I don't know how many of you have seen the Foo Fighters documentary "Back and Forth". There's a scene in that film where Dave Grohl describes making the big decision that led to the forming of the Foo Fighters (and, arguably, musical history).
After Kurt Cobain died and Nirvana were no more, Grohl was offered a job as Tom Petty's touring drummer. In the documentary, he describes how he felt after he turned down that job - he said that, to this day, he can still see his hand on the telephone when he put the receiver down after that conversation.
I can still see my hand closing the door of my boss's office on the day I told him I was leaving my lucrative City job to teach yoga for a living.
It was a change that had been coming for a while. I was tired and jaded from the long hours, the thankless work and the seemingly endless commuting that a job in a large London law firm entailed. I'd been practicing yoga for years - getting up at the crack of dawn every day to go to class before work - and in 2006 I had qualified as a yoga teacher.
I started off by just teaching one class a week, but that turned into two and three and eventually, without the use of Hermione Granger's Time Turner, I could no longer manage to teach my classes and work full time - I wasn't giving either job the attention it deserved. It was time to take a risk, time to make a change.
It was hard at first, change always is. I had to find a part-time job to supplement my yoga income and some days it all felt like harder work than the job in the City had been. But every time somebody enjoyed a class, or told me how yoga was helping them, or brought a friend along, always made it worth it. And as time went on, my classes got busier and I was finally able to teach full-time and, eventually, open my own studio.
By not being run off my feet constantly, by spending more time in the present moment, my brain was able to work more creatively and I found myself starting to write again – hadn’t done for years. At first it was posts on a yoga blog but slowly I started to write a story about a young woman who was reluctant to change but who suddenly found change thrust upon her. That story became The Many Colours of Us.
Change is inevitable, it happens around us all the time - the changing of the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon. It's impossible to resist (although only human to want to), and it certainly doesn't always work out. For every change I've tried to make in my life that has worked, I've got ten stories about changes that haven't - but sometimes it's worth the risk.
Thank you so much Rachel for this great look at your huge change in your life.
Giveaway to Win a bound Proof of The Many Colours of Us & a Letter Writing Set (Open Internationally)
Giveaway open internationally, all options are voluntary, but please do what they ask, as I will be verifying the winner. Giveaway closes 23:59 25/06/2017. Winner will be announced on twitter and emailed, and they will need to reply within 7 days, or forfeit the prize, and I will re-draw for a new winner. Good luck everyone.
RACHEL BURTON
She has a BA in Classics and an MA in English and has never really known what to do when she grew up. She has worked as a waitress, a legal secretary and a yoga teacher.
She has spent most of her life between Cambridge and London but is currently on a sabbatical in the North with her boyfriend and three cats. The main loves of her life are The Beatles and very tall romantic heroes.
‘Gorgeous, touching story, wonderful heroine, and I'm totally smitten with the hero.’ - Cressida McLaughlin, bestselling author of The Canal Boat Cafe
Fall in love with Rachel Burton’s stunning debut novel, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Adele Parks and Sheila O’Flanagan
What if your life was built on lies?
Julia Simmonds had never been bothered about not knowing who her father was. Having temperamental supermodel, Philadelphia Simmonds, as a mother was more than enough. Until she discovers she’s the secret love-child of the late, great artist Bruce Baldwin, and her life changes forever.
Uncovering the secrets of a man she never knew, Julia discovers that Bruce had written her one letter, every year until her eighteenth birthday, urging his daughter to learn from his mistakes.
Julia begins to dig deeper into the mysterious past of her parents, opening up a history she’d never have imagined, but as she discovers the truth she needs to decide if she is willing to forgive and forget…
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