Building the author inside you is a balancing act. While it is important to build craft and business skills, there comes a time you need to build something different. I noticed that most of my focus has been on ensuring I take the necessary steps to lay the foundation of my author career. Although I am grateful for the special authors who walked alongside me in this journey; I realised I have lacked mentors to teach me how to make my body work for me and not against me.
In the book Finding Flow; Flip the script on Stress by Nicky Rowbotham, I recognised that many of the physical manifestations of my stress highlighted areas I can manage differently to what she calls white knuckling through.
I started reading this book while I was in Port Elizabeth in the last days of my father’s life and I recognised some symptoms the author mentioned in a series of helpful checklists. As I sat hunched over my computer, I caught myself holding my breath, an instinctive response which mammals use when there is a predator lurking nearby. In nature, this response minimises the chances of the predator’s hearing you breathing. But neither deadlines at work, nor harsh email and not even the circle of life that robs us of our parents is a life-threatening situation, even though it may feel like it.
I realise most times some excuses that I and many authors have made in the past are not because of excessive workloads, load shedding or many other logical and fair reasons we give for lack of progress, it is because we have bought into coping mechanisms that reduce our resilience and in doing that can paralyse us. Some of these coping mechanisms are adding the stress cycle and fear that robs us of our mobility where it matters.
Her insights into many human stress responses made me realise why so many authors, when even faced with logical choices, struggle to take action. That feeling of “Leave me alone”, which I recognise in myself and the words that some authors who are on this journey with me resonated as I worked through the pages of this book.
Finding Flow is a helpful blend of personal experiences, science and checklists to help move the book from the head to the heart. If you, like me, are juggling tasks while you work through your purpose, this book is an essential manual to finding your flow.