Rise Up against All Odds
Adversity to Advance BRAVE System
This inspirational and highly motivational work offers encouragement to those facing adversity.
Thandi Boshoma’s Rise Up against All Odds is a self-improvement book that includes an uplifting personal story and encapsulates a meaningful, systematic approach to facing adversity.
Piercing through the proliferation of self-help books, especially those concerning life’s challenges, comes this work of accomplished and authentic storytelling. In Boshoma’s short book, a personal crisis is used as a central example of how to face adversity. It is easy to relate to Boshoma’s situation: she challenged a superior at work and was terminated from her job.
The book demonstrates a system that Boshoma calls “BRAVE,” an acronym for Boldness, Resilience, Authenticity, Vision, and Enthusiasm. Boshoma’s writing technique is interesting: she weaves her own story, along with other examples, throughout each brief chapter while discussing the individual principles of BRAVE.
Each of the principles is eloquently described. For example, authenticity, writes the author, “means staying true to who you are, staying true to your purpose, and staying true to your values … when you are authentic, you are driven from within.” While there is not a great deal of detail about each of the five principles, the stories and examples that the author uses aptly illustrate every principle.
By examining her own situation, her reactions to it, and the strategies she used to cope with it, Boshoma sets a strong example for success. She writes well and the book is tightly organized.
Perhaps the message that will resonate the most is the author’s strong belief that it is necessary not just to overcome adversity, but to use it in a positive way. “Whatever adversity you have endured or are enduring now, use it to prosper,” she advises. In a rather stunning example of this belief, she reprints the letter that she wrote to the person who fired her, expressing gratitude for what happened to her. “Today I am a diamond,” Boshoma writes, “and I attract attention because of the crushing and cutting I endured from you.”
Numerous quotes from other individuals are included in the book; no bibliography or author’s biography is included. At times, the author’s story is overly detailed. A strong religious thread runs through the book, but this characteristic does not diminish the accessibility of Boshoma’s advice.
Rise Up against All Odds is an inspirational and highly motivational work that offers encouragement to those facing either personal or professional adversity.
Reviewed by
Barry Silverstein
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
