3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Here is a question for you: Are you really alive? You may think that is a silly question to ask, so let me put it another way. Are you just letting life happen to you? In writing, we are taught to avoid the passive voice, and the way to recognize the passive voice is this: If you can end the sentence with “by zombies” you have the passive voice. “The room was ransacked (by zombies).” Passive voice. It is not just in writing that the passive causes us problems. Many of us are living our lives in the passive voice. We are letting life happen to us rather than actively engaging our life. And because of this, we are missing the happiness, contentment, and fulfillment that we could otherwise have.
In the book From Drift to Shift: How Change Can Bring True Meaning and Happiness to Your Work and Life by Jody B. Miller, the above issue is addressed. Miller calls this idea of living in the passive voice “drift”. Just like my little lesson in writing more actively, Miller shows us how to go from drifting to shifting into a more intentional life. She does this through the personal stories of herself and others. These stories are about “discarding the expectations that bind us and hold us back from living life as our true selves, both in our work and in our relationships.”
The book is divided into four parts: Why Shift, When To Shift, How To Shift, and After The Shift. The first three parts share a variety of stories from a variety of worldviews, but the one commonality they all share is overcoming. Part four recognizes that once we have made a shift, that isn’t the end of our story. There are still challenges or obstacles to living in accord with our truest self. We will still have to deal with complainers and we still have to make an effort to live a balanced life; it will not happen accidentally, even though we have made a shift.
I enjoyed this book. It was a simple, engaging read. In the self-help category, it is largely what you would expect from a self-help book, although the author does make an attempt to engage different psychological studies. Unlike some books in this genre, happiness does not necessarily equal big bucks. Many of the example stories were of people who experienced deep trauma in their life and used that trauma to find their great success.
Miller identifies five factors that help instigate the process of “superhuman” success in life that I found very helpful: hope, personal control, social support, forgiveness, and spirituality. One of the things that set this book apart from others of its kind is that it covers many forms of spirituality. From the Amazon shaman to the Christian to the Buddhist and Hindu believers, they are all acceptable forms of spirituality. This will make the book more accessible to a variety of people, but may also turn others off.
This book was well edited, and I only noticed a handful of mistakes, some of which were simple formatting issues. My one concern with this book is an issue I have with most self-help books and that is it doesn’t engage with the need for some to seek a professional counselor. This is especially troubling as some of the stories were about those who seemed to have serious depression issues (suicidal ideation) at a point in their life. I would have liked to see references to suicide hotlines and professional counseling, even a simple caveat to not take mental health lightly but seek professional help alongside following the advice found in the book.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. I would have rated it three and a half stars if I could to account for my one concern, but that was not an option and mental health issues are too serious for me to not have this reflected in the score, and so I had no choice but to rate this a three. Overall, it is an easy read, and many people from a variety of backgrounds will find a point of connection within its pages.
******
From Drift to SHIFT
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Kat Berg's review? Post a comment saying so!
