A Peek At My Bookshelf: Freefall to Fly by Rebekah Lyons

About the Book:

Women today are fading. In a female culture built on Photoshopped perfection and Pinterest fantasies, we’ve lost the ability to dream our own big dreams. So busy trying to do it all and have it all, we’ve missed the life we were really designed for. And we are paying the price.

The rise of loneliness, depression, and anxiety among the female population in Western cultures is at an all-time high. Overall, women are two and a half times more likely to take antidepressants than men. What is it about our culture, the expectations, and our way of life that is breaking women down in unprecedented ways?

In this vulnerable memoir of transformation, Rebekah Lyons shares her journey from Atlanta, Georgia, to the heart of Manhattan, where she found herself blindsided by crippling depression and anxiety.

Overwhelmed by the pressure to be domestically efficient, professionally astute, and physically attractive, Rebekah finally realized that freedom can come only by facing our greatest fears and fully surrendering to God’s call on our lives. This book is an invitation for all women to take that first step toward freedom. For it is only when we free-fall that we can truly fly.

My Thoughts:

I absolutely hate it when I don't like a book. I've read enough and written enough to realize the value and importance of a person's words. When it's a work of non-fiction, it's even more awful when I don't care for the book. I never want it to feel like a rejection of a person...but it is a lack of connection for the written word.

I was drawn to Rebekah's book by the cover. It invited me in, and at first I was intrigued. Rebekah writes with a lyrical quality that is appealing to someone who loves words and word play (me). She opens with a story of a big move for her family and her trepidation and pain at separating from all that was familiar.

Okay. I can relate. As the wife of a pastor, I've had those feelings more times than I'd like.

Then she begins to describe her new, foreign life in New York City. Now, I'm starting to feel the disconnect. While she laments leaving behind this wonderful swimming pool and having to take free art lessons at a museum to occupy her kids, I'm wishing my air conditioner in my car would work and dreading the end of the semester just because my two fight when they are out of school.

Huh...they fight when they are in school, too. They just do it away from me. I guess that is the difference.

But when Rebekah began talking about her panic attacks and her depression, and began quoting from authors I have no respect for as a believer, I totally disengaged. It was then I realized...

...I'm not the target audience for this book. No wonder I don't 'get it.'

And then...I thought about the women who make up the target audience for this book, and I realized I don't know any of them. As much as I tried to hang in there, stay the course and finish the race...I mean, the book...I just couldn't. I was getting depressed instead of encouraged.

And as for panic disorders and depression, yes. Sometimes we can work our way out of those dark places in our lives. I've done it. Refocusing and devoting my energies to something else outside of my own head can help.

But I've had moments when nothing helped except professional and medical help, and it does not work for everyone to malign medication and/or counseling. Just as I wouldn't encourage just anyone feeling down to go on 'meds' to escape, I wouldn't discourage or even shame someone who needed assistance to get past the darkness.

Not to say Rebekah does this, but it felt implied that we can think, experience, grow our way out of those depressions in life, when sometimes...we can't. Whether it's our society, our lifestyle or our overall culture...help is okay.

So, while I loved the prose, the opening chapter, and the cover, I didn't love the book. And, in all honesty, I'm not completely comfortable recommending the book. But don't just take my word for it. I'm one reviewer. Check out other reviews.

Download a sample chapter. See what you think. But remember my cautious criticisms, please.

My thanks to Handlebar for my copy, gifted in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Reading!

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