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WORK TITLE: Comfort Detox
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://erinstraza.com/
CITY:
STATE: IL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinstraza/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016055334
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2016055334
HEADING: Straza, Erin M., 1972-
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100 1_ |a Straza, Erin M., |d 1972-
670 __ |a Comfort detox, 2017: |b E-CIP t.p. (Erin M. Straza) data view (b. Oct. 9, 1947 ; international ministries director of the Langham Partnership)
PERSONAL
Born 1972.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Langham Partnership, international ministries director; Christ and Pop Culture (online magazine), managing editor. Also works as a marketing and communications consultant.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Erin M. Straza is a devout Christian who has worked for the Langham Partnership as international ministries director, and as managing editor for Christ and Pop Culture (an online magazine). Straza also brings her faith to bear on her work as a marketing and communications consultant for such companies, publications, and organizations as Dunham+Company, Christianity Today, Naomi’s House, As Our Own, KMA/Pursuant, Revive Our Hearts, Spread Truth, American Farm Bureau, Wellness Data Solutions, and Qikpix. Straza’s faith additionally forms the foundation of her debut nonfiction advice book, Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits that Bind You.
Published in 2017, Comfort Detox focuses on the unhealthy, but comforting, habits that keep us from success (whether that’s eating junk food or watching too much television). Turning to habitual comforts offers short-term positive outcomes while undermining long-term goals and self-worth, the author clams. Dividing the book into three sections, Straza sets out clear arguments for avoiding undermining habits, noting that comfort can be found in healthier, more supportive, and more purposeful ways (namely in God and congregation/community). Straza also shares her own journey toward eschewing unhealthy comforts and replacing them with healthier options. Furthermore, Straza admits that maintaining material comforts often requires more work (time and energy) than letting small luxuries fall by the wayside. Straza even admits that she has wasted time and energy avoiding uncomfortable situations and settings, an act in direct opposition to Christ’s teachings of universal love and forgiveness. Straza urges readers to investigate their own addiction to unhealthy comforts, and she advises that they replace such habits by turning their attention to the goodwill of others.
Reviews of Comfort Detox were largely positive, and a Publishers Weekly correspondent announced: “Filled with clear steps and encouragements, Straza’s robust program will bring readers freedom and a renewed zest for life.” Zachary Houle, writing on the Medium Website, was also impressed, and he remarked: “While I did find the first half of the book to be rather dry to my liking, there’s useful information and many resources to get you on the road to living outside of your comfort zone. So stop being so entitled and pick up the book already. It’s worth your time, even if it probably won’t help you stop waking up in the middle of the night to raid the fridge or lose weight. Whatever your expectations of the book are, the message within is a sound one and worthy to giving some brain space to.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Christianity Today, March, 2017, Matt Reynolds, review of Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You.
Publishers Weekly, December 12, 2016, review of Comfort Detox.
ONLINE
Erin Straza Website, http://erinstraza.com/ (October 18, 2017).
Medium, https://medium.com/ (November 10, 2016), Zachary House, review of Comfort Detox.
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Erin Straza
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Meet Erin
writer / speaker / dreamer
c
Hello and welcome!
Thanks for stopping by. Here’s a little bit about me . . .
creative writer / You’ll find my musings on my blog (Filling My Patch of Sky), at Christ and Pop Culture, and in my first book, Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You.
heartfelt speaker / One of my greatest joys is seeing others learn and grow by sharing the things I’ve been pondering. If you have a conference, retreat, or event, I’d be honored to share a message.
redeemed dreamer / Jesus has rewritten my story with His grace and mercy, setting me free to dream. Learn more here.
In addition to writing, speaking, and dreaming, I am a freelance marketing and communications consultant, which allows me to help my clients tell their stories in authentic and compelling ways. My career in marketing communications career includes university teaching and freelance work for many beloved clients and nonprofits (Spread Truth, American Farm Bureau, Wellness Data Solutions, Qikpix, Dunham+Company, Christianity Today, Naomi’s House, As Our Own, KMA/Pursuant, and Revive Our Hearts).
