Turn off, Turn on, Turn up...
“Is that the time?”
Does your life feel like you’ve gotten distracted and gone off-course? Or did life body-slam you with unexpected bad news? Maybe a habit or addiction tripped you up, making you fall flat on your face. Or maybe the rug was pulled out from underneath you by a loved one.
No matter what stopped you, it is possible to start again, and experience a life better than anything you’ve been through before.
Using time-tested principles of the Hero’s Journey and the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, seasoned with a healthy dose of reflective humour and a fair bit of stories, some fictional, but all true in their perception of human nature.
Why humour, specifically? Because reinvention is hard. It actually hurts. And we could reinvent with serious faces, or occasionally crack a smile. I prefer the latter; this book is for you if you feel the same.
Disclaimers apply here: I’m not a qualified psychologist or counsellor, just a fellow traveller who has had a few things happen to him, and observed the grief of more than a few others. The narrative is guided by my own experiences, and also by best practices I’ve gleaned along the way, all annotated and footnoted so you can dig deeper into anything that catches your interest.
Another disclaimer: Everybody is different. You won’t find happiness by following the exact path I followed. What I hope to do here is lay out tools from which you can choose the best suited to your experience, your preferences, your learning style.