The 8 Paces

By A Cerone

Are you affected by family members, friends or colleagues who abuse substances (alcohol, drugs, other) or suffer addiction issues?

 

The 8 Paces provides support to help us cope and heal when substance abuse surrounds us. When we know somebody who abuses alcohol, drugs or other substances and/or has addiction issues, this does impact negatively on us and anyone else around them. This can lead to harmful changes in our thinking, feelings and behaviours. It's a heavy load for us to carry, deal with and manage. The 8 Paces is a powerful, playful, non-judgemental and very clear guide on how to drive us forward and lift us.

 

Winner of APAC Insider Australian Enterprise Awards 2022: Most Compassionate Alcohol & Drug Addiction Support ● Winner of Global Health & Pharma Mental Health Awards 2022: Best New Family Support Program (Australia)

 

As the creator and author of The 8 Paces, you'll get to know me, whether you like me or not as I'm brutally honest. I've lived in and navigated through a hellish environment since 2009 and the insanity continues. This has been brought about by the behaviour of a family member (my son); a violent and self-destructive alcoholic and drug addict.

 

On top of this, my son's institutional incarcerations; I've lost count of his continual hospital and prison stints since the age of 15 and 21 respectively. Throw into the mix my volatile reactive behaviours and what do you get? One hell of a Molotov cocktail! The 8 Paces guides and supports me and doesn't leave my side. It's my constant companion and confidant.

 

The 8 Paces introduces you to the flipside of my pain caused by worry, anxiety, fear, rage, disgust, shame, grief; the list goes on and on. The 8 Paces shows with clarity and simplicity how I harnessed my pain and negativity (dark energy, demons) as they arose; flipped it, unlocked, powered up, transformed and surged onward and upward. We can all experience this regardless of what's happening in and around us.

 

We'll all get a taste of soaring with The 8 Paces by our side guiding us. When a family member abuses alcohol or drugs and is verging on addiction, many of us don't know where to turn, who to turn to, what to say, or admit there's a problem. Also and importantly, admitting how this affects us as many of us have forgotten about ourselves. The 8 Paces will resonate and touch those of us who are feeling overwhelmed and concerned, with the degree always varying; hour to hour, day to day.

 

The 8 Paces is structured into a two-part introduction followed by a chapter on each Pace. Each of them begins with one or two true stories in the context of me and my son. The stories are directly related to and aligned with the Pace and all of them are entertaining. Following the stories is a description of the respective Pace. Aligned statements and quotes are scattered throughout each Pace; they serve to inspire and shift mindsets.

 

The 8 Paces guides us through; flipping insanity to in sanity during turbulent times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cerone
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201110505

A Cerone

A Cerone has studied psychology, is an astute businesswoman, and is a writer and self-published author across several genres. They include nonfiction, autobiographical fiction, and screenwriting black comedy and shock humour movie scripts. Nonfiction works under her nationally-recognised Resume by Design® business banner include 10,000+ employment-related documents, Career Growth and Job Search Made Easy Series five-book collection, and FAQpedia® Job Get Simplified 400+ Q&A database. Other works include the LaZo Writing Model; and self-help books such as The 8 Paces and accompanying Pace It Program. A Cerone’s alter-ego is big at play with screenwriting. She revels in flipping the macabre (based on real-life experiences) into raw and comical scenes; developing narratives, writing dialogues, creating soundtracks. In creating The 8 Paces, A Cerone drew on over 20+ years of expertise and experience in developing people onward and upward. She has championed and orchestrated the process of driving and steering her clients’ development in both their professional and personal lives. A Cerone applies her academic background and in-depth knowledge of psychology to tap into mindsets, attitudes and feelings. She helps her clients to understand and flip negativity in all forms and experience the flipside, and integrates a broad cross-section of concepts across disciplines in one-to-one and group settings. They include psychotherapies (acceptance and commitment therapy, person-centred, logotherapy, focusing); positive psychology; transpersonal; humanistic; mindfulness; neuro-linguistic programming; and neuroplasticity. “Many of us operate from an ego-driven thinking space. We have lost touch with our deeper connected sensing space. Re-adjustment can bring about remarkable change. Developing self-knowledge and understanding in this regard is essential for us to surge forward, both intrinsically and extrinsically. To help individuals reconnect, realign and transform, this knowledge needs to be relayed in the right way, to the right degree, at the right time. The right time is when we are open, receptive and ready to listen with all our senses. Are you ready?"

