Tired as F*ck: Burnout at the Hands of Diet, Self-Help, and Hustle Culture

by Caroline Dooner

Overview

Blending memoir and blistering social observations, the author of The F*ck It Diet looks back at her desperate attempts to heal her hunger, anxiety, and imperfections through extreme diets, culty self-help methods, and melodramatic bargains with the universe. 

Offering a frank and funny critique of the cultural forces that are driving us mad, Caroline Dooner examines how treating ourselves like never ending self-improvement projects is a recipe for burnout. We have become unknowingly complicit in perpetuating our own exhaustion because we are treating ourselves like machines. But even phones need to f*cking recharge.

Caroline takes a good hard look at the dark side of self-help, and explains how she eventually used a radical period of rest to push back against cultural expectations and reclaim some peace.

Tired As F*ck empowers us to say no to the things that exhaust us. It inspires us to carve out time to slow down, feel okay about doing less, and honor our humanity. 

This is not a self-help book, it’s a cautionary tale. It’s an honest look at the dogma of wellness and spiritual self-improvement culture and revels in the healing power of rest and letting shit go.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063052987
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/15/2025
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Caroline Dooner is a humorist and storyteller. She spent years as a performer and dieting like it was her job (because it kind of was). After healing her relationship to food, she's been sharing what she learned ever since. She lives with her anxious bernedoodle in Pennsylvania, and they’re just trying to live the simple life. She believes wholeheartedly in the healing powers of food and rest.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How to Be Filled with Dread xi

How to Not Be a Psychopath 1

How to Be Cult Susceptible 6

How to Secure a Miracle Tooth 11

How to Email God 16

How to Become Obsessed with Food 21

How to Start Panicking about Your Face 27

How to Focus on the Wrong Cure 31

How to Let Everyone Know You Suck 42

How to Try Every Diet 48

How to Be Extremely Dramatic 56

How to Pray for a New Face 61

How to Be Obsessed with Beauty 66

How to Have a Horrible Time in France 75

How to Lose Feeling in Half of Your Face 79

How to Be an Actual Cheese Grater in a Musical 85

How to Not Know You Have an Eating Disorder 90

How to Have No Blood 98

How to Cope When Your Parent Has Cancer 102

How to Join the Cult of Raw Veganism 108

How to Make a Vision Tin 117

How to Think Positive Thoughts, or Else 125

How to Lose Your Ego for a Month 133

How to Lose Your Voice 140

How to Have a Nervous Breakdown 146

How to Get Another New Face 156

How to Become a French Woman 164

How to Become Rich on the Internet 170

How to Eat Like a Cavewoman 176

How to Stop Dieting 181

How to Rule Out Every Miracle Cure 185

How to Heal Your Creative Soul 188

How to Be a Receptionist Who's Afraid of the Phone 198

How to Feel 206

How to Be Extreme about Everything 212

How to Figure Out What's Depleting You 216

How to Figure Out if You're ALLOWED to Be Tired 222

How to Reconcile the Privilege of Rest 233

How to Claim Rest 238

How to Be OK Dying Alone 245

How to Be Addicted to Busyness 252

How to Sort of Do a Bad Job at Resting 257

How to Take Things Off Your (Figurative) Plate 263

How to Have Boundaries 268

How to Heal Chronic Exhaustion 275

How to Live 282

Acknowledgments 285

Notes 287

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2021

Blogger Dooner (The F*ck It Diet) returns with a snappy and empathetic guide to combating burnout by purging “the guilt.” Dooner encourages readers to drop “the shoulds. The comparing ourselves to other people. The forcing ourselves to stay in jobs or relationships that we don’t love, but that we don’t think we deserve to leave.” The “accidental” impetus of Dooner’s revelations was her introduction to Marie Kondo’s advice on decluttering her apartment; she determined she could extend the principle of chucking anything tangible that didn’t “spark joy” to relationships and career paths. After a lifetime of trying to become a successful actor, Dooner declares she got “sick of everything,” especially the heightened anxiety auditions caused, so she just quit going to them. She also stopped making any foods off-limits (and dropped dieting), allowed herself to rest, and stopped forcing herself to go on second dates with men she wasn’t attracted to. As a result, she forged a better relationship with her body, learned she doesn’t have to work 80 hours a week (after hiring a part-time assistant for her blog), and created space in her life to welcome new jobs, new friends and new ideas. By boldly sharing vulnerabilities, Dooner’s account should go a long way in helping others accept their own. It’s a brave and bracing manifesto that will be welcomed by any reader living in the aftermath of burnout—or trying to avoid it. Agent: Susan Raihofer, David Black Literary Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

