The Battle For Sanity Through Wellness In Your Work

We All Need A Battle Buddy
Today I had a really big battle to maintain my sanity and not lose it. We are talking the night before was rough with tight muscles and then the following morning was tumultuous as well. I am so thankful for my best-friend. Everyone needs someone like her in their lives! I spent 9 years without seeing her and a total of 14 years without being around her. Our lives went on, hers just as fraught with challenges and growth as mine and when we were reunited the journey of getting to each other started all over again.
When I was in the Air Force we called our designated companion for training, or an exercise, or a mission our Wing Man. In the Army they are called a battle buddy. The truth is that we aren't meant to go through life alone. I was once told by a very wise woman that all we need is 1 person to believe in us and we can succeed at anything!

Not Going It Alone
I have had many misadventures and I re-entered my best-friend's life in a position of extreme vulnerability.
I was a single mom with a serous health condition looking to start my life over from nothing. Well, I had a vehicle with a blown head and then the gasket, and clothes and a neurotic dog that got a new home. I did not have an income and I did not have a job. I was fortunate enough to be able to start from zero and get to a place of working, having an apartment that would take me in my position of instability and then get a vehicle with a dealership that would also take a risk with me.
 We had our growing pains and bumbles but our friendship became even deeper as mothers. I often believe that I get more from her than she does me. My nick-name all to often given to me by new people in my social circles is "Crazy Amy". I am a firework and my bestie is an even burning torch. I am yang and she is yin.
Most recently I have brought her along on the journey towards an end that I really need her strength, experience and way of thinking to be contributed in achieving. We are now enjoying the crazy ride as business partners in launching a new business. Our days are pretty comical when I look back on them...but man, are we being stretched to our limit. We are relying heavily on our previous education and experience. It is pretty intense. We have not had any mentoring in our endeavor, although we had a great time of getting some sage advice from my best-friend's mom...but we have pretty much been on our own for getting the ground work laid. Many hours of research, some in-congruence and then alignment are the norm in our days. Checking and double checking our math and formulas (we are both not fans or savants of math), proofreading our business presentation and keeping our focus on the big picture have been catalytic!

"If we work our tails off in the beginning then we can sit back and have our business run itself."

This is the one saying that we find ourselves repeating. We sometimes can't see the means to the end that we need to culminate at first and then we peg it for later. Everything works out and flows pretty well. We have allotted 6 hours a day to work. This is primarily because the bestie is an amazing mom and wife and has a schedule that she operates on in order to be able to get her homework done and her family settled in while she is in school most weeknights and some weekends. I tried school as a single parent and working, I just couldn't do it. I didn't have the support and my body and relationship with my son suffered. I admire her for fighting through challenges to get her school work done. What is her major? I take responsibility for that-massage therapy and wellness modalities. That is what I wanted to complete and eventually I will. We are both into wellness.

Wellness In Our Work
Going "a million miles a minute" is fantastic! We brainstorm like phenomenons that are immortalized in movies and idolized in the series of Dr.Who where the doctor verbalizes how quickly he thinks very eloquently...that is because his character has had 900 years to learn to correlate his speech with his rate of thought. We are not as eloquent and we have only been talking for 28/29 years. We have been experiencing the power of thought and ideas first hand. It is just fantastic...and exhausting. I find myself spinning out of control as my mind has been whirling about all of the eventualities to our decisions, the unanswered equations with missing formula components and the transition of moving from my current circumstances into different ones and all that comes along with them...and oh the responsibility that is coming my way BIG time as a CEO, President, trainer, mentor, communications relay and more! I am still a single mommy and life at home has to carry on.

This morning my bestie was wise enough to ensure that we did 30 minutes of yoga. It was my 3rd time in my life doing yoga. I found it centering as I communed with myself, listened to what my soul had been screaming at me and released everything in prayer. Yoga helped me to align my powerful intellect with my soul and my body. It is really odd to express that in such clarity even as I do. I grew up with constant strain on my person and through destructive communication I detached from my core self. I fight the notion daily that I am a black hole of joy, happiness, prosperity, peace and love. Yoga helped me to win the battle. How? Grounding.
The crazy thing is that after doing yoga I knocked my phone to the floor and the terrible thought and feeling cycle began again. I finally verbalized how I had been feeling for over 20 years, twice today!
My best-friend helped me to deal with what I was going through instead of my continued habit of emotional supression.
I had to walk away and get grounded again and pray. I went through a myriad of emotions. I finally came to a place of acceptance and exhaustion.

