’The Joy Diet’ by Martha Beck

How life can force your hand when you’re just not listening! After a very sudden medical emergency landed me in the hospital for a week, I knew that when I got home, I wasn’t going to be able to go back to how things had been before. Going back to the job that I did alongside my counselling work was not going to be possible, at least for the foreseeable future. My body needed time to heal after having the stuffing knocked out of it, leaving me weak and exhausted. Where I used to be able to do a full day of heavy, physical labour, I was now wiped out just by taking the laundry out and hanging it on the clothesline. I find it hard to describe how scared and defeated I felt by this; the strong body that I had built up now felt frail and slow.

Time for a ‘New Diet’

I was sitting in bed, and I decided to pull out some wool that I had had for ages but never done anything with and thought that I might as well listen to something while I was crocheting. Some time ago, a friend had given me some books by Martha Beck, a Harvard-trained sociologist and world-renowned life coach. I looked online for further titles, and there was ‘The Joy Diet’. Within the first few pages, I knew I had made the right choice. Her 10 steps to living a life that was filled with more joy made so much sense to me, not just at an intellectual level, but at a level that sat deep inside of me and felt like what I had been craving and looking for for so long.

Learning to Stop …to Move Forward

I had been running on adrenaline and fuelled from a sense of panic and anxiety for so long that even before my body decided that it had had enough, I landed in a hospital bed, quite literally, having been airlifted by the air ambulance. I knew it wasn’t sustainable, but I didn’t know how to change it - and I was terrified to stop. My stay in the hospital forced the change on me, and Martha Beck’s book spoke to the piece of me that was desperate for peace and joy.

10 Steps to a Fresh Perspective

Martha’s book guided me through a series of steps that made me believe that the life I wanted and craved was possible. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it. Today, I am living the benefits of that fresh perspective, finally understanding what I truly need to thrive. If you find yourself at a crossroads, or if life has recently forced you to stop and listen, this book might just be the compass you need to find your way home.

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