“The Human Beneath the Hero” by Jenna Hardcastle

The Human Beneath the Hero

Jenna Hardcastle, BSN, RN, NC-BC
Independently Published (2025)
ISBN: 979-8993550107
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (12/2025)

Nurses are amazing. So are firefighters, doctors, caregivers, doulas, EMTs, first responders, last responders, and anyone else who works in a service profession. But underneath the capes of those amazing heroes, there lies a human being who is tired, sore, worn out, stretched thin, worried, and afraid. But these individuals are trained to push all that aside and do their jobs, especially in an emergency situation. Everyone knows that’s a bad idea, which is what makes the book The Human Beneath the Hero: Finding Balance Between Self-Care and Other-Care by Jenna Hardcastle such an important book. This book will provide people in such lines of work with the tools they need to take care of themselves so that they can take care of other people.

If there is any doubt or confusion over why nurses are called heroes, one can just read this passage from pages 5 and 6 to understand how hard and demanding their job can be:

In my nursing career, I learned early on that there are moments when strength is non-negotiable, and others when vulnerability is the only way forward. Just making it through nursing school demanded a fierce kind of persistence: long nights of studying, endless lectures, high-stakes exams, and the pressure of practicum rotations. It was buckle-down grit that got me through.

And then came the job itself. Night shifts. Twelve hours on my feet. Lifting wounded or immobile patients. And that was just the physical side of it. The mental demands were something else entirely: constantly assessing subtle changes, deciding what was urgent and what could wait, staying calm while cracking ribs during CPR, holding steady when a patient was hallucinating or combative, or zipping up a body bag for the morgue while trying to stay composed enough to keep going.

The physical and mental strength required in nursing, and in so many service professions, is why people often call us heroes. Because we do what many donʼt have the capacity or the willingness to do. We show up. We hold the line. We keep going when itʼs messy, heartbreaking, and hard.

The passage in the second chapter about the failing status of medical care in this country was thought-provoking:

Unfortunately, the current system is ill-suited for the kind of support I’m advocating for in this book. Emergency rooms and hospitals are overutilized because patients often lack adequate primary care and education, which is either underutilized or insufficiently guides people toward whole-person health. Add to this that many people can’t get into primary care for an appointment, instead relying on “Dr. Google” or urgent care, without getting to the root cause for their illness or symptoms. Itʼs just a mess all around.           (pg. 27-28)

One thing that should be noted about the people who seek medical care is that, often, many people are unable to get the medical care they need or want because of the outrageous cost of medical care in this country. While, yes, many people turn to “Dr. Google” or go to Urgent Care instead of the emergency room, it is mostly because they are unable to afford the genuine medical care they need. Plus, emergency rooms are overcrowded, stuffed with sick people waiting for hours to be seen. If some people can avoid that by a trip to Urgent Care instead, they will opt for it.

The author does not just write about her thoughts on the current state of healthcare in this book. She does get to the heart of the matter, which is to provide advice and guidance to people who work in the service industry. Chapter Two talks about emotional regulation, and she offers some good tips here. On page 46, she writes:

The choice is clear: you can either regulate, or suppress and numb; a coping mechanism far too common in todayʼs culture. True regulation happens in moments of slowness, rest, and presence. Itʼs found in nature, in putting the phone down, in savoring meals without rush, in setting aside the endless to-do list. Itʼs about reclaiming the essence of being a human being instead of a human doing. Forsaking our bodyʼs signals, giving in to dysregulation and the go-go-go narrative of daily life, can have disastrous consequences for ourselves and those we care for.

Anyone who works in the service industry would often be exposed to trauma and have to deal with emotional situations or cope with their own emotions in certain situations. This chapter is helpful in outlining steps one can take in regulating their emotions and regaining control over a situation.

I also felt that the chapters on holding space and self-care were immensely helpful. I once worked as a caregiver, and the saying that “you can’t pour from an empty cup” is so true, especially for anyone in the service profession. Yes, the hours are long and demanding, but if you don’t take care of yourself, too, then you will only experience burnout and exhaustion.

At the end of every chapter are “tools for integration,” which offer suggestions and guidance on putting the chapter’s topic to use in your own life. I loved how there were also reflection prompts for thoughts to reflect upon, as well as mantras. These were also especially helpful and added to the book’s overall value.

The Human Beneath the Hero is a must-read for anyone who works in a profession of service, be it nursing, firefighting, caregiving, etc. The exhaustion, sacrifice, burnout, and anxieties that often occur during such lines of work are very real downsides of an otherwise fulfilling career, and this book will help the reader understand ways to make those downsides less of a burden.