My book, Comfort Detox, now available! ORDER YOUR COPY HERE
FROM THE BLOG
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31-Day Challenge: Wake up from Zombie-Like Faith
A True Narrative of This Place We Call Home
Making the World a Better Place
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10/2/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Print Marked Items
Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits
That Bind You
Matt Reynolds
Christianity Today.
61.2 (Mar. 2017): p61.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Christianity Today, Inc.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
Full Text:
Comfort Detox
Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You
ERIN M. STRAZA INTERVARSITY PRESS
We're addicted to comfort, says Straza, managing editor of Christ and Pop Culture. Confronted with choices between
right and wrong, easy and hard, healthy and unhealthy, we habitually take the path of least resistance. How can we
reroute this destructive circuitry? Not by embracing asceticism, says Straza, but by finding comfort in Christ, who gives
us power to put off the old self and put on the new. "Whether old or young, rich or poor, male or female--we are all
prone to turn to substitute comforts. We all need to learn how to seek the Comforter."
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Reynolds, Matt. "Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You." Christianity Today, Mar. 2017, p. 61.
General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA486641965&it=r&asid=5394beb0ee7d6651d024d55ae87ef03f.
Accessed 3 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A486641965
---
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Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits
That Bind You
Publishers Weekly.
263.51 (Dec. 12, 2016): p144.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You
Erin M. Straza. IVR $16 trade paper (208p)
ISBN 978-0-8308-4328-2
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Straza, managing editor of the online magazine Christ and Pop Culture, explains in three succinct sections why the
continually escalating surge toward comfort and control gradually eats away at self-worth and purpose from the inside
out. She presents her case for intentionally dismantling the comfort directive by defining how the quest for constant
comfort has gone rogue, illustrating ways to redeem comfort, and releasing minds from the trap of comfort so they can
fully serve others. Straza explains how she slowly came to the realization that she spent far too much time and effort
attempting to maintain a high comfort level in her life, avoiding difficult situations or environments despite what Jesus
taught about risky living for the sake of others. Straza discloses a deep regret for spending so much time cloistered in
her own world. Readers will find themselves identifying their own specific tells of selfish comfort-seeking before
succumbing to Straza's persuasive call to take purposeful steps in a different direction, including engaging with one's
community and congregation, thinking from another's perspective, and maintaining an outwardly directed goodwill.
Filled with clear steps and encouragements, Straza's robust program will bring readers freedom and a renewed zest for
life. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You." Publishers Weekly, 12 Dec. 2016, p. 144. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475225123&it=r&asid=b846903e148c0469b3812b78ddde7285.
Accessed 3 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475225123
Homepage
Go to the profile of Zachary Houle
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Book critic, Fiction author, Poet, Writer, Editor. Follow me on Twitter @zachary_houle.
Nov 10, 2016
A Review of Erin M. Straza’s “Comfort Detox”
Out of the Comfort Zone
“Comfort Detox” Book Cover
I’m going to risk sounding like a broken record on Medium, but this was a book that didn’t come across as I expected it to. I thought Comfort Detox would somehow help me with a nasty “binge eating at night” habit I have. I thought the book would tell me how much God loves me and that he’d be willing to work with me to undo this unsightly and ghastly habit that has piled on the weight like no tomorrow. I thought the book would detox me from my comfort eating habit, as I believe that some of it is emotional, and everything would be shiny and perfect. No. Comfort Detox is not that kind of book. The book is more about doing God’s will and finding a way to do it without shirking in your own shell. And God’s will has nothing to do with when or what you eat.
