The challenges that 2020 had thrown in the path of every individual gave them a chance to contemplate on their personal growth. Closely associated with self-growth is also its repercussions on mental health. While thousands around the world spent a life from their homes and are still doing so, staying in an overtly familiar environment 24*7 can induce mental claustrophobia in many. This adversely affects the behavior and psyche of the individual. When during Corona and lockdown , limited mobility, stress and work pressure is on the rise, comes Finding Your Way by Drake Taylor, a perfect self-help book that helps one to relax their senses and lead a healthy life – physically and mentally.
Drawing from the author’s strained relation with his wife, he puts forth how his life was affected with depression and isolation, so much so that even suicide crossed his mind. Living in the shadows of one’s actions only accelerates the hurt than mending the circumstances. The author’s personal journey of well-being and a sound life offers guidance to many, to lead better lives for themselves.
The stepping stone for healing oneself is self-acceptance. The sooner one identifies the problem and the need for help, the faster one recuperates from the situation. To fill in the gaps of mental anxiety one definitely requires to continue working with a positive attitude devoid of a growing list of excuses. Excuses and negativity only makes a person inactive and slows down the process of recovery. It is thus important for one to be optimistic with every challenge that is thrown by life and tackle it with confidence. Positivity also helps in harboring newer mindsets which accelerates a change in perception through newer avenues to explore and avoidance of self-pity.
Perception plays a crucial role in the shaping up of a personality. There is a constant war between ‘what you think you are’ v/s ‘what others think you are’ v/s ‘what you think others think about you’. Most of the times, all their perceptions are formulated by the individual in their mind with influences from mindset, environment, prejudice etc. This game of perception changes partially or wholly the meaning of self and self-portrayal. More often than not ‘what you think other think about you’ is the most dangerous perception as it is the space between ‘what you are’ and ‘what you want to be perceived as’. This realm becomes unrealistic and helps in harboring egos which can lead to self-destruction. Hence, perceptions should be open minded and definitely based on visual implications rather than hearsay.
At the heart of acceptance, perception, mindset lies stress which can further aggravate depression and isolation. Be it work pressure, peer pressure, self-induced pressure; the rise in stress levels adversely affect the well-being of an individual, mentally and physically. Many a times individuals give in to stress. But with a growing awareness of ways to overcome it, many opt for counselling and therapy and eventually lead a controlled or stress-free life. Counselling today has become an acknowledged path in the society. Earlier whenever people ‘needed help’ or ‘needed to talk to someone’ it was looked down upon and mostly understood as signs of madness. But today, counselling is an accepted form of bettering mental health and can be resorted to at any point in life. Many educational institutions, workplaces, corporates etc. schedule regular counselling sessions for the well-being of their students and employees. If an individual is content and happy, they are also able to keep their surroundings positive and progressive.
The author goes on addressing mental breakdowns which is an accumulation of negative thoughts, high stress, isolation, mental claustrophobia. All the parameters of a breakdown are triggered when one has a highly complex goal in life. Thus it is mostly advised to have an achievable and practical goal with a realistic deadline, which might require struggle to achieve but would not be detrimental to the individual’s health in its course. To lead a meaningful life, one must first have meaning to their own life. This is achievable when all odds are forgiven or forgotten and one is filled with a positive attitude towards life to strive for a better tomorrow.
The author proposes a few steps to lead a better life which is important and with conscious hard work extremely achievable. Leading a disciplined and routine life makes it easier for a person to win half the battle. Discipline induces wisdom, sense, emotional control and a sharp eye to details helping in welcoming newer mindsets. Decluttering and accumulating ones thoughts helps in leading an organized life with more focus and less confusion. As society tends to change with time, changing ones mindset by drawing inspiration from ones surroundings is equally important. And last but not the least, should need be one should aim to go under mentorship which would result into receiving proper guidance in formulating ones roadmap of life.
Filled with exciting self-evaluating exercises and activities, Finding Your Way , is bound to open ones senses to contemplate how one leads their life and what changes can be introduced to make it better for themselves and the people around. It is just the reading necessity when the world faces one of the most challenging times in the history of mankind.
No. of Pages: 98
Available on: Amazon Kindle
Rating: 3.5/5
- I would like to Thank vinfluencers for giving me this review opportunity.
by Subhadrika Sen 