Reader & Critical Reviews
This title made it to the top 1% of books on Amazon within a few days of its release. It has also received multiple 5-star book reviews from critics.
Reader Praise for Halfway There
These quotes were taken from public reviews, or were sent directly to me with permission to post and attribute them.
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– Barnes & Noble Customer (public review)
– Amazon Customer (anonymous public review)
Editorial Reviews
Readers’ Favorite
“How does life show your calling? Is it okay not to have kids? Is joy attainable? These are just some of the questions that Elizabeth C. Haynes answers in her memoir, Halfway There: Lessons at Midlife. This book turns her own midlife experiences into snippets of episodic stories that she wrote in spurts over a long period. This is a sincere attempt to share lessons based on her own realities that anyone can reflect upon, whether you are middle-aged or not. The pieces here can be downright humorous, thought-provoking, or simply uplifting. She is an insomniac who learned to let go of looking at the clock during the night, a daughter who stands up to her mother to set boundaries, and an individual who has the courage to be herself in an ocean of people who love emulating others.
Whatever the case may be, you will find a connection in these stories. In life, we have trodden similar paths, and you might find it worthwhile to lend an ear to what she has to say. Halfway There reflects Elizabeth C. Haynes’ passion for shared knowledge. To use her hardships and trauma to reach out to others reinforces that bond between storytelling and healing. A glimpse of meaning for her own existence precipitates a self-conscious awareness of our own capacity to mold our lives the way we want it to and that everything is all right with the world, even if it doesn’t always turn out in our favor. A memoir of positivity that is bound to encourage anyone to live life one day at a time, it’s a better alternative to self-help books that give false hope.”
“Everyone’s life is filled with memories, some pivotal, some insignificant but each one helps build the rich and unique tapestry of our existence. In this personal and inspirational memoir, Halfway There, Elizabeth C. Haynes recollects the moments in her life that have sparked the greatest life lessons. From coping with the end of her marriage, the loss of direction, home, and career to dealing with a debilitating rare disease, life seemed a never-ending uphill struggle. Throughout these experiences, discover how Elizabeth was able to turn her life around, become a successful author, and face future ordeals and obstacles with an optimistic mindset. Hopefully, her experiences can help you discover and appreciate your uniqueness and the talents you have that will bring you true inner peace and gratitude.
I absolutely loved Halfway There by Elizabeth C. Haynes. Her honesty and openness were admirable. The emotions she experienced during the breakdown of relationships, dealing with trauma, negative situations, and people were very relatable. There were so many helpful techniques on building confidence in ourselves, appreciating and celebrating our uniqueness, and following your gut instincts. I also enjoyed the sections on learning to let go of negative memories, not allowing the pressure from outside influences to cloud your judgment. The chapter on spirituality and transitioning to change was also extremely insightful and the author deals with many issues I have struggled with. Her memoir is so uplifting and will motivate many women who are facing a crossroads in their lives to believe in themselves and continue to strive towards their goals. It’s never too late to get back on track and achieve anything you want. You will learn how to effectively look to the future and start making happy memories and not be inhibited by painful past experiences. This quotation is my absolute favorite: ‘We stay the same until doing so is more painful than changing.’”
Halfway There: Lessons at Midlife is an autobiographical collection of personal stories of true grit, survival tactics, and the process of establishing boundaries, independence, and individuality. It comes from a woman who faced abuse at an early age and confronted many choices that stemmed from it. She reaches middle age hauling the baggage of trauma, poor decisions, and evolving chronic illness.
Life seems to be one obstacle after another, and yet something special happens when midlife is reached. Elizabeth C. Haynes finds herself reassessing her values, goals, and life experiences for the lessons they hold not for validating her past, but justifying her future intentions and actions.
This process offers a learning experience not just for Haynes, but for those who read about her approach to life in general and midlife in particular.
From cutting ties with toxic people to creating a new perspective on life, Haynes reveals the mechanics of a process which both challenges and invigorates her: “Doing these sorts of things helps me feel like I have the upper hand on the inside. Like I am working to take back control of my feelings and my world, even if it’s done slowly and step-by-step. I think this alone can help us take some power back and claim our own positivity, our own emotional health. There is strength in making a plan, and nobody can take this away from us; it lies within ourselves.”
While autobiography lies at the heart of these explorations, so does an assessment of revised strategies at midlife. This will particularly interest self-help readers who look to change their own self-assessments about how to better live the remaining years of life.
Embedded in these experiences are strategies readers can follow to success. For example: Haynes has been a life-long insomniac. Her simple strategy of turning her clock around also changes her perception of night, sleep, and frustration: “I had two goals in mind when I turned that clock around. The first was to eliminate math (okay, I joke, let’s start over). The first was to eliminate anxiety about time by eliminating the thing that measures time, and the second was to improve my ability to get back to sleep by creating a scenario where I could lie to myself about what time it actually was. This strategy works pretty well because when it’s dark, unless you’re tracking the path of the constellations like a sailor, dark is dark is dark. So it’s pretty much impossible to know what time it is if you just look casually out the window at the space between you and the backyard fence. The only clues to time in the nighttime space are when the last light of the sun holds the twilight, or when the first rays of morning just barely tint the sky. And neither of these moments are my problem times.”
Her long road to rediscovering joy in life will delight readers who look for blends of life experience, uplifting new takes on positivity, and clues on how to recapture that burst of energy and excitement that drives the days with meaning.
Halfway There: Lessons at Midlife is more than one woman’s struggle to reconcile her life. It’s a blueprint for how to revamp and revise perspective and objective for maximum results, and should be on the reading list of any self-help reader facing middle age.
A self-help book from a middle-aged author that offers tips for anyone looking for ways through difficult times.
Over the course of this work, debut author Haynes covers familiar ideas that regular readers of self-improvement works will recognize, such as creating boundaries, finding a life calling, dealing with curveballs, and finding joy. But although some of these themes are familiar, she expresses them with a fresh voice. She shares that her impetus for the book was a difficult period after she “fell off a health cliff,” and it’s impressive that she’s managed to create something so worthwhile during a dark time—and something that could be helpful to others experiencing similar issues. The former schoolteacher has a gift for conversational prose, which often feels as if she’s talking to an old friend. Throughout the book, she observes her struggles through a lens of gratitude, focusing on positives in life and not allowing negatives to cast things into darkness. She draws on various anecdotes from her own life, using them all to create a tapestry of learned lessons that is engaging, informative, and motivational. Haynes puts her disarming vulnerability to powerful use when touching on such personal struggles as depression and anxiety, childhood loneliness, an abusive romantic relationship, and shyness. In these stories, she shows how one can get through hardships and come out of them a wiser, more empowered person. She also demonstrates how to see a difficult time as a “blip on the radar” of life, as her aunt once advised her to do—one that will pass, as all moments do. Throughout, this book underscores the importance of taking care of oneself, finding sources of joy, and achieving a level of balance.
A memoiristic work that offers useful guidance.