Robin Berzin - State Change: End Anxiety, Beat Burnout, and Ignite a New Baseline of Energy and Flow

State Change

End Anxiety, Beat Burnout, and Ignite a New Baseline of Energy and Flow

A 30-Day Plan to Reset Your Mind and Mood

Robin Berzin, MD

Founder of Parsley Health

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2022 by RBMD LLC

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon Element Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon Element hardcover edition January 2022

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Interior design by Jennifer Chung

Jacket design by Patrick Sullivan

Author photograph Parsley Health

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Berzin, Robin, author.

Title: State change : the new science of ending anxiety, beating burnout, and reaching a higher baseline of energy and flow / Dr. Robin Berzin.

Description: First Simon Element hardcover edition. | New York, NY : Simon Element, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021026971 (print) | LCCN 2021026972 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982176808 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982176822 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Anxiety disordersTreatment.

Classification: LCC RC531 .B44 2022 (print) | LCC RC531 (ebook) | DDC 616.85/22dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021026971

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021026972

ISBN 978-1-9821-7680-8

ISBN 978-1-9821-7682-2 (ebook)

Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect patient privacy.

Illustration Credits: Avocado, Meditation, and Wifi by Adrien Coquet from the Noun Project. Sneakers by Halogenz from the Noun Project. Medicine by Mooms from the Noun Project. Magnifying Glass by Oh Rian from the Noun Project. Vial by Razlan Hanafiah from the Noun Project.

This book is dedicated to my patients, and to all the patients at Parsley Health, whose stories of healing are why I do what I do.

T wo large coffees, skim milk, three Splendas, two dollarsit was the same every day. The guy behind the street cart outside my downtown New York City office knew my order without having to ask.

This was 2003. I had just turned twenty-one years old and was freshly out of college. In those days, I lived off this coffee concoction loaded with artificial sweetener, caffeine, and the hope it would somehow make my day go by faster.

As I sipped the coffee on a bench steps away from the subway entrance, the Financial District in downtown Manhattan in the month of September felt like a movie set to me: the smell of roasted nuts mixed with the taxi exhaust, people in suits no matter how sweltering the outside air, and the feeling that things were always beginning.

I should have felt like I had the whole world in front of me, but instead I was lost. Graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from an Ivy League university with a degree in international relations meant that I was really, really good at schooland not good at much else. I had learned to use my intellect as armor, always having the right answer, always making the right choice, justifying the wrong choices as right ones, and living perpetually in my head. Armed with this I must have all the answers outlook, I subsisted on a rinse-and-repeat combination of caffeine, red wine, and calorie restriction (in the body-dysmorphic way, not the biohacker way) that cycled me through days in the office and nights out partying. I was very far away from becoming the doctor, mom, and CEO I am todayin fact, I could never have imagined this kind of future then.

My first job out of college was as a paralegal in New York, where I prosecuted securities fraud for the US Attorneys Office. The job was a gift, and not just because it was a relatively distinguished opportunity for a recent college grad and came with the highest security clearance I will certainly ever have in my lifetime. It was a gift, because in a mere six months it showed me exactly what I didnt want to do with the rest of my life. While someone very smart should absolutely prosecute securities fraud on behalf of all Americans, I remember telling my best friend over drinks one night that I didnt think it should be me.

The this is not working feeling I had about my career was compounded by my romantic relationship at the time. I had been with the same boyfriend for almost three years, but wed long cruised past the territory of healthy relationship into what I would describe as a wildly immature, dysfunctional, and competitive relationship. I regularly spent lunch breaks outside the office, tracing the paths of City Hall Park, sipping my fake-sugar-sweet street-cart coffee while crying and arguing with him on the phone.

In my early twenties, I survived on coffee, green apples from the farmers market outside my apartment building, protein bars, and grilled chicken from the sandwich counter at my local bodegano exaggeration. I unknowingly subscribed to the cult of orthorexia before the obsession with healthy eating became a thing. At the time, I had no pretenses around being healthy. Instead, I just thought healthy equaled skinny.

To accomplish that end, I also ran on the treadmill at the YMCA three to four times a week, Z100 blasting in my headphones as I thought about which flavor of Tasti D-Lite I would reward myself with after my run. Being healthy to me simply meant fitting into a size Small while simultaneously subsisting on sugar in alcohol, protein bars, and fake sweeteners. I was doing well at work, and despite my crazy gone-on-too-long relationship with my boyfriend, I had a great social life, lots of friends, and endless evening plans. The lack of sleep, perma-hangover, daily brain fog, and mood swings didnt seem to me to be an issue. Its what we all did.