Life is unpredictable. And Kate Gladdin, a life coach, understands this better than most. In Okay, Now What? she offers pragmatic motivational advice to those trying to cope with the lingering anguish of painful experiences.
Gladdin's own personal testimony drives this inspiring narrative. In 2012, Gladdin's beloved older sister was killed in a road accident. Shocked by the sudden death, then-20-year-old Gladdin spiraled into "a dark fog of grief." Later, when the driver who caused the accident was not properly charged for her sister's death, Gladdin further struggled with a sense of injustice that spawned even deeper issues of anger and bitterness.
Absorbed by interminable despair and victimhood, Gladdin (Mini Habits for Teens) came across a quote by Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl on her Pinterest page: "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." This idea became a watershed, lifting the hopelessness that had been paralyzing Gladdin's perspective. She started to examine stories of others who sustained and overcame shattering losses. In the process, she realized the best way to honor her sister and their relationship was to focus on what she was grateful for in her own life, including an "air conditioned home with a fridge full of food and loving parents I could hug at any minute." This simple act of recognition snowballed into a much larger, longer-term quest to help others struggling with depression and anxiety--common byproducts of trauma and adversity.
Gladdin's method is straightforward. She walks readers through a process of answering tough questions in order to identify and define the crux of deep-seated feelings. She then suggests reflecting on how those feelings impact thoughts and responses in order intentionally to redirect energies more positively. Through practical, well-explained examples from her own life and stories from others, she demonstrates how to stay in control and manage feelings by focusing on things that can be controlled in order to live more purposefully.
Readers will come away with a greater understanding of how hardships do not have to harden the heart and/or break the human spirit. Rather, via Gladdin's sensible, affirming approach, seekers will grow and cultivate resilience, discovering ways to turn uncertain, painful experiences into "something that makes you fall back in love with life again." --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
Shelf Talker: A life coach with a personal understanding of grief and loss shares inspirational strategies for becoming empowered by hardships.