A Perfect Walk by Paul M. Gallagher (BUY ON AMAZON) isn’t a book I’d typically read or review. Full disclosure, Paul and I are good friends and I’m always up for helping a friend out so I bought and read the book. With that said, I was along for the ride with Paul and was present at several of the situations he discusses in the book, all while never quite realizing what he was suffering through. Thus, this book will inevitably move me in very different ways than it may move the casual reader. I teared up at times reading this book wondering how I could’ve helped more or wondering how much I contributed negatively to Paul’s illness. Here’s the thing – THE BOOK WILL MOVE YOU!
Paul puts himself out there and opens up in a brutally honest way to give a full look into the mind of someone that suffers from mental illness. He shares stories of his thoughts about taking his own life and why he believed he could never actually do it. He explains how one particular incident in his life shaped his negatively. He addresses how he handled situations poorly and how bad decisions layered over one another making matters even worse.
The writing is deeply rooted in Paul’s faith. He discusses the treatment he received at multiple times in his life. He shares how family and friends helped him during his struggles. Most of all, he shares how coming to terms with his faith most helped him to battle his mental illness. In the book, Paul shares 60 life tips that helped him get to the point in his life that he’s at now. Most of these are rooted in Paul’s Christian faith.
This book is an eye-popping look into the mind of someone with mental illness, someone that I never suspected was anything more than over-competitive when we played organized sports together, or just easily annoyed when we’d be hanging out in social circles. It showed me that you never really know what someone else is dealing with at any given moment. Paul lays it all out for the world in A Perfect Walk.