Book: There Is No Wall - Allie Bailey
Make no mistake, this is a page turner. Allie tells her story with a brutal honesty, heartbreaking at times, comical at others. Her “straight from the heart” account of her journey to recovering alcoholic is eye opening.
“I wrote this book to help people. I wrote it so people could feel seen, heard and understood; so they could feel comfort rather than judgement; and hopefully so they could work out what to do next if any of it felt relatable. I’m hoping that you, lovely reader, will be able to relate to it in some way, whether you run or not. Maybe cycling is your thing, maybe you’re a triathlete (deepest sympathies), or maybe you don’t do anything silly like that at all.”
With chapters titled “What the fuck happened” and “Well, that escalated quickly” you get a sense for her disarming candour. Running is a recurring theme in the book, but make no mistake, this goes deep, way beyond a book about running. Whether it helps you, allows you to help someone else or just opens your eyes to what can be going on in another human’s head - it’s a must read.
The concluding pages are a letter to the reader, a personal way to wrap this story up after what feels like a very intimate discourse.
“I’ve got really good at looking at thoughts with curiosity and asking if certain thoughts I have are limiting me. The thought about gyms and bellends was.So I became a gym bellend. I don’t like how I look now, it’s not the way I want to look, but instead of telling myself I’m bigger than I was before, I tell myself I’m getting fitter and stronger.
Because that’s how I want to think about my body.”
Allie, I hope I come across you on my journey - you are remarkable. www.alliebailey.co.uk