BOOK REVIEW: Plan B by Shannah Kennedy

BOOK REVIEW: Plan B by Shannah Kennedy

Penguin Life
July 2021
Paperback, $29.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

Non-Fiction / Self-Help / Motivational

95% Rocking

Shannah Kennedy, bestselling author of The Life Plan, takes you on a journey to accept change, heal, reset and move forward with clarity, direction and purpose once again.

Change can turn our plans, our lives and our dreams upside down. Whether you have faced a redundancy, dealt with a break-up, been in an accident, lost a loved one, had a health scare, or been impacted by an economic downturn, your ability to navigate through the change process and create an alternative plan will be the key to your future happiness.

Shannah Kennedy, bestselling author of The Life Plan, has created a simple yet powerful four-part guide that is designed to give you the confidence to accept, heal, grow and adapt. Full of practical tips and exercises to help you process your emotions, restore and recover, shift your mindset, set clear goals and take control, Plan B is your roadmap to finding happiness once again.

 

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I would usually be considered somewhat picky, judgemental, self-defeatist, and not the biggest fan of the motivational self-help genre of non-fiction. There’s too much to try and get through, fiction and non-fiction alike, to which I usually feel more drawn. While my tastes in non-fiction have seen a shift lately towards healing from trauma, I have found these to rather be hit or miss.

So, when I tell you that I think this is a book a lot of us could use right now, especially in the current ‘rona climate, I don’t say it lightly. 

Shannah spent years working in sports management and PR before a health crisis in the form of chronic fatigue seemed to steal a lot of her energy, turning every day into a dance with exhaustion and uncertainty.

She needed to figure out her Plan B, and now she’s here to guide us to our own Plan B.

This is how you will survive and start to move forward. This is the beginning of finding your calm and establishing some emotional balance.
You will need to begin to process the loss of what was, of life before the change, by creating a plan for yourself to move towards the positive. Acknowledging that you are now in the business of coping, changing and conquering.

Who among us hasn’t had our dream plans go awry, and in the aftermath had to pretend it didn’t happen in order to shake it off and move forwards? Over time, that builds up some pretty messy coping mechanisms and thought patterns, and eventually it’s all bound to get to be TOO MUCH.

In this book, Shannah guides us to grieve the changes in our lives, the setbacks and upsets, allow ourselves to feel our feelings, and adjust our thinking patterns towards a more positive version of our gut reactions, changing “I don’t know how to do this” to “with time I can figure it out”.

Throughout these pages you will find quotes that are bound to resonate with anyone who’s ever faced a setback, and you’ll discover many step-by-step processes to help you work towards being kinder to yourself. Shannah has provided examples, tips, charts, and ideas for notes and lists you should make regularly, to remind yourself of what, and who, you have in your life, and what your core goals are. 

Yes, some of the individual pieces here are common-sense, but when taken all together, this is a really helpful and uplifting resource for many people whose emotional and mental health might be struggling amidst the recent turbulence humanity has been going through.

Shannah isn’t someone with a degree who tells us what we need to do to be better, having never faced the things we’re facing. She’s someone who’s been in the trenches with us, facing uncertainty, and she’s come back to those of us still stuck in order to share how she did it and what we might try. Not in order to save us from ourselves, but rather to give us the steps we can use to save ourselves. 

It is easy to get stuck in a self-pity funk. But this is an opportunity to take ownership of your situation, to unlearn some of your old habits and routines and establish new ones. Patience is your friend, time will heal you, and you may even identify some gifts along the way. So focus on the basics, make room for kindness, and remember that from little things, big things grow.

 

 

Category: Book Reviews