I am so excited to announce the launch of my next book – Uncommon Courage! I also want you to know, this is VERY different to my first book. We’re not talking about LinkedIn here 😊.
So what’s it all about?
Uncommon Courage is an invitation to dig deep. To think, question and challenge what we all believe we know. It doesn’t mean we will change our minds, but deep self-reflection is always important if we want to keep growing and evolving.
It’s a collection of stories of how – with the right mindset – you can stay strong and anchored in your core truth, in good times and in bad.
I share my thoughts on what it takes to get through tough financial times, jobs lost, parenthood, a child needing special care and the stress that puts on a marriage, the pressure of a career that drains you, or moving your family from country to country, time and time again, and so much more, all without losing the best of yourself.
We all face hard times and struggles in life to varying degrees, and the principles I share in Uncommon Courage got me through my challenging periods, where no matter what, I never lost my way – life never made me bitter. I hope it never does.
By sharing my stories and how I achieved this, my goal is to help us all rise and embrace life with courageous hearts, because that is what the world needs right now – lots and lots of courageous hearts!
This book focuses on seven key topics, spread throughout and interlinked
- Self-awareness – understanding ourselves, our thoughts, our emotions and our ability to project onto others, versus owning our own role in our own life
- Self-empowerment – how do we stop the self-talk that constantly sabotages us and makes our lives less? How do we believe in and reach our fullest potential?
- Empower others – the giving economy is central to my core belief system, and empowering others is a critical pillar in a life well-lived
- External influence – we get so much thrown at us, oftentimes this influence makes us diminish ourselves. How do we stop others impacting our potential?
- Social leadership – raising our voice, owning our space in the digital landscape, so we can create the careers we want and the world we want
- Career thoughts – reflecting on our careers and what we really want! Asking the deeper questions about what is really meaningful to us
- Climate courage – having the courage to face the climate crisis and be part of the solution, to ensure we have a live-able planet for future generations
Each category may have different meaning or importance for you at this moment, based on where you are in your life today. I hope everyone can take at least one thing away, something that will make your life better and help you become more courageous.
Digging deeper
Change, growth, new learnings… it’s the only guaranteed constant in life and no one person on this planet knows everything. I don’t claim to either. I just wanted to share my stories, at this time in the world, to raise my voice and contribute to the conversation to ensure we don’t follow the dark paths of history – something that has been looking possible for a few years now.
We can be better, we can do better, we can break the patterns of history. We just need to believe it’s possible and to achieve that, we can’t let ourselves become too cynical.
This book looks into ways we can release ourselves from the control of negative emotions, which is discussed within the context of my personal 30 year case study. It’s how I did this, the lessons I learned, although the journey continues.
It’s about asking ourselves to be more thoughtful in how we live and work. We are sold “the dream” and every culture has this dream, it’s just called different names. The work we do, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, our social status, what’s attractive and more. But is it what we even want? Have we ever had the courage to question it?
It’s about looking within, which is why self-awareness is a big topic in the book. From birth we are given thoughts, ideas and beliefs. What happens when we stand back and question them, working out if they are even our own thoughts? Our own beliefs?
It’s about looking at the broken systems we have all over the world in our societies, and instead of blaming the people struggling to survive in these broken systems, we look at how we fix what is broken. It’s also about having compassion for those trapped in this struggle and coming together to heal these people. Yes, we all start to take responsibility for each other.
I always think, if you really want to love life, you’ve got to love all of it. That means we have to accept the good with the bad. When we don’t, we keep the divisions alive, and we can do better. We can be better. What we resist persists! A topic in the book.
Uncommon Courage is about questioning the anger and rage in the world and asking all impacted – when you express it, through your words, through violence, or more extreme acts – do you feel better for it? Do you feel your life is enhanced? Or is it worse? Unquenched?
And what if joy and contentment was really possible for all of us instead? Yes it is a book of hope!!
Because when we look at fear and anxiety – two of the emotions that control so many of us right now – when we are stuck in these emotions, we are not free. We cannot act when we allow ourselves to be controlled by crippling emotions.
It’s time to step into our power and a compassionate future
Uncommon Courage is about understanding that we have so much power. Every single one of us, and claiming the power of our voice is a path to getting the world back in balance. We need to unlock our voices and speak our truth, and everyone has the right to do that, even if we don’t agree with them.
The goal must always be to get the majority of good people speaking up, because right now, a small minority are defining the global conversation. Why are we allowing that to happen?
My goal with this book is to help make life better for more people. I also want to recruit everyone on board so we create a beautiful future for our children. This book is my attempt to do that.
This is written from my heart to your heart, as my contribution to humanity, and it’s my courage on show. I came from humble beginnings but have managed to lead an extraordinary life. I have loved my life, the gift of people from all corners of the world who have journeyed with me, and the magnificent beauty of our planet – both man made and natural.
I want all of us to love life, because truly, it’s the only way to be. This doesn’t mean you’ll be ecstatic all the time, but when we learn to embrace our emotions, feeling them and accepting them – the good and the bad – well it’s all part of the journey of a well-lived life.
Every word in this book has been loved as it was written. I’ve never focused on my words more deeply than I did when I was creating this over the last two years. Is it perfect? No. Is it right? What is right, what is wrong?
Today I release this book, my thoughts and my heart into the world. In many ways it feels like a beginning and I will continue to do all I can to help make the world a better place.
I hope Uncommon Courage inspires some deep reflection and contributes to positive change in the world, because it is time for that which is uncommon to be common.
If you buy Uncommon Courage and enjoy it, please tell your friends and leave a review on Amazon, or wherever you write book reviews! This will help it succeed, and I’d be so grateful for this support.
Here is the launch video
With love
Andrea
You can buy Uncommon Courage on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Rakuten Kobo, and Scribd.
Do check out my new Website uncommon-courage.com. I’ll thank my team in a follow-up blog, but my design partner is Arewa Lanre. He’s the first designer to really get me and my vision. He did the cover, Website and all of the marketing materials, and well, I think he did an AWESOME job. Thank you Arewa. I’m going to talk about the design inspiration for the cover in a follow-up blog too. It might surprise you.
Come and join the conversation in my new Facebook GroupUncommon Courage.
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I believe it’s time for all of us to embrace our voice and embrace the future. We do this by working and living ‘out loud’ with meaning, intention, integrity and by being true to ourselves. If you own your voice, you own your future.
