If you’re alive, you experience stress. It’s just part of being human. For early man, stress helped us flee danger like a marauding mammoth, a hungry sabre-toothed tiger or an invading tribe. It literally helped us fight or flight. In modern society a little stress is useful, it keeps us energised and motivated to get things done, it helps us to turn up and be on time. Yet too much stress is harmful, and stress is sadly, at an all-time high.

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to avoid or substantially reduce stress in our lives. The things that make us stressed are the same things that always have: too much work, not enough time, financial woes, family needs, navigating difficult relationships - these familiar scenarios aren’t likely to change. So if we can’t change the things that cause us stress, we must change the way we interact with it.

When we feel threatened or endangered in any way, our body and mind react accordingly. Unfortunately, these days our brain sees many ‘threats’, even if they’re not actually a danger to us. This ‘stress’ is a major problem and is now considered to be a major precipitating factor in almost all major diseases. Yet if we’re prepared to learn from it, stress can be a useful teacher. Coping with moderate amounts of stress builds a sense of mastery and it promotes resilience for life down the road.

Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts. With that in mind; through this beautifully illustrated book from illustrator and speaker Matthew Johnstone and experienced clinician Michael Player, the hope is to turn one of the most unpleasant of human experiences into a sweet one.