Poorna Bell

Bel Kumar wakes up in hospital surprised and confused.

Surprised to be told she had a near-fatal accident outside work. And confused as to why her ex-boyfriend is by her bedside.

Bel's HR record still lists her ex as her next of kin, but she can't think of a less appropriate person to nurse her back to health.

But who can she turn to in a crisis? Over-invested parents? A sister whose life has turned out perfectly? Friends she exchanges dating woes with over cocktails?

If this experience has taught Bel anything, it's that she should reconnect with the most important people from her past. But that's going to be easier said than done because Bel has never been good at asking for help.

And she's doing just fine on her own... Isn't she? 

In Case of Emergency

If you are the girl, the woman who feels like she is never enough, that she will never be as strong, as good, as capable, I am here to tell you that you are enough. I am here to tell you that while it shouldn’t have been your burden, you can write a different story. Stronger will change what you think you know about strength and, most importantly, empower you to go on your own journey to discover what strength looks like for you. Now a competitive amateur powerlifter who can lift over twice her own bodyweight, Poorna Bell is perfectly placed to start a crucial conversation about women’s strength and fitness, one that has nothing to do with weight loss. In Stronger she challenges the notions taught to us as girls, and examines how all of us can tap into our reservoir of inner strength to make us our strongest selves mentally and physically. Describing taking up weightlifting after the death of her husband, she shows how discovering her own strength helped her to find the confidence that physical pursuits can amplify – the confidence that has been helping men to succeed for centuries – and that women can find too. In these pages, Poorna tells not only her own story but those of a range of women, investigating intersections of race, age and social background. Part memoir, part manifesto, Stronger explodes old-fashioned notions and long-held beliefs about getting strong and explores the relationship between mental and physical strength. Whether you’re into weightlifting, running, swimming, yoga or don’t consider yourself to be sporty at all, Poorna shows how finding strength can work for you, regardless of age, ability or background.

Changing Everything I Knew About Women’s Strength

Stronger

Punk rocker, bird nerd and book lover Rob Bell had a full, happy life. He had a loving wife, a big-bottomed dog named Daisy and a career as a respected science journalist. But beneath the carefully cultivated air of machoism and the need to help other people, he struggled with mental health and a drug addiction that began as a means to self-medicate his illness. In 2015, he ended his life in New Zealand on a winter's night. But what happened? How did a middle-class Catholic boy from the suburbs, who had an ocean of people who loved him, and a brain the size of a planet, end up dying alone by his own hand? How did it get to this point? In the search to find out about the man she loved, and how he arrived at that desperate, dark moment, Poorna Bell, Executive Editor of The Huffington Post UK, went on a journey spanning New Zealand, India and England to discover more about him. A month after his death, she shared her personal tragedy in an open letter to Rob on the site, which went on to be read by hundreds of thousands of people across the world. This is Poorna's story, not only of how she met the man of her dreams and fell in love, but also Rob's story and how he suffered with depression since childhood and had secretly been battling addiction as a means to cope with the illness. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 and a staggering 1 in 4 of us will experience mental illness disease at some point in our lives, but the stigma surrounding mental health means that millions still suffer in silence. Chase the Rainbow is an affecting, poetic, and deeply personal journey which teaches to seek hope and happiness, even in the most tragic of circumstances. Shattering the stigma surrounding depression and suicide, Poorna Bell challenges us talk about what we most fear, and to better understand the personal struggles of those closest to us.

Chase the Rainbow

Winner of Red Magazine's Book of the Year 2019 'Raw, poetic and breathtaking.' Fearne Cotton 'It is rare to find an author who writes with such authenticity, empathy and humour. I couldn't recommend this read enough. It will enrich your life.' Will Young 'Poorna's beautiful, thoughtful writing is a gift of calm, laughter and stoic contemplation in an increasingly anxious world. Simultaneously earthed and sometimes ephemeral, this book is absolutely delightsome, compassionate, tender and a lesson to us all in self-love and nurture. I read it in a matter of days and started over again.' Jack Monroe 'A beautiful book that dismantles the pressure and expectations placed on our lives.' Gizzi Erskine Poorna Bell was sold the fairytale of life. That love wins the day. That marriage is the rescue to an otherwise unhappy existence. That children are the natural progression of any relationship. But really, is it? Are we actually being honest with ourselves about the expectations we have set for ourselves? Are we able to distinguish between what we really need from life, from everything that we have been conditioned to want? Because the current rhetoric doesn’t prepare you for the reality. In 2015 Poorna Bell became a widow after her husband Rob took his own life on a winter’s night, having battled depression and addiction. Her situation was unusual when compared to a lot of people, but she was left figuring out exactly the same things. Will she ever be happy? Will she find love again? Who will rescue her from her sadness? Two years on and Poorna is rebuilding her life. And it is from this place – as she works towards choosing what she does and doesn’t want from society, that she will explore a different conversation around fulfillment and self-worth.Cutting across the landscapes in India, New Zealand and Britain, Poorna Bell explores the things endemic in our society such as sadness and loneliness, to unpick why we seek other people to fix what’s inside of us. In Search of Silence is the recognition of the echo chamber we find ourselves in, in terms of what constitutes a successful, fulfilling life. This is a heartfelt, deeply personal journey which asks us all to define what 'happiness' truly means. 'Rich with achingly beautiful language that transports the reader to the streets of Bangalore, the mountain-topped peaks of Nepal and the long and winding roads of New Zealand, I adored absolutely everything about In Search of Silence. A book that will speak to anyone who has grown tired of London, who has lost, who has loved, who has lamented the loss of a loved one, it is a beautiful, life-affirming read that explores solitude, silence and sadness and is underpinned with hope and happiness for the future.' The Literary Edit

In Search of Silence

On the darkest of nights, I feel my sense of strength burn with the flame of something bigger than myself. It reminds me that things change, because I have made them change. Stronger will change what you think you know about strength and most importantly, empower you to go on your own journey to discover what strength looks like for you. Poorna Bell's journey to get physically strong started with a heavy mattress that needed flipping and the realisation that - following the death of her husband, Rob - she had been relying on the men in her life to take the bins out, carry the luggage and move furniture. Part memoir, part manifesto, in Stronger, Poorna starts a conversation about women's strength and fitness, tapping into the reservoir of mental strength we each have, in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss. Poorna shares her own story, as well as drawing on research and telling the stories other women who've forged their own path, including grandma marathon runners, Nepalese female mountain guides and businesswomen qualifying as yoga instructors alongside their busy day job. Now a competitive amateur power-lifter who can lift over twice her body weight, Poorna is the strongest she has ever been both physically and mentally. Weightlifting helped her to find the confidence that physical pursuits can amplify - the confidence that has been helping men to succeed in their careers their whole lives - and that women can find too. Doing away with old-fashioned notions and long-held beliefs about strength, Poorna lays out how strength can work for you no matter what your age and goal might be. Regardless of ability or background, whether you're into weightlifting, running, swimming, yoga or don't consider yourself to be sporty at all, strength that is generated from your own graft, personal goals and achievement, is something that no one can take from you.

Poorna Bell

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