Depression, self-loathing, unemployment, and destroyed relationships: the effects of drug and alcohol addiction run so much deeper than the morning-after hangover. However, awareness alone will not save the struggling addict, as J.P. Willson reveals in his fearless examination of substance dependency; recovery means doing the mental and emotional work to look inside oneself and discover a way to … to live as a sober, fulfilled individual in an often challenging world.
Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery is a thought-provoking and honest examination of the emotional, psychological, and physical ways someone must enact their own healing. As a recovering alcoholic, Willson courageously shares his own story of addiction, as well the ups and downs he experienced along the road to recovery. Packed with astonishing insights about our culture’s relationship to alcohol, as well as the lies we tell ourselves in order to keep using, this book will change the way you view addiction. Willson has no qualms about telling the reader how difficult recovery is—and how there is no quick cure-all—but his compassionate, candid reflections help foster the knowledge and will to change.
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This July, I opted to focus a majority of my reads on non-fiction books, mostly on the autobiographical end of the spectrum. The first was a memoir by J. P. Willson who wrote ‘Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery.’ I stumbled upon the author via his Goodreads profile and liked the cover and synopsis, so I added it to my TBR a couple of years ago. I finished it in a short time, but it’s also written in a way where you can easily stop and start at your leisure.
J.P. is in his fifties and tells us from the beginning that he’s always been an alcoholic. From the get-go, you feel the honesty and raw pain he’s gone through. Rather than blame others, he’s taken the bull by the horns, so to speak, to focus on his recovery and ensure his future is a happy one. By the end of his memoir, readers clearly understand the key things he went through, what he believes changed him, and how the AA program helped him get to where he is today.
Is one drink per night too much? Two? Five? Drinking before noon? It’s not that simple, as Willson generously shares with his readers. The AA program worked for him on many levels, but not necessarily on all. One by one, he discusses each of the twelve steps, the original religious aspects, and the concept of having a sponsor. In his introspective and personal analytics, readers find common sense and new ideas to consider. It’s not as simple as ‘stop drinking’ or ‘follow the plan.’ It’s a disease, he reminds us, and sometimes, it can be sneaky and vengeful.
Willson is brave to share this with others. Then again, after what he went through in reality, perhaps sharing this truth is cathartic. Whatever you believe, it’s clear that the man has truly learned how to live without the dependency. He wasn’t satisfied to understand why he drank on a surface level; it was necessary to dive deep and explore everything that led to his decisions. And now that he’s a recovering alcoholic, he can even poke fun at himself on the things he can’t believe once occurred. Or point out how hard it is for a chef who loves to pair wines to suddenly not be able to do it anymore.
It’s wonderful to see a success story, and while he will always remember the pain of the past, the new attitude and attentiveness to his words in this book clearly show the success he deserves to have in the future. I’d recommend this book for anyone who has an issue with alcohol (or other addictions) or is watching someone they care for go through it themselves.
Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery is about addiction and depression. J.P. Willson takes the reader on his journey but it’s a fairly colorless and stark presentation of his life. There were very few personal details or events that could have made his themes come alive. It’s a study in contrasts—to have the courage to write the book and admit his own addiction, but yet be unable or unwilling to really tell us who he is in the book. It was like reading a how-to manual without any illustrations.
The writing style is clinical and authoritative (in spite of reminding the reader he’s not an expert). I expected vignettes about actual events and people that would give us an insight into his character. We hear about his ex and his daughter, his therapist, sponsor, and counselor but I couldn’t engage with them as people, only as participants in Willson’s perception of his life.
That said, Willison has a strong voice and a vibrant command of the material. His themes were clear and worth noting. He emphasizes that to recover from addiction, you can’t go it alone. Even when he says his ex seemed to do it by herself, he later realized she had a built-in support group with family and friends. Only in the final chapters does Willson seem to realize that he’s had a support group all his life, but he ignored them because he was always trying to help others.
J.P. Willson is a strong writer, yet the storytelling wasn’t as well developed. He ends on a note of hope and optimism and that is what someone who’s suffering from addiction or depression needs most.
Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery is one man’s experience with alcoholism and recovery. It reads very much like many of the stories in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and is valuable in that sense – the Big Book includes many stories, because it’s never certain which one that an alcoholic seeking recovery will seize upon to relate to. Willson also has some interesting observations on AA and other recovery programs, making it abundantly clear that recovery is an intensely personal experience. The greatest flaw in the book, however, is its unstructured nature and a lack of specific personal details from Willson (although he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to provide that kind of detail), which makes it difficult to identify with him on a personal level. The book also desperately needs a good editor – there are many unnecessary words and it’s rambling and repetitive, making it an arduous read in places. Still, Willson is to be congratulated for putting himself out there, trying to help other addicts, and achieving his goal of becoming a published author.