Grit : A Practical Guide to Developing Physical and Mental Toughness

In so many ways, our lives are easier than ever. We're sheltered from the elements our ancestors braved daily. We don't need to grow, hunt, or gather our food, nor do we ever need to feel hungry for more than a few hours. We can immerse ourselves in digital entertainment that stimulates us in ways our great grandparents never could have imagined.

And yet we're unhappy. There were over 45,000 suicides and over 100,000 drug overdoses in America in 2021, and surveys have been consistently showing that we're the unhappiest we've been in decades since before the pandemic.

This is the problem of ease. We're drowning in pleasure, and yet so many of us seem unable to bear one minute without it. We're more comfortable than ever, and less able to handle discomforts our ancestors would have found trivial. Grit is an antidote to this problem, an exploration of the value of chosen suffering.

In a time when we're so comfortable some people wonder whether we even need grit anymore, this book is a meditation on the virtue of it.

Grit is a roadmap for anyone looking to escape the suffocation of ease. It's a blueprint for tapping into the natural antifragility of the human mind and body. Along the way, you'll learn about the power of habit, the role of external environment, risk, fear, courage, and more. Grit will teach you new ways to challenge yourself physically and mentally, from fasting, to exercise, to cold exposure, to memorizing poetry.

Drawing on philosophy, psychology, and experience, Ben Connelly will show you not only why a good life requires chosen suffering, but how and what to choose.