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New Book Challenges Readers to Stop Living Between Hunger and Thirst
The Place Where We Get Stuck: Choosing Between Hunger and Thirst explores why people often know what they want—and even know what they need to do—yet remain trapped between choices, possibilities and inaction.
SOUTH AFRICA — September 2026 — Author, educator, healer and public speaker Gerald Crawford has announced the release of his latest book, The Place Where We Get Stuck: Choosing Between Hunger and Thirst, a thought-provoking exploration of one of the most common but least understood human experiences: being unable to choose.
The book begins with a powerful metaphor: imagine a donkey standing between food and water. Both are necessary. Both represent something the donkey wants. Yet if the donkey cannot decide which direction to take, it remains stuck.
Crawford uses this simple image to explore a much bigger question:
What happens when we spend so much time deciding what we want that we fail to choose anything at all?
In a world filled with unprecedented choice, information and opportunity, many people find themselves overwhelmed rather than empowered. They procrastinate. They analyse. They compare. They wait for the perfect opportunity, the perfect answer or the perfect moment.
And while they are waiting, life continues to move.
The problem is not always that we don’t know what we want
At the heart of the book is the distinction between hunger and thirst.
Hunger represents desire—the things we want, pursue and long for.
Thirst represents necessity—the things we genuinely need in order to live, grow and become who we are capable of becoming.
The difficulty arises when we confuse the two.
We can become hungry for success but thirsty for peace.
Hungry for recognition but thirsty for belonging.
Hungry for achievement but thirsty for meaning.
Hungry for more but thirsty for enough.
The result can be a life filled with activity but lacking direction.
The Place Where We Get Stuck invites readers to stop simply asking, “What do I want?” and begin asking a more important question:
“What do I need to choose now?”
From understanding to action
Rather than presenting choice as a purely intellectual exercise, Crawford explores the emotional and behavioural forces that keep people stuck.
The book examines themes including:
- Procrastination and the cost of waiting
- The paralysis created by too many choices
- Fear of making the wrong decision
- The difference between desire and genuine need
- Overthinking and analysis paralysis
- The search for certainty before taking action
- Personal responsibility and intentional living
- Learning to recognise what matters most
- Moving from awareness to decision
- Turning decisions into meaningful action
The central message is simple but challenging:
You cannot live every possible life. At some point, you have to choose one.
A book about the choices we avoid
Crawford’s work is ultimately not about making perfect decisions. It is about becoming willing to make meaningful ones.
Every choice closes some doors while opening others. Every “yes” contains a “no.” Every direction chosen means another direction is left behind.
For many people, this is where they become stuck.
They want the security of certainty before they act.
But life rarely provides certainty.
The book therefore challenges readers to develop the courage to choose, act and learn from the consequences rather than remaining permanently suspended between possibilities.
Gerald Crawford
Gerald Crawford is an author, public speaker, educator and healer whose work focuses on human development, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, relationships, healing and personal transformation.
Through his books, programmes and speaking engagements, Crawford seeks to help people understand themselves more deeply and translate that understanding into practical action.
The Place Where We Get Stuck: Choosing Between Hunger and Thirst continues this work by addressing a universal human challenge: knowing that something has to change, but remaining stuck at the point of choice.
A message for a generation overwhelmed by choice
The book arrives at a time when people have more options than ever before.
More careers.
More relationships.
More information.
More technology.
More opinions.
More opportunities.
And yet, having more choices does not necessarily make life easier.
Sometimes, it makes choosing harder.
The Place Where We Get Stuck asks readers to step away from the endless search for the perfect answer and instead develop the courage to make the next right choice.
Because sometimes the greatest obstacle standing between where we are and where we want to be is not a lack of opportunity.
It is our unwillingness to choose.
BOOK DETAILS
Title: The Place Where We Get Stuck: Choosing Between Hunger and Thirst
Author: Gerald Crawford
Genre: Personal Development / Self-Help / Human Behaviour
Publication: 2026
Country: South Africa
MEDIA INTERVIEWS & SPEAKING TOPICS
Gerald Crawford is available for interviews, podcasts, radio, television appearances, keynote presentations and speaking engagements on topics including:
- Why intelligent people procrastinate
- The psychology of being stuck
- Decision-making in a world of unlimited choice
- Hunger versus thirst: understanding what we really need
- Why we struggle to make decisions
- Moving from awareness to action
- How fear influences our choices
- The hidden cost of indecision
- Creating an intentional life
- The courage to choose
MEDIA CONTACT
Gerald Crawford
Author | Public Speaker | Educator | Healer
Website: geraldcrawford.co.za
For interviews, speaking engagements, review copies and media enquiries:
Please contact Gerald Crawford through his official website.
ENDS
About the Author
Gerald Crawford is a South African author, educator, public speaker and healer dedicated to helping people develop greater self-awareness, emotional intelligence and personal responsibility. His work encourages readers and audiences to move beyond simply understanding themselves and to make the choices necessary to create meaningful change.
The Place Where We Get Stuck: Choosing Between Hunger and Thirst is an invitation to stop standing between the water and the carrots—and choose.
