The Upside of Stress (Avery Hardcover, May 2015) is the first book to bring together cutting-edge discoveries on the correlation between resilience—the human capacity for stress-related growth—and mind-set, the power of beliefs to shape reality. As she did in The Willpower Instinct, McGonigal combines science, stories, and exercises into an engaging and practical book that is both entertaining and life-changing, showing you:

•How to cultivate a mindset that helps you embrace stress.
•How stress can give you the focus and energy to reach your goals.
•How stress can help you connect with others and strengthen close relationships.
•Why the brain is built to learn from stress, and how to increase your ability to learn from challenging experiences.
•How to change the biology of your stress response to enhance your physical and emotional well-being.
The strategies you’ll learn in The Upside of Stress are based on hundreds of studies and the insights of dozens of scientists McGonigal has spoken with. As McGonigal herself says, “Skipping the science and getting straight to the advice doesn’t work. Knowing what’s behind every strategy helps them stick.” So, this book includes a crash course in the new science of stress and what psychologists call mindsets. You’ll be introduced to rising-star researchers and some of their most intriguing studies—all in a way that is eye-opening and relatable.
McGonigal’s TED talk on the subject has already received more than 7 million views. Her message resonates with people who know they can’t eliminate the stress in their lives and want to learn to take advantage of it. Following in the tradition of her previous book, The Willpower Instinct, The Upside of Stress combines science, stories, and exercises into a practical guide that is both entertaining and life-changing. The Upside of Stress is not a guide to getting rid of stress, but a guide to getting better at stress, so you can live a life with more self-compassion.
Most importantly, this is a practical guide to changing your mind about stress. Embracing stress in everyday life can make you feel more empowered in the face of challenges. It can enable you to better use the energy of stress without burning out. It can help you turn stress into a source of social connection rather than isolation. And, finally, it will lead you to discover your own strength, courage, and compassion. Seeing the upside in stress is not about deciding whether stress is either all good or all bad. It’s about how choosing to see the good in stress can help you meet the challenges in your life.
CONNECT ONLINE: www.KellyMcGonigal.com | @KellyMcGonigal
About the author: Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, as well as a fitness instructor and meditation teacher. Her work has been included in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Psychology Today, Reader’s Digest, and O, The Oprah Magazine, as well as on NPR and MSNBC. Her research has appeared in journals such as Motivation and Emotion, the Journal of Happiness Studies, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. McGonigal lives in Palo Alto and New York City.