How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak, No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
In How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Elif Shafak - an author, academic and human rights advocate - examines the polarisation of political discourse and how our emotions impact our actions and vice versa.
Written at the beginning of the pandemic, this short book - it's less than 100 pages - covers a lot of ground. From social media echo chambers, to feeling anger in the face of oppression, dealing with difficult emotions, and realising that the other side of being heard means actively listening to those who are speaking.
Like most people, this is something I've been thinking about a lot. I have noticed since being off Facebook and Twitter that I am paying more attention to the news and current events. By not getting caught up in every outrage cycle, I'm concentrating on reading, watching and listening to things that are informative and go deeper than the clickbait headlines that crowd our social media timelines.
The outrage generated is often warranted and absolutely necessary. But other times it can leave you wondering why there is uproar about this particular thing.
Shafak does not provide easy answers because there are no easy answers. How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division redirects our attention to channelling our anger into productive actions. Because outrage alone will only get us so far.
It reminded me of conversations I - and many of us - had while canvassing for repeal. There were hardline ‘no’ voters whose minds could not be changed (they couldn't change ours either), but day after day we spoke to people who had genuine concerns. We listened. We answered their questions as best as we could. Some of them became Yes voters as a result of those conversations.
How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division is a timely and thought-provoking read that would make a great conversation starter with people in your life that you may not agree 100% with politically, but have more in common with than you disagree on. Much like my feelings about this book. I didn't 100% agree with Shafak, but she did make me think about some things in a different way.
How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak is published by Wellcome Collection and is available in paperback, ebook and audiobook format.