The lesson that I took away from today is that my wellness needs to be considered in everything that I do. My wellness of mind, body and soul, or spirit as some say. I am in a unique position right now in life and I need to stay at the top of my game, being instead of only doing is key. Being present, being in touch, and being grounded. Regardless of whether you work at home, or at a job that you like, it is important to take time for your wellness in your work, that is now my main law of operating!


Thanks for the read, here is to your wellness!

Amy Smith

What You Allow Is What Will Continue

What The Shrink Won't Tell You That Just Might Be Your Key To A New Outlook On Life

Reality Isn't Always Attractive

This blog is not about pretty niceties, it ay even seem a bit unattractive to you, regardless of how well thought out my construction was. There is no foul language. However, if I unintentionally offend your senses, I apologize. No, I am not a pessimist, a worrier, yeah sometime. I run from negativity, but it seems like negativity has been chasing me since before I knew its identity and I couldn't do anything

Because dream catching involves crafts

about it. I have felt defeated for over 10 years now. Defeat is a soul-crushing force. That is such a long time to hate one's self, to loathe one's own weaknesses and to despise one's own existence all while trying to pretend that you don't. That is what I have done and in pretending to be fine I have been living a lie. I got to the point of accepting that something has been wrong with me, even tried to get this apparent something fixed and you know what? This something is the effect of not being able to see what has really been plaguing me for over 10 years.

Today I told off the attitude that I felt chasing me. I can't say that I used nice language because that is not my default, not my mother's either. You see, I think that a bad, defeatest attitude is a lot like a bully. I did not face off and conquer my first bully until I was 19 years old. A few times in the past I mustered the ability to fight for basic human rights...my son's. I felt protective of my son, but not of myself. I have

suffered from a low self-esteem, more like no self-esteem. So ironic because I have an above average IQ, I am a big picture thinker and I am logical as well as pretty grounded in my philosophies. But if you believe that you are nothing, whatever your blue print actually is, regardless of how scientifically great, then that is what you become someone who isn't anyone of value on the inside.

 Growing A Spine

I was in the US Ar Force basic training at Lackland Air Force base. Unlike my fellow recruits I had contracted my first gastrointestinal virus in my life and I couldn't hold down my own saliva. To say that my morale was low is an understatement. I wanted to die. I was taking phenergan 3 times a day, Maalox and ibuprofen, forcing fluids and food in myself and training anyway. I had been accused of malingering by my training instructors and was really hopeless. Then I took a walk to the chaplain and talked out every feeling that I had about  my experience...and my words weren't pretty. I had a lot of emotional garbage to unload along the path across the base. By the time I finally saw the chaplain I felt better. I couldn't tell you why before today. 

I got back to the squadron and then in a few days, which felt like the longest days of my life, we moved on to our out of doors training week. That was my favorite week there. It was like going to church camp on steroids. I felt alive and like I was a part of something bigger than myself. I even got a coin on our

graduation day for that phase which fell on my 19th birthday, June 8th, 2001.

I was feeling great until we got back to the squadron. There was this one annoying trainee that I had previously hoped would suddenly be enlightened with the knowledge that she was a pain in the patuhkee.

I was repeatedly being badgered by a spoiled rotten, selfish southern Californian with no sense of service before self, or that other people mattered. She had led a cush life and I was the opposite, yet there I was overcoming health issues to succeed in passing my time run and beat her run time. My legs are longer.

Well, Airman/Trainee Ghee-oh(name altered for pronunciation) put another 2 cents in and I had enough. I knew my capabilities and had confidence in myself for the first time ever. I told her off, loudly and I used adult language. She shut up. And I got some looks of respect that I never anticipated from my fellow flight mates.

Later in the week after most of the girls had gone and we were in the restroom getting ready, she made a snide comment about kicking my caboose. I was applying make up to go out on the town. I put down my applicator. I then looked her in the eyes and said, "I've got nothing to lose. Let's go." The widening of her eyes was momentarily and then she pretended boredom and said, "Not worth it." Probably because unbeknownst to me, my rear looked amazing and intimidating on my 5 foot, eight inch very fit frame.

Timid and controlled Amy Jo had finally taken a stand and spoke her mind! I felt then that I could do anything! I had beaten that weak-minded squishy tart at push-ups, sit-ups and running time, and I knew that my intellect and self-discpline were superior. I did not have any self-doubt. I refused to believe all of the negative things that she had been saying, because I knew that they weren't true. I knew what I had overcome, knew what I could push my body and mind to do, and most importantly I knew the strength of my soul. I had unequivocal integrity and humility. I also had no idea that I was attractive beyond the attention that my chest got. "Beautiful" was a word that I did not hear about myself until I was 21 over the phone from my first boyfriend and I accepted it.

