Florence Gildea
Author of Lessons I Have Unlearned:
Because Life Doesn't Look Like It Did In The Pictures
Florence Gildea
Author of Lessons I Have Unlearned:
Because Life Doesn't Look Like It Did In The Pictures
Lessons I Have Learned: Because Life Doesn't Look Like It Did In The Pictures
We all have ideas about what we think life will be like – ideas we pick up from books, films, music videos, the adults around us, and even church. It all looks so simple. We think we have a roadmap which will guide us towards success. But it isn’t long before life throws some curve-balls at us. The gap between our expectations and reality looks cavernous.
First we wonder if it’s our orienteering skills which are to blame: we just need to try harder and get back on track. But what I want you to know most is that it isn’t your fault: it’s the map which has got it wrong.
Lessons I Have Unlearned looks at a series of myths which we cannot help but absorb by osmosis from films, fairytales, songs and advertisements: that we get to call the shots and have control over how our lives turn out; that a happily ever after is within our reach; that we have to hustle to justify our existence; and that, at all costs, we have to cultivate an image of perfection.
All the strategies I learned to make myself safe, loveable and successful backfired, and after several plummets to rock bottom, I began to unlearn those lessons and realise that everything I thought brought life – chasing control and validation, wracking up achievements in my pursuit of perfection, relying on myself rather than risk trusting others and judging myself by other people’s milestones – brought death. Life, it turns out, is found exactly where Jesus said it was: at the end of ourselves, at the foot of the cross.
If you're in need of a reminder that although you aren't where you expected, you are not lost and you are not alone, Lessons I've Unlearned is for you and available from: Amazon, Bookshop.org, W.H Smith, Church House Bookshop, Hive, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble and Walmart
