Tips to Keep Calm and Upbeat from Chicago Area Wellness Practitioners

Tips to Keep Calm and Upbeat from Chicago Area Wellness Practitioners

Currently, we find ourselves navigating topsy-turvy, uncertain times. Sometimes, it may feel easy to get stuck in a net of stress. Fortunately, we have talented local wellness practitioners with ideas you can use at home to keep calm, take a pause for YOU, stay positive and break from that net. Enjoy these tips from five Chicago area wellness practitioners:

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Addie B. Strong - I Am So Strong: An Empowering Children's Book

We cannot protect our children from everything. However, we can provide them with the tools to make sound decisions. As my daughter rapidly approaches the preteen years, I am a little nervous about what those years hold in terms of her self confidence. I navigated those years pretty easily without too much worry about what others thought about me. Of course, I did give in to preteen and teen impetuous shopping trips. But, over all--those were great years. However, my daughter is not me and I hope that I have given her the tools she needs to soar during those years.

I think that we can really lay down the foundation for our daughters to enjoy their uniqueness as well as that of others at a young age. Recently, I learned about Addie B. Strong, a new children's series started by another concerned mother, Alyson Flippo. Frankly, I have seen even the youngest children at my daughter's elementary school face criticism and peer pressure. It is crucial for children at any age to realize that they each are strong in their uniqueness. Addie B. Strong - I Am So Strong speaks to these young children and inspires them in words that they understand.

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A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot {A Read That Will Leave You Celebrating Life}

**Disclosure: As members of the Off the Shelf bloggers group, we received a complimentary copy of A Story Unfinished. No compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own.

When I first received the opportunity to read A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot, I was not sure how this story would make me feel. In this book, author Matt Mooney takes readers along his journey of losing his young son and learning how to live in his absence. During an ultrasound, Matt Mooney and his wife Ginny receive a devastating diagnosis--that their unborn son has a fatal genetic disease. Little Eliot was expected to not live through birth. If he did, he would only survive for a few hours or days at best. However, for what would turn into a blessing for the Mooneys, determined little Eliot lived for 99 days.

Early in our lives, we learn that life is a cycle. However, we are never quite prepared for that permanent loss. Sometimes, we temper our feelings by saying "She lived a long life" or "He was very sick" or "He is in a better place now." Yet, we are never ready for the blow that we have lost someone no matter the circumstances.

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