Reviews

Jog On: How Running Saved My Life by Bella Mackie

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martharose's review

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funny inspiring medium-paced

2.0

bookdon's review

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informative inspiring medium-paced

3.25

Okay so I listened to this on Nextory after I finished How To Kill Your Family and it came up as a next recommendation to listen to. I WAS SO IGNORANT TO THE FACT SHE WROTE THIS TOO???

I literally found as I completed this book. I’m even more impressed now, cause I mean how many people can write an autobiography/self-help/non-fiction AND a fiction book? (At least let’s assume this runner didn’t kill her family)

Anyhow this book was really good. As someone struggling with anxiety since well forever and I am occasional runner, I loved this book which consisted of facts, anecdotes and tips. It’s got everything you didn’t expect from it.

Definitely recommend.

rcholly's review

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3.0

Bella Mackie’s ‘Jog On’ gives an honest and down to earth recollection of her journey towards running. As someone who runs, is a psychologist and has been on my own mental health journey, I think this book has lots of little gems that new runners will really find useful - especially if you’re managing anxiety and depression. I really connected with her in the first few chapters of the book, and made me think about the various reasons why I got involved with running in the first place.

However, as many have said, I did struggle through the last few chapters of the book. The writing does become a little repetitive and think the points could have been outlined in a more concise way. Whilst I’m a researcher and appreciate the thorough detail of studies on mental health, There’s a lot of facts packed in there. I was hoping the book focused more on running stories and how these intertwined with the mental health recovery a little more symbiotically, rather than lots of studies listed out. Therefore the book gets 3 stars. Strong start, but struggled towards the end.

Worth a read if you’re new to running and need a boost, though!

novelbloglover's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

Book Review

Title: Jog On: How I Got My Life Back on Track by Bella Mackie

Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Self-Help

Rating: 4 Stars

Bella Mackie is the author of How to Kill Your Family which is also on my TBR, but when I found out she had a memoir as well I had to pick it up. The beginning of the book introduces us to Mackie at the worst point in her life when her marriage breaks down after only 8 months and she is left in a deep depression. We learn that she has struggled with anxiety and depression her whole life but it has reached a point where she can barely go outside without having a panic attack. The breakdown of her relationship ends up forcing her to do something new in order to break herself out of a slump and so she takes up jogging. She begins just doing it locally and out of sight but soon realises that it actually helps reduce her anxiety and before long she finds herself exploring parts of London that she hasn’t seen for years because she deemed them unsafe for her anxiety. There are several studies that show a correlation between exercise and improved mental health, so I was intrigued to follow Mackie on this journey.

Chapter 2 begins with Mackie provides some context on what certain mental illnesses and disorders actually are beginning with OCD which she also suffers with. OCD is something that many people actually misunderstand and it isn’t just being clean and orderly, but rather a compulsive need to do something when confronted with overwhelming emotions. Mackie goes on to talk about many more mental health disorders like phobias, PTSD, GAD and many more. Her take on this as someone that suffers with some of these disorders herself was amazing but also her view on those disorders she doesn’t suffer with and how she asks people to try and understand where those people are coming from. For myself, I suffer with severe anxiety, depression and PTSD so seeing myself represented on the page even when the author doesn’t share the same diagnosis was nice.

Chapter 3 was pretty short compared to the first two and takes us to almost halfway through the book. This chapter focuses on Mackie’s childhood and teenage years, where later in life she realises that she has suffered from mental health issues for a long time. We can see her anxiety present really early as separation anxiety from her parents and this only got worse as she got older. She also didn’t interact with her peers as a child unlike myself, for me I was an energetic, outgoing child even if I was reserved but in my teenage years I began to suffer with anxiety, depression and PTSD which changed my entire personality almost overnight. While me and Mackie have things in common, her story is very different from mine and I am enjoying seeing how she deals with her issues.

