For so many of us, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been an isolating experience. Dr Sarb Johal’s book Steady - Keeping Calm in a World Gone Viral is a timely reminder that most of our reactions are not only perfectly normal but can be explained in accessible psychological terms.

Dr Johal is a clinical psychologist, born in the United Kingdom where he trained, and now resident in Wellington where he lives with his wife and young family. Since 2009, he has used his experience in clinical practice, frontline services, policy development and ministerial advice and strategic communications to help the New Zealand and UK governments, as well as the World Health Organisation, develop psychosocial responses to some of the major crises of the last decade, including the H1N1 pandemic, the Canterbury earthquakes, the Kaikoura earthquake, the Christchurch mosque shootings and most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

In February 2020, when Aotearoa New Zealand learnt of its first Covid-19 case, Dr Johal was asked to help with plans to manage our response to the pandemic; it’s a response that is now regarded as world-leading given that community transmission of the virus was all but eliminated.

His professional expertise shines through as he presents the reader with a smorgasbord of ideas and advice on how best to deal with the significant impact the global pandemic has had on all of our lives. While there are aspects of overlap in each individual’s response to the dumpster fire that was 2020 (and beyond), no two people have had the same experience.

This book, however, caters to everyone. From parenting in a pandemic to tips to getting along with your partner to how to deal with uncertainty to advice on managing Death by Zoom, Steady covers all the bases. Just like a smorgasbord, Steady’s diverse chapters allow the reader to take from the book whatever will give them the greatest nourishment.

A strength of the book is Johal’s accessible writing style - no small feat when covering such an array of complex psychological ideas. I would have preferred to see more references to some of the psychological ideas presented, as I am a nerd who uses footnotes as reference points for future reading. But I am aware that this is not likely to be something that bothers most people. It is not an academic tome, and its accessibility will mean that Steady is a helpful primer for people from all walks of life.

Another strength of Steady is its zeitgeist. My hope for the book is that it finds an international audience as well as a domestic one, for while many New Zealanders have moved on from COVID-19 to a certain extent, much of the rest of the world has not. My concern is that this sense of zeitgeist will make the book feel less relevant for some New Zealanders. This would be a shame. While Steady has COVID-19 as its overarching framework, many of the themes such as the importance of mindfulness, how to deal with conspiracy theorists, coping with misinformation and practical tools for managing anxiety remain relevant regardless.

The concept in Steady that had the most impact on me was Johal’s clear articulation of why I doom-scroll when things are tough. To quote from the book: “The more time you spend looking at information that your brain finds threatening, like 24-hour news channels or doom-scrolling on your phone, the more you stoke the threat detection response. Your brain responds as if your life is at risk, even when that’s not true in the moment.” Understanding why my phone at times feels like a 5th limb was liberating. It also led to more self-compassion, another theme of the book.

Another idea from the book which has stayed with me is how to deal with an uncertain future. After the past year, it’s hard to escape the feeling that simply anything could happen. What will the future bring? We don’t know. None of us do. But having read this book, I feel much better equipped to cope with uncertainty. And that alone makes me glad I was able to pick and choose from the range of ideas this book provides.

Reviewed by Lauren Keenan