SINGAPORE – Romantic comedy author Sophie Kinsella knows all too well what it means to suffer from burnout, which is the subject and title of her latest novel.
The 52-year-old said: “I’m the type of person who scrolls through Instagram and sees a claim about the cure for burnout, so I try it. I’ve tried meditation, bullet journaling, and exercise, and many of them have merit, but I think you have to be in the right place at the right time for them to work.
For the British author, recovery was about finding and making small changes that would benefit the rest of her life.
On a Zoom call from her home in Dorset, England, she says: “Where I start with preventing burnout is sleep. I learned that to combat burnout, it is essential to have a good sleep routine.
Her family home in the Dorset countryside is a getaway from the hustle and bustle of her London base. Surrounded only by fields and cows, it also became a space for her to write.
“Instead of sitting in front of a screen all day, I try to bring light and fresh air outside, as this helps my body rhythm normalize. Regular exercise is stuck and I believe if you move your body daily it will help you sleep better and put things into perspective. When you have slept well, none of the problems seem as big,” she adds.
“My exercise is very random. I have a selection of videos that I put on and follow because I get bored easily. Sometimes I do Yoga with Adriene or do standing cardio without jumping. Other times I lift weights.
Although her camera is off during the Zoom call, Kinsella’s bubbly personality shines through in her frequent laughs and self-deprecating humor.
No wonder romantic comedy is his favorite genre.
The Burnout (2023) follows Sasha, an exhausted office worker who finds herself on three weeks of doctor-prescribed leave.
Armed with all the healing tips (and a hula hoop), she returns to the seaside town her family frequented before her father died.
At the beautiful beachfront hotel, Sasha faces the next big challenge: how will she recover from burnout when the grumpiest, most stressed, most handsome man is the only other no one to occupy the space?
Kinsella says: “I could have written a serious book with research and discussions with psychologists, but I wanted a romantic comedy because that’s my medium. I wanted to explore burnout as a phenomenon against the backdrop of great beach romance.
She noticed that burnout was a topic of discussion among friends and in the media, heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a writer who draws inspiration from current events, she began writing about the topic, knowing it would resonate with readers.
“It’s getting harder and harder to avoid.” We have our emails at all times and our laptops with us. Everyone is supposed to be on duty all the time and that’s the problem. It’s really hard to escape, and that’s what I was trying to get across in the book,” Kinsella says.
