its own pitfalls, too. Changing circumstances may mean it’s time to work on something altogether different. For instance, he mentions taking a yoga class on YouTube when he can’t go to the gym, thus improving his flexibility, which really needed it. My only concern was the emphasis on “voluntary suffering.” This concept would have worked better for me with a focus on increasing resilience. Also, I don’t know how to judge when something is going too far in either the direction of self-indulgence or stress. I must be careful about not entering abusive situations, so this is an important distinction for me. I am grateful for this book. I reviewed it in exchange for a free copy.

Survival Guide for the Hurting

This book is different than his others on self discipline. It gives good practical stategies when dealing with loss. i am glad i listened to it before a crisis so i could benefit from his advice. Only a person who has dealt with loss could dig deep in the bowels of it to share this kind of advice. short and sweet, i would recommend this book

For you and your loved ones

While I am a fan of Martin Meadows and all of his books, this one is different from his others. With that being said, I find this book prudent and crucial in this time.
This book is for those being adversely affected by the quarantine. However, if not impacted deeply by this pandemic, this is beneficial for any difficult moment in life: Job loss, financial status change, diagnosis, etc. Furthermore, if you are not currently experiencing a difficult life transition but a loved one is, this book can help you in supporting this loved one.
Many self-help books come from a “toughen-up” perspective, which can be helpful at times. Martin Meadows, however, approaches the reader with much-needed compassion. This is some thing I have not come across in other self-help books. This can be very soothing for readers and helpful in the healing process. He speaks to the true feelings of the experience and honors the reader’s current position.
While this book was offered for free in exchange for a review, I would still purchase this book, not only for myself, but to support those I love.

Empathetic and Understanding

Great first step. Reminds you of what’s important, slow down, and remember to be patient and accepting of yourself and circumstances.

Practical advice, quick read

Simple yet profound advice, whether for your own difficult times, or to help someone else through their own difficult time.

Good intro/advice on the topic

I have a copy of this kindle book, so when the author offered a free audible copy in exchange for an honest review, I took him up on it. I'm a big fan of Martin's work & have enjoyed almost all of his books over the years.

This one is a little different than his usual books, as it's more topical (written during the COVID 19 pandemic) and less heavily footnoted than most of his previous books. While the book is very topical to the pandemic, the advice is also relevant to anyone going through tough times.

All in all, I liked it. I've reviewed several of his audiobooks before and don't generally care for the narrator. This is the same narrator, but for some reason I didn't mind him this time. I think this topic (basically how to take care of yourself during tough times that are out of your control) maybe just plays well to the narrator's strengths, or possibly my tastes have just changed. Usually I recommend the kindle version over the audible one (for Martin Meadow's books), but in this case, I feel like they are both equally good, so I'd recommend either one, depending on if you prefer to read or listen to books.

I thought that Chapter One was particularly relevant and dealt with topics that seems to get glossed over in self help books. Mainly that at first, you don't need to do anything to get out of it/ get over it. Mainly, your first goal should just be to take care of yourself, get enough sleep, eat as healthy as you can, etc, and to not make any major decisions while you are grieving. In fact, he tells you at that point, that if you are dealing with that, to put down the book, take care of those things, and then to pick it back up when you have a handle on them. I thought that was very good advice.

Very good and practical book

I got audible code (free audible copy) from the writer and in return I have to review it.
I have read multiple books of this writer, I like all of them. They have taught me many ways of self discipline.

This is a concise book, written at an appropriate point of time, the pandemic. It teaches you various stages of coping with difficult times / loses. I highly recommend reading or listening to it, at least two times.

Good book

Good book and good audio. But... about the title, I was expecting a different direction.

Learned a significant lesson

There are going to be traumatic events in our lives. There is hope.
There are going to be overwhelming experiences in our lives like we are going through now. They are different, Martin Meadows expresses and explains the differences and some actions we can take (as well as some we shouldn't take) to get through this.

Well worth the time and $ investment to hear what he has to say.