Читать книгу Switch Off - Lockwood Angela - Страница 5

Most people use business, self-help and motivational books as a feel-good tool. They read a few pages before falling asleep at night. They tell their friends about this book they are reading and the ideas it offers on how to get the most out of life. With thousands of these books published each year, we can be certain there are plenty of good titles out there, in print and online. Let's not make this one of those books that you dip into every now and again but that only gathers dust on the shelf when you're done. It would be such a wasted opportunity.

I wrote this book for one reason: there are too many good people who are doing everything they can in life but are finding themselves overwhelmed and exhausted by it all. I want to show those people how they can do whatever they want in life if they just slow down. The only way you are going to get any benefit from this book is if you read it slowly and thoughtfully. Not because it is especially content heavy, but to allow the messages to sink in and make a positive impact on your thinking and your actions. I don't want you to waste your time.

Switch Off interweaves stories, research, reflections, information and activities in ways that I hope will encourage you to take what you have learned and apply the strategies directly in your life. You will find more than 250 ideas on how to help you switch off, slow down and regain control, so now you really don't have any excuse not to take action.

I hope you will feel while reading that you have someone supporting you along the way, because you do. I understand how hard it is to try to maintain control over the hectic busyness of life, so let's not make it any more complicated than it needs to be, and you surely do not have to do it on your own.

I vividly recall the day I experienced my own panic attack. Or at least I think that was what it was; all I knew was whatever was happening to me felt scary and all-consuming. Early that morning I drove my husband to the train station to connect to his flight to the top of Australia, where he would be working for the next few months. After saying goodbye I drove off, holding in my tears, not wanting the kids to see how sad I was to see him go. I never have been one to cry.

I dropped the kids off at school and drove to a scheduled meeting with a consultant. I had been feeling she wasn't right for the business, but I hadn't had time to look for anyone else. After a long discussion on how important technical issues were yet to be resolved, she slid an invoice across the table, apologised for the size of the bill and promised to fix the unsettled problems the following month! I could feel my chest start to tighten, my breathing quicken and what felt like a vice clamping down on either side of my head. I was trying hard to hold it together, but my body was telling me I was about to explode. I stood up, thanked her for her time and walked out of the meeting half an hour early, leaving an unambiguous impression that I was not happy.

As I walked towards my car I felt like the Hulk at the moment of transformation, and then my phone rang. It was the printer of my first book, telling me the layout was wrong … and it was going to print in four days. My heart raced faster, I looked around wildly for an escape, not sure where to turn, but knowing I had to get out of whatever this crazy feeling was. I was on the brink.

I retreated to the safe familiarity of my car, closed the door, took a breath and a whirlwind of emotions overcame me. Basically I lost it. For the first time in my life I felt completely out of control … and alone in my chaos. I was swept up in one of the scariest feelings I have ever felt. I couldn't control my breathing, tears flooded down my cheeks, my hands trembled, my eyes were wide as plates. I just didn't know what to do. I froze in this scary moment.

With the clarity that only hindsight affords, I came to recognise the three things that had led me to this moment: I was overconnected, overwhelmed and completely overstimulated. Too many people were wanting too much from me (including myself). I was being crushed by an ever-growing to-do list, living in a state of hyper-arousal, persistently on the edge. Life at full throttle was too much, too full and too frantic. It was no longer working for me. I needed it to stop. One of my favourite mantras is ‘you only get one shot at life'. I had interpreted this as meaning I must do everything and do it now. But it was taking its toll.

As soon as I called a friend I knew I was no longer alone. That frozen moment in the car marked a moment of choice: I could suck it up, take a big deep breath and keep going, or I could see it as a sign, a message, a wake-up call that it was time to make a change, to see things differently and more importantly to do things differently. I had been given an opportunity to take a step back from the chaos and slow down, and that's exactly what I did.

This life-changing experience (it really was) gave me an opportunity to find a calm place within the noise of my life. It forced me to stop and take notice, to reconnect with the side of me I had been suppressing in my wild pursuit of living life to the full, to re-examine what I wanted out of life. This wasn't going to happen through attending a retreat in India or seeking a meditation guru or taking a 90-day trek through the mountains. This, right here, right now, was my opportunity to find calm in the chaos.

Reading this book you will discover that my experience, my story, is not at all unique, that many people yearn for time on their own and for a less complicated life in which they feel in control, at least for a time. That is what this book is for. To help you to see that, rather than being a luxury, slowing down is a necessity, and that it may be the key to helping you live the life you choose.