Why True Self-Care Benefits Everyone

Self-care is a basic need of all humans, yet one that is widely ignored. Is it any wonder so many of us feel swamped with stress, work overload, or overwhelm? 

Too often we prioritize getting those needed external things done, day after day. Rarely, if ever, truly recharging our own, internal, "battery."

You will benefit from a practice of True Self-Care whether you work remotely from home, drive big rigs cross-country, are a college student, in corporate management, a business owner, a homeschooling parent, retired, or financially independent.

True Self-Care can begin with as little as two minutes each day. I call the most powerful self-care tools I discovered and continue to use today, “Empowered Self-Care Tools”. Two of them take less than two minutes, once learned. I call them Empowered Self Care Tools

Tips and tricks for reducing your stress and increasing your job during he Holiday season. You know, that time from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas or Chanukah, when life gets a little (or a lot) crazy. We've all been there, right?

Picture this: The Holiday is just days away; you’re planning the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, juggling work deadlines, or trying to find the right Chanukah gifts, and your in-laws just called to say they're coming early. Feeling overwhelmed yet? That's exactly why we need to talk about self-care.

True Self-Care can begin with as little as two minutes each day. I call the most powerful self-care tools I discovered and continue to use today, “Empowered Self-Care Tools”. Two of them take less than two minutes, once learned. 

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I internalized more than one important life lesson at this point in my author's journey: about avoidance while fretting over hard tasks, underestimating yourself, and a before unrealized state. I'm naming that state "pre-engagement overwhelm." I’ll tell you how it felt a bit later.

My author's journey is one segment of a four-pronged project. Prior to the infamous "February," I believed I could work through learning the differences in the publishing industry, since my last time in the space; practice writing children’s fiction while studying the craft of fiction-writing, and reading a great deal of children’s fiction. Then write my stories using intriguing settings from international travels, the ‘research prong’ of my two-decades-long “Quest Project”.
 

Why “February” was a Big Deal: the Poetry, Facts, and Magic

The first of the year, I looked forward to May, when I would return to the Scottish Highlands to work on Castle Dunans, the setting for the first book in children’s fiction series; working title, The Secret at Dunan’s Castle. It would be a grand treat, after the “annual drama” of my convoluted income tax preparation; it's the trip I didn’t get to take in May 2020, for obvious reasons.

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Hello again,

In the first blog post, I shared with you that two instances ‘sourced’ my journey into writing and publishing children’s adventure/mystery stories. The first from how deeply moved I was by my first international travel experiences; later forged into a “calling” after an unexpected layoff and premature retirement during pandemic times.
 
The two instances happened a few years apart. At the first inspiration, my plan was to write the books once I retired. I’d then have the free time to study the craft of fiction writing and changes in the publishing industry. That was eight years from my planned retirement. And the time delay didn’t bother me. The second instance, being “grabbed by the heart”, occurred a couple of years ago. Now, delaying the start of writing my books was no longer comfortable.
 
My life timeline had also changed, with my layoff and retiring three and a half years early. I have to say, retirement was far busier than I expected. I was working hard... mentally. Spending 7-plus hours on most days, for months, to complete the restructure of my personal finances, reallocate investments, and keep up with the reading and briefings from 20-odd financial and investment subscriptions.

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Have you ever been minding your own business… living your life, working your work, dreaming your dreams…? When, suddenly, an idea hits you? Not your regular “ooooh” or “ah-hah” moment; this idea goes deep inside and grabs you by the heart.
 
You can barely fathom what caused this grab from out of the “ether.” An idea that was never on your “life radar.” Yet, within a single moment, you developed an undeniable commitment to this idea—this “calling.” You don’t know how to do it. But know you're going to do it. Something in you knows you are meant to do it.
 
How do you start? You don't know… yet. You’ll have to figure that out. Are you capable? Let’s see… you now know that you are doing this. So, either the ability is already within you or you’ll just have to “put on your big girl panties” and become capable.

This very scenario happened to me. An idea from out of the ether gripped my heart: I must contribute to children experiencing that natural curiosity and open-hearted childhood state beyond their very young years. Childhood wonder is too precious a state to cut short.