Books Have The Power To Transform Your Life

Review of a book by Cindy Georgakas – Recreate and Celebrate: 7 Steps to Turn Your Dreams into Reality.

I started reading this book when I was going through a blogging slump. I was also going through a phase of work transition, which is a ripple effect of the COVID pandemic and lockdown. Like many, I have also experienced many unpredictable situations.

Working for myself is important. I don’t like sitting at home. I have been working since college and I am used to it.

Reading this book felt like there is someone who is helping me to find and reinvent myself. I was right at the precipice of getting overwhelmed by many confusing questions going on in my mind when the first chapter of Cindy’s book hit me hard: Who am I?

I am an overthinker of irrelevant things. So this philosophical/realist question ignited a new energy in me. I started traveling inward, and it felt like I was Alice falling into a rabbit’s wonderland. I contemplated questions about my purpose in life. Redefining ourselves is hard work and many questions are still left unanswered.

I had marked many introspective lines in this book to reread. The last book in which I underlined many inspiring sentences was legendary ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev’s biography called Dancer.

I already practice what this book proposes, which is to have fewer toys to make space for real joy. But now my terribly defiant mood is urging me to see the world from another perspective. I am at a stage in my life where I wish I could travel to luxury places, not bother to check price tags before buying anything, and provide my family with all necessary medical facilities. Just after writing this, I realized that my dreams are so basic, and I like it.

You see, Cindy’s book is a support system, just like cheerleaders hold each other while making a human pyramid. The book is helping me focus on the present moment and a few more steps ahead. Like a professional camera has different lenses, I need to keep adjusting my perspective to get a clear picture of the path.

Readers will realize that writing this book is also a journey for Cindy to redefine herself, let go of a few things, and become herself again.

Step 1 is the most important and difficult. While reading it I understood that I fear getting lost in the sea instead of arriving at a safe place.

Step 2: Defining my purpose is the need of the hour for me. Up until now, I lived a carefree life, always being treated as the younger one in my family. But life has a way of teaching lessons the hard way. A few years ago, I was scared, but now I feel ready to take on the world again.

Trying new ways to do the same thing will keep you open to change and new ideas.

The moment I reached the questions in Step 2, I knew that this is a proper workbook and I needed to give it a thorough reading. So I followed Cindy’s advice and wrote down the things that were holding me back.

Right now, I am sitting in a new office, waiting for my team leader to come and complete the formalities of starting a new job. As I wait, I read further and think again about my purpose in life.

The probing questions in step 3 almost made me get up from this office and head straight to a dance studio. But my life situation has changed, and I know that I want to do this job as a content writer.
It feels great that the WordPress community has been a huge support in building my confidence. Writing is a creative endeavor that, if done long enough, becomes an integral part of your personality.

I have decided to do both – writing and teaching dance. I plan to continue dancing for 10 more years before I retire for a complete desk job. Staying in one place is difficult for me, and that’s why I plan to be either a fitness blogger or a travel blogger. There’s a lot to learn from this digital world.

Reading through this book, I realized that everyone’s a work in progress, and that’s ok. Habits guided by insecurities are really difficult to overcome. But if Cindy is trying, why can’t I? This book truly feels like I am talking to a friend while sitting in a cafe. Cindy provides enough mind space to feel free to begin creating a true self instead of simply following the “rules “.
As Cindy mentions,

“The answers are always there if we are quiet enough to listen to the message trying to make its way to us”.

I have highlighted Cindy’s workbook with so many colors that someone taking a peek at what I am reading will think it’s a children’s coloring book. (Thanks to the different note-taking colors available on Kindle).

Every chapter of this book pushes to examine my perspective towards the impulsive decisions that I have made from a new angle.

I realized a very important thing while reading this book. And that is the fear of becoming something unexpected. For some reason I feel unsafe about moving forward in life.

Feeling unsafe is not new to women. So many insecurities block our ambitions. Women grow up with a list of precautions to survive in this world. There are so many dos and don’ts that we mentally prepare ourselves for. Our protective instincts are always on the edge of things because one wrong move can destroy us. But we still survive.

However, my life has turned upside down in the last three years, and I don’t trust my instincts anymore. This has resulted in not trusting anyone and always focusing on negative outcomes.

While reading this book, I asked myself, Why have I started feeling unsafe most of the time? Why does a secure environment feel unreal?
This is the reason that I started blogging: to vent my frustrations and direct my energy towards mental and physical exercise. I feel most connected to myself when I am writing as well as when I hear peaceful piano music. It calms me down, and my breathing becomes more natural.

I haven’t finished reading Cindy’s workbook because I don’t want to rush through it and also because I want to align my thoughts much more clearly.

My suggestion to readers and fellow bloggers is to read this book as an act of self-care and self-evaluation. It will help you pause, rethink, change gears, and rebuild your confidence.

It’s not about taking a flight from point A to point B. It’s like a train ride where you get a closer look at the view around you as you pass through dark tunnels, taking steep turns, crossing paths with other trains coming from different directions, and ultimately reaching your destination.

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