The Four Per Cent
Description
"Throw it all at me. Take everything you can. Even in the end I will not be defeated."
How much would you give up to never return to your darkest moment?
Your livelihood?
Your house?
Your business?
Your friends?
Your self-worth?
Melbourne's record-breaking 262-day-lockdown should have been a collective experience shared by residents of the city. However, Government directives in those final months forced friends and families against one another in a debate over who was worthy of freedom.
Four per cent of that population have a story to tell - one that has never been heard.
This is the story of Melbourne's lockdown, told from the inside by someone left on the outside.
More details
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Content
Contents
Author's note iii
Preface 1
About me 5
The importance of writing 8
Your turn 13
A commitment to yourself 15
Why write about Covid? 17
Your turn 19
Think about what you wrote 21
Why put this into a book? 22
The importance of shifting pain from our bodies 25
Using this book 27
Part 1: The Covid pandemic lockdown in Melbourne 29
The significant dates 30
Questions to ponder 34
Lockdown 34
Reopening 40
A quick summary 44
Ongoing restrictions 44
Part 2: My story 47
Living with Trigeminal neuralgia 47
Your turn 63
When Covid hit 65
Mandates 67
Unpopular decision 69
Reopening 71
2022 letter from neurologist 75
Still no exemption 78
Facing the reality 78
Hospitalisation 79
Thailand 82
After everything ... 88
Your turn 89
My Melbourne - then and now 91
Your turn 95
Part 3: The lessons 97
Your turn 101
How did we get here? 103
Your turn 106
How we speak matters 108
Lesson 1: Validation 110
Your turn 116
Lesson 2: Connection 118
Your turn 124
Lesson 3: Fear 126
Your turn 129
Lesson 4: Reality versus truth - our need to be right 131
Your turn 135
Lesson 5: Having an opinion 137
Your turn 141
Lesson 6: The mass contradiction 143
Your turn 146
Lesson 7: Guilt as motivation 148
Your turn 152
Lesson 8: Better leadership 154
Your turn 158
Lesson 9: Where did the stress on the hospital system
come from? 160
Your turn 166
Lesson 10: Staying well 168
Your turn 171
Lesson 11: Less entitlement, more love 173
Your turn 175
Lesson 12: What to trust 177
Your turn 180
Lesson 13: Everyone has a different experience of this time 182
Your turn 185
Part 4: Where to from here? 187
Your turn 195
What else might you start questioning? 197
How to move forward 202
Your turn 206
And my point is ... 208
Your turn 213
Final words 215
Acknowledgments 217
Where to go for more information 221
Endnotes 223
About the author 228