Depraved Adolescence

Why did it take until 19 for such a momentous event to occur? I was taught that meekness meant to be a doormat all my life and that self-defense was wrong, selfish and sinful. I had no practice defending myself because as a child I was not allowed to and then I was taught that I had no right to because my needs and wants never mattered. I had terrible programming, but it worked. I was a compliant child. The problem was that my thinking was so warped that when I began to take care of myself as a young adult, I felt guilty, dirty and like I needed to punish myself for becoming a woman. Where was my fighting spirit

No Thinking Or Self-Expression Allowed

then?

My adolescence was anything but nurturing. I will not regale you with the horror stories of my childhood, that is not your burden to bear. I am going to tell you that I learned that I needed deodorant only after needing it in public at the age of 10. I was unfamiliar with what a training bra was and that my late grandmother took me to get my first bra at the age of 11 and I was already a B cup. I did not know that a female should shave their under arm hair once it comes in as a socially acceptable hygienic practice until at the age of 12 I was in a swimsuit and publicly humiliated at a church youth gathering. Any effort that I made to embrace and celebrate my womanhood was literally met with my mother's brand of discipline. The regular milestones on the journey to becoming a woman that many young girls experience were unknown to me until I learned about them from other women or read of them in books.

Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman

My hair was way shorter

Britney Spears should have sang that song a lot earlier in her career for my benefit. Womanhood was unfamiliar territory. I was great as an airman, a softer soldier than an Army soldier, but not at navigating the social waters of the melting pot that was a military training base. I had left my social safety net in Colorado Springs, people who knew me as the adoptive daughter of bible college students. I had just begun to flourish as a person. Why did I leave? I thought that it was the only way to be able to afford to go to college, I needed to be able to get out to a place of my own, I wanted to travel and see the world and meet really attractive and intelligent guys like in books and on movies. I was so unprepared.

It wasn't enough to be physically fit. I wanted to have the close friendships that I had back home and the

dates. I lost myself as the days turned into weeks and months that I had to wait for my top secret clearance. Whatever I had gained in basic training began to soften as I had nowhere to work it out. The females were cruel and I only felt like fighting. I didn't want to fight, I wanted to have people like me for my personality like at home. I only hung out with guys as a solution. Which was ok until I was attracted to them and learned that men don't date "one of the guys". That was a painful lesson.

Inception

Not just a fantastic movie. I had a moment when the inception of fear took place. The freak show of the response that my military leadership had to 9/11 happening was awful. "Make sure that your living wills are updated, who your beneficiary is and call your next of kin." Of course to make matters even more interesting we were told what would happen should we be successful at our intelligence jobs and that if we made into and AWAC, should we be attacked we would go down with the plane and not evacuate with

parachutes because of our need to know information. My world of understanding what I was to do was shattered. Looking back now, I think that if I had been given a task and kept busy I would have done well. As it was, any sense of security and strength that I thought that I had was gone. Fear was like a virus that overcame my senses and my reasoning, unseen and unknown and undetected. There was no protocol to address the shock, what questions that we might be having, or how to instill any sense of purpose and unity. Morale decayed. And I began to have attacks that I didn't know were panic or anxiety attacks. I tried to re-classify into behavioral health in order to learn what I was dealing with and psychology had fascinated me, but I was discharged for asthma because I had started smoking to deal with the anxiety and my pectoral muscles were very tight, constricting my lungs.

Labels

Diagnosis by the stunted behavioral health personnel was post traumatic stress disorder-PTSD. Then again later on with a clear scientific explanation by a very kind mental health professional who also

explained attachment disorder...what an informative day that was. Oh, and the conditions come with such nice associates as apprehension, mistrust, abandonment issues, anxiety and depression. Therapy was a bust and sooo annoying. I feel that the person who talks the most is the patient, and man, did that woman talk a lot. I only got prescriptive treatment after an anxiety attack literally attacked my peripheral nervous system. I was at work in a call center as a representative for a wireless company and I began twitching and stuttering uncontrollably. It wasn't cute. I took an ambulance to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. I deigned to enjoy a 72 hour break. Turns out that when your husband leaves you pregnant and homeless, you learn that he wants a divorce as you are 8 months pregnant, you have your baby alone, go through a paternity proving appointment, your high school best friend commits suicide, you get divorced without representation the day before your 25th birthday, your learn that your now ex-husband remarries 3 & 1/2 weeks after your divorce, you try to attend college and work a full time job, and your boss in charge of your promotion lies to you because she is a maniacal control freak...that the psyche can't handle all of that in the course of a year.

