I hit a snag this week: a really big one. For me to explain it properly I just need to say a little bit about myself.
I am quite easily the queen of unfinished buisiness. I have an incredible knack for starting things that I simply cannot (or do not) finish. Normally that's not a problem, after all I'm only human. But at the start of this year I swore it'd be a difficulty that I would overcome.
I am quite easily the queen of unfinished buisiness. I have an incredible knack for starting things that I simply cannot (or do not) finish. Normally that's not a problem, after all I'm only human. But at the start of this year I swore it'd be a difficulty that I would overcome.
So I had two goals, the first was to meditate in order to maintain a regular practice which healed my overworked mind. Anyone who knows how much I talk can take that and multiply it by a hundred; that's how overloaded my head is with thoughts and visions and worries.
The second was this blog and this was a matter of applying myself to a job that I'd started, simply to prove that I could.
After 47 days of daily meditation I missed a day this past week. I felt broken, because it was the longest I'd ever applied myself to anything and it still didn't feel like enough.
But in another way it did me a favour, I sat down and opened this week's book, reading it without moving for the 3 hours it took me to get it finished (unbelievably I started at 4:30 in the morning)!
Sky Chasers is set in France in the 18th Century and tells the story of Magpie, a street urchin/thief who is drawn into a race against time when she unwittingly stumbles upon plans to build the world's first hot air balloon (bear in mind this would be the first ever type of travel by air). The enemy? The British, who have sent in spies to hamper French progress and gain an advantage.
I could not put it down, it was a very addictive story. Told in the 1st person from Magpie's point of view it was beautifully crafted. It doesn't take much to paint it's pictures and yet you can see them with crystal clarity from the quiet village where most of the story takes place to the bustling Paris side streets, even the grounds of the world famous Palace of Versailles. The only negative was the occasional modern day phrase thrown in to remind us of Mapie's social standing. "He's proper upset..." she says about one character on page 226 which doesn't fit right with the rest of the passage. I don't even think this was intentional on the part of the author, it just jarred a bit.
Aside from that it was great, it resurrected fond memories of The Three Musketeers and Around The World in 80 Days. In fact Sky Chasers provides us with a beautiful blending of both those books. There's a deeper story too, one of sadness at the thought of failure, or rather not being acknowledged even when we have succeeded. It makes us think of how sometimes a person can do everything in order to achieve their goal and still end up bitter and dissatisfied because they haven't really thought about thier journey or received the recognition they should rightly have earned. I won't say too much on that one as I don't want to reveal too much.
Written by Emma Carrol it is taken from an award winning idea by Neal Jackson which talks of the very first hot air balloon flight (I won't tell you who wins, research a little history and you can find out easily enough 😉). It tells us (both within the story and through its creation) that if we believe and try hard enough, we can achieve anything; whether it is flying for the first time or winning an award for creating a beautiful idea for a story!
Maybe it'll help me in the long run by inspiring me to complete a task. Maybe there is some hope for me after all. Or maybe its teaching me that having an end goal is great so long as it doesn't deflect from me enjoying the journey. My focus should be on each single step rather than the mammoth overall challenge which is far more draining and difficult.
This for me counts as my book about personal growth. Both in the hope that it's given me and in the character of Magpie, who learns that there's far more to life than just simple survival. "This girl..." Magpie says at the end "...is going to fly."
This is book 7 of my 52 book challenge and one I would recommend to anyone.
Book Title: Sky Chasers
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