Lessons From Survival to Thrival by Kathrin Lake

 

Title: From Survival to Thrival: How to catch the boat to your successful, thriving life (even if you thought you missed it)

Author: Kathrin Lake

Genre: Self-help

Publisher: SurvivaltoThrival.com (December 4, 2013)

Publication Date: December 4, 2013

Print length : 295 pages

ASIN:  B003BNZRO2

Price: $5.99 (Kindle)

Are you surviving or thriving in life?

According to Rosen (2019),  you are living in a survival mode when everything you do is in need of immediate attention, you are stressed, you have no joy,  and you just settle in good enough.  This results in poor mental and physical health.

It is so easy to blame  other people and our circumstances for living in this state but we do have the power to change from being in a survival mode to "thrival" mode. It is possible to flourish amidst the hustle and bustle in life by learning from others who are thriving. The lessons they learned are like  lampposts that  lights the road that cuts through an uncertain, dark territory of change, leading us to  a brighter place where we we are happy, joyful, successful, and prosperous.

I learned a lot of advice and insights on how to thrive from Kathrin Lake's Survival to Thrival.  She said that changing our habits and attitude with commitment is the only way to turn things around. "Change can happen quickly, but maintaining it is the hardest part."

The book can be summed up to twelve principles (Lake, 2013,loc. 2693):

1. Always expect things to change whether you want them to or not.
2. Take an attitude of full accountability, without blaming either yourself or others.
3. Don’t ignore the Elephant in the Livingroom. Love yourself always.
4. Support and encourage others, and keep supportive people around you.
5. Question people, but don’t try to change them.
6. Health and happiness for mind, body, pocketbook and soul can be attended to simultaneously.
7. Speak with a power of choice and not limitation or despair.
8. Get rid of old mythologies that no longer serve you.
9. Create new positive habits as the antidote to fear.
10. Take and seek help: Fire On All Cylinders.
11. Be grateful and appreciative.

One of the important lessons that I learned here is the way I look at my goals.  I think of them like final products I need to produce, the final destinations I need to reach by the end of the day that actually pressures me a lot, discouraging me to complete my goals

Lake emphasized that the process is as important as the final product . Thriving means doing the process if not happily then with moments of satisfaction which are milestones one accomplishes along the way. Define not only the goal but also the process to carrying it.

To have a better life is possible; we just need to change the way we think, we feel, and we do things. Lakes provides tips on how to change into a better version of ourselves.

Even though change leads us to a new direction that is unknown and scary, no matter how uncertain the future might be, we muster our courage and we press on until we are happy and fulfilled.

References

Rosen, L. (2019b, August 22). 8 Signs You’re in Survival Mode (and How to Escape). Rosen Institute. https://roseninstitute.com/8-signs-youre-survival-mode-step-escaping/

Lake, K. (2013). From Survival to Thrival: How to catch the boat to your successful, thriving life (even if you thought you missed it) [E-book]. SurvivaltoThrival.com. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BNZRO2