New motivational book READY, SET, LIFE has just landed on Amazon and In Touch Rugby has been able to get its hands on a copy.
Author James Gwinnett is a former semi-pro rugby player who plied his trade playing English national league rugby. Unfortunately a freak accident one Saturday saw him mistime a tackle and the resulting collision left him with a career-ending neck injury. With the loss of the game he loved came a loss of the structured routine that gave him purpose, and a loss of identity. He no longer wanted to socialise and descended into a spiral of depression and alcoholism.
For three years he rode a tragic merry-go-round that saw him hit rock bottom … at the bottom of a bottle.
From there it was a fitness challenge – the London Marathon – that proved James’s redemption. Embarking on the AA programme of sobriety and rediscovering his fitness was the start of an amazing journey that has subsequently seen him push himself further and further in a series of increasingly arduous ultramarathons. He was the first recorded person to run the full length of the Cotswold Way (102 miles) solo and unsupported, and he came second in a 145-mile race from London to Bristol, in a time of 31 hours and 9 minutes.
Along the way, James was also a recruit on Channel 4’s acclaimed SAS: Who Dares Wins, the show that pits civilians against the infamous special forces selection. One of eight to ‘survive’ through to the infamous interrogation stage, James was praised by the Directing Staff for his leadership potential.
On learning that he was to become a father, James thought about the life’s learnings that he could impart to his young boy, when he’s old enough to read them, amid the, let’s face it, mess that we find the world in. Indeed, the first line of READY, SET, LIFE is a tribute to his son in the form of a Disney quote by none other than Sebastian the Jamaican Crab: “Dee human world, eet’s a mess!”
The result is a story of overcoming adversity and finding a light, even in the darkest of times.
The book might be cynical about the world around us, and it might rant a bit, but it is also honest and inspiring as James opens up about his journey. It includes practical steps for building mental fitness and making change for those who wish to do so. It is proof that we can all build resilience to the negativity that’s going on around us and set our sights on whatever it is we want to achieve.
Throughout the book he also speaks to a fascinating roster of interviewees to get their take on a staggering variety of topics. From Stoicism to anthropology, identity to mental fitness, and a myriad of other weird and wonderful subjects, experts as broad as a Classics teacher, a former special forces soldier, a psychological therapist, a former heroin addict, a record breaking polar explorer and a former England rugby sevens captain share their insights into how to not just survive, but thrive at, life.
Pick up a copy, in hardback, paperback or Kindle formats on Amazon now: https://amzn.eu/d/huIDUUS.