Chapter 4 is where Mackie looks at her own life specifically her 20's and how her anxiety reached a fever pitch at that time. I completely sympathised with her being 26 myself and feeling more anxiety than ever despite medication. She also brings up some interesting statistics like how women are now likely than men to have anxiety and self-esteem issues and people who are classified as black or minority groups are more likely to have these issues than white people. People who live in poverty also rank highly in terms of mental illness than those who have the means to live comfortably. She also makes the point that it was around her that she began to transition from seeing running as a solitary activity to one where she could socialise while reducing her anxiety levels something she had previously struggled with.

Chapter 5 looks at the physical and mental benefits of exercise, most of which are pretty well known but not everyone experiences them. Mackie discusses the runners high which mimics the symptoms of anxiety making anxiety attacks less likely to produce panic because you're already familiar with the symptoms in a positive setting. There is plenty of medical literature out there documenting the benefits of exercise for those with mental health issues and you should check them out. Mackie also looks into the trains why the majority of people don't get the required amount of exercise and how this had changed over time.

Chapter 6 looks at Mackie's first major setback which was the death of a close friend and how it emotionally destroyed her but she kept running through that time. She found that it actually helped her progress her emotions better without getting overwhelmed as she was prone to doing before. She also discussed some evidence that proves that people who run versus doing yoga experience a slightly diminished emotional response to negative things. The reason for this isn't week known but it's theorised that it has something to do with the runners high. Mackie also realised during a bout of illness that her depression and anxiety would be with her for life and running was the best way she had found to deal with the realities of these conditions although she acknowledged it won't work for everyone.

Chapter 7 continues to look at how running improves mental health and can be used to help with the grieving process. Throughout this chapter Mackie relays her personal experiences but also the stories of others who use running the same way she does. From a father grieving the loss of his child to young homeless people the engagement and social side of running really helped them. There are also quite a few charities that use running as a means of fundraising or raising awareness which is a brilliant mission in itself but also serves to give those like Mackie a purpose or outlet when they are looking for one. This chapter that really proves that activities like running can help people from all different situations and background which we see in the interviews that Mackie conducted in the process of writing this book.

Chapter 8 Mackie begins looking at the reasons herself and other runners push their limits more so than the average person and in the end it comes down to mentality. For Mackie running was an escape, so whenever anything got difficult or hard for to deal with, she ran meaning over time she was able to run for longer and further than she had before. For others it is for charity or health reasons and marathon running is becoming popular among amateur runners. This is also where she is introduces the idea that many of us that don’t meet our exercise requirements fail because we have a duality between body and mind. We see them as two separate entities even though the body can influence the mind and vice versa which she goes into more depth on in the next chapter.

Chapter 9 takes the duality idea and runs with it but Mackie also explains the beneficial effects of running in nature versus an urban setting. Mackie among others found running through nature, whether it was a park or forest, grounding and providing them with a calming environment to sort through their thoughts or switch them off altogether. Many studies have been done into the effects of exercising or spending time in nature and these results are astounding as it can reduces blood pressure, stress hormones and much more. It was also interesting to note that the Blue Zones, where people live the longest, don’t see exercise as a chore or punishment but see it as a part of everyday like that cannot be avoided like work or having lunch. These differences in mentality have a massive impact on the person in the long term and taking even small steps to bridge the gap between body and mind can do a lot for you.

Chapter 10 is all about Mackie’s successes and pitfalls with running as it hasn’t always been a smooth experience and still isn’t. for Mackie there were many things that she saw as pitfalls like falling over which is something completely normal especially if you’re naturally clumsy and many might worry about not looking good while running but no one does and if they do they aren’t doing it right. While these pitfalls might be off-putting, her successes balance it out as she was able to run 5k in a relatively short period of time, she was able to run every day for an entire years and her final and greatest success is she is still running even after 5 years. Overall, Mackie makes the point that your mental health will never get fixed the way you want it to but you will gain way of coping it and even thriving as you will be aware of setbacks and be able to work through them. While I’m not a runner and don’t plan to in the near future, Mackie’s journey with her own mental health was inspiring and I highly recommend this for anyone suffering with depression or anxiety as it might be able to help you.

travelsinfiction's review against another edition

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informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

esther_talbdt's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Motivated me to run for mental health benefits. Good narration and an empathetic and open conversation on working out when not feeling well. Appreciate how real it felt through Bella Mackie’s story.