There is a scene in the 2010 film Eat Pray Love that feels profoundly ahead of its time. Julia Roberts, who plays the journalist Elizabeth Gilbert, is cursing the feeling of emptiness she can't seem to shake. “I used to have this appetite for food, for my life, and it's just… gone,” she says, announcing her plans to quit her job, throw caution to the wind and travel the world for a year. Eat Pray Love was based on the memoir that transformed the real-life Gilbert into a global publishing phenomenon, selling more than 12 million copies. A decade later, the story is still a reference point for aspiring soul searchers everywhere.
The pandemic's role in exacerbating this universal malaise has been well-publicised, as have the many movements that are emerging in its wake – from quiet quitting to the great resignation, suddenly, there are an abundance of buzzwords to choose from when describing the act of checking out. And statistics show women are disproportionately affected. According to Deloitte's 2022 Women @ Work study, which surveyed 5,000 women from 10 countries, 53 per cent of women say their stress levels are higher than they were a year previously. The report also showed Australian women are more burnt out than our international counterparts, with women aged 18
