The unexpected joy of the ordinary: in celebration of being average
(Book)

**From the Sunday Times Bestselling Author** Ordinary. Average. Normal. The everyday is the wall-to-wall humdrum we seek to upgrade, like a fifties carpet we long to replace. More money. A bigger house. A better body. An upgraded career. The ultimate relationship. A highly inconvenient psychological phenomenon called 'the hedonic treadmill' has us eternally questing for more. Catherine Gray was a grandmaster in eye-rolling the ordinary, and the art of everlasting reaching. Until the demon of depression made her re-think everything. Knitting together personal storytelling and illuminating science, this book probes great minds in neuroscience and psychology. It explodes 'extraordinary-seeking' myths such as big bucks means big happiness, expensive weddings predict future happiness, high intensity exercise is the best kind, and the workaday is less important than the show reel. This soulful, hilarious and life-affirming book is a manifesto on how to outwit the hedonic treadmill and retrain our negatively-biased brains. But most of all, it's a love letter to an average life beautifully lived. Because maybe, just maybe, an ordinary life is the most satisfying one of all. PRAISE FOR CATHERINE GRAY'S WRITING:"Uplifting and inspiring" The Evening Standard "Not remotely preachy" The Times"Jaunty, shrewd and convincing" The Telegraph "Admirably honest, light, bubbly and remarkably rarely annoying" The Guardian"An empathetic, warm and hilarious tale from a hugely likeable human" The Lancet Psychiatry.