Book preview

The 8 Paces in a Snapshot

Pace 1  Flip It: Weakness = Greatness

They will work in tandem to flip it and drive us forward. Who are they?

Pace 2  Raw: Grubby = Grit

Going down? We’re all a little bit grubby.

We’ve got to get down, dirty and messy to get real.

Pace 3  Own It: Let It All Hang Out

There is such savagery in the way we hurt and annihilate each other.

This is sadomasochism in its purest form.

Pace 4  MYOFB: It’s All About Us, Not Them

Blast through being entangled in someone else’s sh*t.

Hands-off.

Pace 5  Stop: Right Here, Right Now

When everything stops, everything happens.

Pace 6  Connect: Vulnerability = Courage

We’re all on a spectrum of something.

So what are we afraid of? Get InSync.

Pace 7  Up: Fear = Fearless

Want to experience it? Its power will drive us.

Pace 8  Navigate: Momentum Forward

Free as a bird! Ever felt it?

Birds do not fly backward.

Try finding something ‘hidden’ in one of the Paces.

Preface

Why have I always been scared to think and write big?

Because I have thought with judgement (ouch, I felt that ‘nip’) that to write something of significance that could help people globally would be a shoo-in for a ripper of a mental health issue or two or ...

Well, I got issues already, so what’s stopping me!

I am a Cerone and I am a driver.

I am in it, driving it and look where I stand today.

Let The 8 Paces drive you.

Cameras ... the fear, I know it now.

The fear of being seen!

I just flipped it (Pace 1: Flip It).

You’ll all see me as I am.

Then, you decide if you want to step in.

This is not my life story.

The 8 Paces is a guide on how to navigate through insanity brought about by the behaviour of a violent and self-destructive alcoholic and drug addict, my son.

The 8 Paces is an invaluable guide to help drive you forward.

My words may provoke a reaction of some kind.

I would like you to react.

A reaction of any kind will do.

Then, I’ll know I’ve moved you and this to me is special.

Get ready.

I’m pacing it with you!

A Cerone

Creator of The 8 Paces

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia → Global

Introducing The 8 Paces

We are fluid.

We are all energy.

Everything flows into us and through us.

The Journey for Me and My Son

The arrogance and denial to think I could cope with all this alone. How grateful I was when I was brought to my knees on the evening of 24 September 2012 after experiencing domestic warfare at home.

A war between me and my demons (oh yes, I’ve got oodles of them); and my son and his demons (fuelled with alcohol and a myriad of prescription and illegal recreational drugs).

I digress for now and go back to when my son was born on 7 October 1993. From the moment he was placed beside my bed in the hospital’s baby cot after a long and tough delivery, he did not take his eyes off me.

I spent six hours in recovery. He didn’t cry, he didn’t make a sound, he just kept watching. It felt like he was watching over me.

Who was protecting who here? No child should ever have the job of watching over their parent(s), let alone a newborn. But then the universe deals us some very big lessons to learn in the strangest of and very heartbreaking ways.

My son cruised throughout the delivery, he was never under any stress; even the nurses were amazed. Slow and steady, he was in no rush to come into this world.

Tucked away inside me, he was comfortable. I felt this daily; his movements were gentle and minimal. He woke when I woke, slept when I slept. We were InSync.

I nursed (breastfed) my son in his first seven months of life. My goodness, the toxicity I fed him. I was ill with chronic bouts of mastitis and an abscess so deep in my left breast that required an urgent operation.

I carried this insidious abscess for seven weeks. I was never in pain or bedridden which astounded the surgeon, nurses and general practitioners. I knew something toxic was growing inside me.

A while back I looked at photos of my son within his first seven months and I was shocked at what I saw. I froze then sobbed. The worry he carried in all the photos was palpable.

Worry and fear are entrenched in my gene pool; DNA-hardwired, flowing through generations. I compared them to the photos of him after I stopped breastfeeding and he appeared ‘released’.

His facial expressions were relaxed and he smiled. He never smiled before. What a tough gig it must have been for him. I’m sorry.

As my son grew in his first few years, his temperament and energy forged. He had a cool, calm, soothing and tranquil influence. People felt