HALFWAY THERE

A self-help book from a middle-aged author that offers tips for anyone looking for ways through difficult times.

Over the course of this work,debut author Haynes covers familiar ideas that regular readers of self-improvement works will recognize, such as creating boundaries, finding a life calling, dealing with curveballs, and finding joy. But although some of these themes are familiar, she expresses them with a fresh voice. She shares that her impetus for the book was a difficult period after she “fell off a health cliff,” and it’s impressive that she’s managed to create something so worthwhile during a dark time—and something that could be helpful to others experiencing similar issues. The former schoolteacher has a gift for conversational prose, which often feels as if she’s talking to an old friend. Throughout the book, she observes her struggles through a lens of gratitude, focusing on positives in life and not allowing negatives to cast things into darkness. She draws on various anecdotes from her own life, using them all to create a tapestry of learned lessons that is engaging, informative, and motivational. Haynes puts her disarming vulnerability to powerful use when touching on such personal struggles as depression and anxiety, childhood loneliness, an abusive romantic relationship, and shyness. In these stories, she shows how one can get through hardships and come out of them a wiser, more empowered person. She also demonstrates how to see a difficult time as a “blip on the radar” of life, as her aunt once advised her to do—one that will pass, as all moments do. Throughout, this book underscores the importance of taking care of oneself, finding sources of joy, and achieving a level of balance.

A memoiristic work that offers useful guidance.