I laugh-cried all the way though this biting critique of self-help bullshit and manipulative power structures. Dooner has written something deeply of the moment and relatable as f*ck.” — Amanda Montell, author of Cultish and Wordslut

“This book is what Caroline Dooner does best. . . . Hilarious, relatable, yet unflinchingly honest, Tired as F*ck is an empowering memoir every woman needs to read. As a therapist, I am increasingly concerned about the toll hustle culture is taking on our lives, and Caroline tackles this topic head-on while also guiding readers back to themselves. In a time when most memoirs shout ‘if I accomplished this, you can do it, too!,’ Tired as F*ck implores us to truly take care of ourselves and f*cking rest.” — Amanda White, author of Not Drinking Tonight

“For anyone who is tired of sacrificing their sanity to fit into a smaller pair of jeans, Tired as F*ck highlights our complicated relationship with success, beauty, and health. When it comes to wellness trends, Caroline has tried it all. With the voice of a funny, honest, and relatable friend, she takes you on her journey to find acceptance by any means necessary. This book will force you to see just how wildly obsessed we’ve become with the quest for beauty, thinness, and pseudo ‘health’ that you just may decide to get off the roller coaster and rest, too.” — Whitney Goodman, LMFT, author of Toxic Positivity

“Tired as F*ck takes the F*ck It Diet mindset and focuses it on the countless ways we must rebel against the ‘hustle and grind’ culture that leaves us exhausted and depleted. Dooner opens up about her own anxieties and trauma in a style that is somehow light and hopeful, inviting us all to consider how we’ve grown up and grown older in a world that asks us to prioritize progress and productivity over actual health and well-being. This book is the reminder we all need to redefine what health, happiness, and hustle mean in our everyday lives.” — Lexie Kite, PHD, coauthor of More Than a Body

“Tired as F*ck is, quite frankly, relatable as f*ck. With her relatable stories and humorous writing, Caroline will make you feel seen, heard, and understood in an experience we all know too well: feeling constantly exhausted but not being able to pinpoint why. In a society that’s constantly burned out, this book will reenergize you—physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.” — Mary Jelkovsky, author of The Gift of Self-Love

“Caroline manages to weave her personal stories into the broader cultural narrative in a way that makes you simultaneously laugh, cringe, exhale, and feel less alone. Smart, funny, witty, and just in time, Tired as F*ck is exactly the kind of medicine we need right now.” — Laura Mckowen, bestselling author of We Are the Luckiest and founder of The Luckiest Club

From the Publisher

Caroline manages to weave her personal stories into the broader cultural narrative in a way that makes you simultaneously laugh, cringe, exhale, and feel less alone. Smart, funny, witty, and just in time, Tired as F*ck is exactly the kind of medicine we need right now.

Laura Mckowen

Tired as F*ck is, quite frankly, relatable as f*ck. With her relatable stories and humorous writing, Caroline will make you feel seen, heard, and understood in an experience we all know too well: feeling constantly exhausted but not being able to pinpoint why. In a society that’s constantly burned out, this book will reenergize you—physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.

Mary Jelkovsky

Tired as F*ck takes the F*ck It Diet mindset and focuses it on the countless ways we must rebel against the ‘hustle and grind’ culture that leaves us exhausted and depleted. Dooner opens up about her own anxieties and trauma in a style that is somehow light and hopeful, inviting us all to consider how we’ve grown up and grown older in a world that asks us to prioritize progress and productivity over actual health and well-being. This book is the reminder we all need to redefine what health, happiness, and hustle mean in our everyday lives.

Lexie Kite

This book is what Caroline Dooner does best. . . . Hilarious, relatable, yet unflinchingly honest, Tired as F*ck is an empowering memoir every woman needs to read. As a therapist, I am increasingly concerned about the toll hustle culture is taking on our lives, and Caroline tackles this topic head-on while also guiding readers back to themselves. In a time when most memoirs shout ‘if I accomplished this, you can do it, too!,’ Tired as F*ck implores us to truly take care of ourselves and f*cking rest.

Amanda White

I laugh-cried all the way though this biting critique of self-help bullshit and manipulative power structures. Dooner has written something deeply of the moment and relatable as f*ck.

Amanda Montell

For anyone who is tired of sacrificing their sanity to fit into a smaller pair of jeans, Tired as F*ck highlights our complicated relationship with success, beauty, and health. When it comes to wellness trends, Caroline has tried it all. With the voice of a funny, honest, and relatable friend, she takes you on her journey to find acceptance by any means necessary. This book will force you to see just how wildly obsessed we’ve become with the quest for beauty, thinness, and pseudo ‘health’ that you just may decide to get off the roller coaster and rest, too.

Whitney Goodman