Do you feel constantly overwhelmed and stressed? Always busy? Does the pressure of day to day life feel incapacitating at times? The constant inundation of life seems to be the most common and persistent plague in our society. But is it a necessary one? 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what the idea of “natural leadership” and leaning into the “herd ideology” would look like or how it would be applicable to me. But as much as my natural instincts might stay buried in the disease of busyness, they were easily awakened as I reconnected to the ideas of awareness and community in this book. 

In The Human Herd, Anstandig points out the degree to which we have numbed our senses in order to “press on.” In this fast paced society, our base instincts have been dulled to the point that we don’t recognize the harm of stress until we’re in a fight or flight situation. Not only is this unhealthy, it’s also not the way we were designed. This is most evident in looking at the animal kingdom, particularly fellow mammals, surrounding us. 

While this ideology could, in itself, seem lofty and overwhelming, Anstead utilizes personal anecdotes and lessons from nature to create a guide book that is both easy to understand and easy to implement. I found the connections she draws between to nature and stress fully unique and wholly different from other books I’ve read in this category. 

Thank you to @getredprbooks @thecircleupexperience and @morganjamespub for this #gifted copy.