The book is complex, I’ll grant it that much. You’ll read bits of Comfort Detox and may find that you’ll want to put it down to absorb some of the concepts. Plus, it’s a book that comes with activities that the author hopes you’ll do one at a time — even if it takes you a few months to get through all of them. (And said author Erin M. Straza would be really happy if you did the exercises with a small group of friends, too.) So this is a book that is thoughtful and really wants you to think and contemplate it. Otherwise, you might miss some key points. And here I am, reviewing the book, and feeling that I may have devoured it a tad too quickly, because I’m struggling to find a way to synthesize its main thrust.
Comfort Detox is, thus, a bit of a challenging read, and one that spans three different parts or acts. In the first act, we learn that Straza had a life-altering experience when visiting a red-light district in India as part of some work that she was involved with, and she found her defences crumbling as a result. She spends a good chunk of the book’s first third talking about the kind of things that keep us at a distance from those in need. We horde not just material goods, but spiritual goods in our quest to avoid a pain-free or non-guilt-riddled life.
From there, Straza draws a line to God as a comforter. Through the comfort that He offers, the author says that we need to use that comfort and spread it around to other people — no matter what our physical state may be (ie. you’re too tired to consider having a conversation with a seat mate on a plane). And, from there, Straza says that detoxifying ourselves from what makes us comfortable is to do things that don’t so much — hiring ex-cons if you run a business, doing volunteer work in a soup kitchen, etc. These examples are the true signs of being comfortable with God and wanting to serve Him. Or something to that effect.
That’s the crux of Comfort Detox’s message, and I know that I’m doing a rather poor job of explaining it. Like I said, maybe I read it too fast for it to not linger with me, and maybe, too, it is a rather overwhelming book with lots of quotations from scripture, song lyrics and theology to bolster Straza’s arguments. If there’s one thing I can say about the author, she’s incredibly well read. And, what’s more, she finds a way to string a lot of different stuff together and make it sound remarkably coherent.
But there’s a sense of holding back with the book. I expected more of an emotional sucker punch that this book doesn’t really deliver. When we’re with Straza in India, we’re also not really with her — if you catch my meaning. There’s a friendly, but overly academic and stuffy feel to the book, and that held me at an arm’s length. It’s not that Straza isn’t a good writer — she is — and there is next to nothing in this book that a liberal Christian would find offensive other than the whole Jesus Saves belief that I’ve talked about elsewhere on Medium. Still, there’s an intangible je ne sais quoi that’s missing here. It’s hard to put a finger on to be sure. Ultimately, you want to feel and experience what India, for example, might be like, and it just doesn’t leap off of the page as a character. The dialogue is more internal in this book, and more about how the author felt. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.
However, speaking of feelings, if there’s one thing I feel after reading Comfort Detox, it is an overwhelming sense of guilt. You see, I’ve been circling with my pastor for months now over doing some volunteer communications work for the church, and things just get in the way of me doing that. Straza would probably say I need to drop whatever is holding me back and just go ahead and do God’s work as He wills it. I need to give my inhibitions a purge.
All in all, Comfort Detox has certainly gotten me thinking. That’s not true of all books. While I did find the first half of the book to be rather dry to my liking, there’s useful information and many resources to get you on the road to living outside of your comfort zone. So stop being so entitled and pick up the book already. It’s worth your time, even if it probably won’t help you stop waking up in the middle of the night to raid the fridge or lose weight. Whatever your expectations of the book are, the message within is a sound one and worthy to giving some brain space to.
Erin M. Straza’s Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You will be published by InterVarsity Press on February 6, 2017.
Of course, if you like what you see, please recommend this piece (click on the green heart icon below) and share it with your followers.
Zachary Houle is a resident of Ottawa, Canada, and was the recipient of a $4,000 arts grant from the City of Ottawa for emerging artists. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee, too. He also is a music critic, with music writing publishing credits in SPIN magazine and the Ottawa Citizen, among others. He is a member of First United Church in Ottawa, Canada, and has been so for the past two years. Houle is interested in anything having to do with deepening his newfound faith in God, so, if you’re an author, feel free to get in touch. Contact: zacharyhoule@rogers.com.
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