Hi Everyone, Today's blog takes a different shape than a normal blog post, My first-ever book review and there's no better place than a book written by an ex-yachtie.
The True Balance;
As someone who’d never read a “self-help” novel, I was apprehensive about giving 242 pages of insight into what ‘True Balance’ is a go. By the end of the introduction, I was hooked.
The author George Robinson a fellow ‘Yachtie’ or a retired one is a good friend and like any good friend I wanted to support his new venture. On first look at the novel, it is inviting with a colourful cover of bold blues and vibrant yellows that capture the audience’s attention. Moreover, the illustrations of exercise, healthy food, and meditation convey the topic of the novel.
Once I got into the body of the novel, I had the realisation that I didn’t just want to support my friend and that this book had a lot of the content and knowledge I was looking for to find my balance, any of my regular blog readers will know that creating more healthy habits in my life is something I’ve been working on for a while now.
From the outset, the author underlines his intention, “This book is designed for anyone seeking a change-a departure from the mundane existence that leaves you unsatisfied yet uncertain about the root cause of your discontent.” Conveying that we are in for a wealth of knowledge and delving into our inner selves and what makes us function. The Author cleverly breaks down what we need as humans to find our ‘true balance’ and with great research and study goes into each topic of our balance using expert opinion to support his theories and beliefs. There are twelve chapters, and the following are the ones that spoke to me deeply and I gained a lot of guidance from.
Chapter 2- Habits and Routine- Page 33
Robinson delves into habits, and how we all create good or bad habits in our daily lives and breaks down the chapter into sections of how good and bad habits interact with different parts of our lives, be it our relationships, or physical or mental Health.
“To bring about change in your habits, you must identify the cues that trigger the behaviour and find ways to disrupt them” Robinson illustrates that to change our habits we must work out what we do to support the habits, allowing the reader to connect with themselves and analysis what they use as cues or triggers to habits, for example, I identified that a bad habit I have is that I am very self-deprecating and critical of my actions, choices and decisions, I do this because I am not good at taking other criticism so I beat them to it.
Robinson connects with the reader successfully by sharing his own experiences, bravely sharing parts of life to prove that he is practising what he preaches. Underlining, the road to how he began to write ‘the true balance’ which makes the reader want to know more about the journey that they can begin on. Furthermore, enhancing their curiosity into how Robinson changed his life around which he gradually informs the reader of as the novel goes on.
Chapter 11 -Mindset- Page 212
This chapter stood out to me as Robinson opens with “I firmly believe that a positive mindset is the driving force that keeps us going, regardless of the highs and lows we encounter,” engaging with the reader and drawing them into a chapter full of the power of the mindset and how we can harness this and grow our mindsets.
Robinson touches on imposter syndrome and how this affects our mindsets, causing us to doubt our abilities and fear being exposed to fraud as we believe what we are doing isn’t possible for us. I connected with this part of Robinsons’ writing as it is something I have struggled with, and I believe a lot of people in the ‘yachting industry’ suffer from this as our lives are so fast-paced. It often doesn’t feel real when we experience something, or we feel like it shouldn’t be happening for us, due to doubt.
To conclude, I recommend this novel to anyone and everyone no matter what stage of life you are in. Robinson’s use of academic study and personal life experience makes it very easy to connect with the different elements on the journey of developing your ‘true balance’. To my readers at Shaped by the Sea whether you are new to the industry or a part of the furniture I highly recommend this book, as a fantastic guide and support to having a more balanced and healthier life, guided by an author who understands and talks about the trials and tribulations of a life working on board.
To read 'The True Balance' you can find it by following the link below to Amazon. If your interested in what George is up to now go to his website truth wellness to check out what he's creating.
The True Balance: Empowering Your Mind, Body & Soul. https://amzn.eu/d/90IWLJi
As Always, keep smiling, laughing and loving the sea xo
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