Any Ordinary Day cover art

Any Ordinary Day

Blindsides, Resilience and What Happens After the Worst Day of Your Life

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Any Ordinary Day

By: Leigh Sales
Narrated by: Leigh Sales
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About this listen

 The day that turns a life upside down usually starts like any other, but what happens the day after?
Dual Walkley Award-winner Leigh Sales investigates how ordinary people endure the unthinkable.

As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives in the full glare of the media. But one particular string of bad news stories - and a terrifying brush with her own mortality - sent her looking for answers about how vulnerable each of us is to a life-changing event.

What are our chances of actually experiencing one? What do we fear most and why? And when the worst does happen, what comes next?

In this wise and layered book, Leigh talks intimately with people who've faced the unimaginable.

From terrorism to natural disaster to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expecting broken lives, she instead finds strength, hope, even humour.

Leigh brilliantly condenses the cutting-edge research on the way the human brain processes fear and grief, and poses the questions we too often ignore out of awkwardness. Along the way, she offers an unguarded account of her own challenges and what she's learned about coping with life's unexpected blows.

Warm, candid and empathetic, this book is about what happens when ordinary people, on ordinary days, are forced to suddenly find the resilience most of us don't know we have.

_____________

'Warm, wise and humble.' ANNA FUNDER
'Masterfully written, revelatory and genuinely uplifting.' BETTER READING
'Asks questions most of us would only dare to think.' THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Anthropology Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences

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All stars
Most relevant
I'm forever grateful for this listen which has not only soothed but delivered/conveyed with stunning grace how one's resilience helps us rise from the ashes; and evolve... into even better versions of ourselves. Heart-wrenching, evocative and empathetic ~ a thoughtful and inspiring listen. I wish you all the very best of happiness and quality of life. ♡

Thank you, Leigh Sales for such brilliant insight.

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Rich in pathos and logic, beautifully written. Highly recommend this book. I simply loved it.

Amazing book.

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Leigh Sales reads her exploration of the human response to sudden tragedy in an engaging and thoughtful manner. I read this book and found it so thought provoking I downloaded the audiobook too. Without being sentimental or wallowing in human suffering Sales takes us into the lives of people who have endured a sudden life changing event and charts their resilience and recovery. I highly recommend this book and will listen to it again.

Compassionate and well researched

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I love Leigh’s podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 and really admire her as a journalist.
This is a superb book beautifully narrated by Leigh. Thought provoking and ultimately hopeful.

Superb

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I've always admired Leigh Sales as a journalist, and this book excels beyond my expectation as a writer as well. Such a gifted insight into the human condition of dealing with enormous tragedy, but yet, somehow translates with the everyday. Brilliant book.

wonderful and timely

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