Grinding Down

Trauma again and again and again. It kept chipping away at me, eroding any confidence that I had in myself of being of any importance, of being lovable, worthy of positive attention, strong, sane, of being a person at all. I felt like a hole in the world my whole life. The only times that I could remember having felt like I

was alright, like my needs, wants and desires mattered were only a handful; at the age of 3 1/2 before my mother went crazy, at 6 before my step-dad wouldn't believe that I had been harmed in a foster home that he put us in, when I was living with my adoptive parents at 17 and 18, when a man loved me and chose me forever...that was it. It felt like a terrible joke that I was a parent. Everyone had abandoned and thrown me away and now I was supposed to go against everything that I knew, to fight this PTSD monster and become someone and something better than my parents?!

The Paralytic Motivation

I didn't give up, I got motivated and I got educated; parenting classes, mommy groups and instructional television programming on inspirational teachings. I worked hard and I even mustered the confidence in myself to go to school again for something that I liked. But all the motivation in the world won't work to get you out of bed when your nervous system goes haywire and you are in complete unabating agony for 6 hours. I went to the ER that night in the fall of 2010, actually I was dropped off by my mother's second husband who was taking care of my son overnight so I could get treated and told to find my own way home. I had to have a shot of morphine. I had been working part-time and in school, I had barely enough money to pay my bills and get pull-ups for my 2 1/2 year old son, so a taxi was out of the question.The only person who could pick me up was a party who was interested in me for all the wrong reasons. I had no idea why my body had betrayed me and scared me with that much pain and I had nowhere to go for help and no one who had any answers. My body that had seen me through basic training, going out dancing 6 nights a week before marriage, and countless good times had become my own enemy. I was so afraid. I had no idea if I would deal with that pain again, how soon, or how bad. I was too ashamed of my life as a single parent to talk to my childhood best friend, her life was one that I wanted; husband, permanent home, rather sane family and somewhere nice. So, I ran and I tried trusting people who were not healthy. Everywhere I ran I was chased down by trauma, fear, anxiety and depression.

You can't outrun fear and the seeds that it carries. You can change your hair, go out, wear different

clothes, take different substances-liquid, smoke, solid, pharmaceutic, and illegal, you can move, but you can never shake fear. Why? Because fear is inside of you. You have to turn and face the monster that fear is and look at it for what it really is, a LIE. False Expectations Appearing Real. Your fear is the biggest, hairiest, nastiest lies about you! Every negative thing that you believe about yourself, every negative prophecy about how you are going to turn out just like whomever that you don't want to be like, or in a circumstance that terrifies you is going to completely defeat you, or in a situation that you can't see your way out of s going to destroy you, or that you will never have someone to love you like you want and need, etc;...is just not true!

The Truth

The truth shall set you free! You are made to succeed! You have everything inside of you that you need to be successful! You have drive to do more than just exist! Why?

The Truth Is Often Right In Front Of Us

You have a sense of humor! Laughter really is the best medicine. Remember in the Harry Potter installment of The Prisoner of Azkaban when the children were being taught by In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin how to deal with a Bogart? They were prepared by being told that the Bogart would manifest their deepest fear and that the only way that they could defeat it was to turn it into something funny because laughter would render it powerless! Think what you will of that book and movie series, but the author is on to something. 

Today I dealt with waves of torment as I tried to wash my dishes to music and stay objective. I am so glad that I listened to my son who got me watching Dr. Who. And after I took him to his Caravan meeting this afternoon, and after my shower, I sat and watched Dr. Who I was transported out of my small and unhappy world into another. I was completely distracted and I caught myself laughing out loud. Then I had this odd feeling of euphoria and then a sudden realization that I didn't feel fear and the onslaught of the awful thoughts that had been plaguing me non-stop. 

Something inside of me had severed the connection to whatever had been tormenting me. I applied my Dr. Who viewing experiences to my circumstance and I told off the negative way of thinking, like it was an attitude that I didn't agree with anymore and wouldn't accept. Do you see what I did? I would no tallow that way of thinking to continue! I told it out loud just as much and I didn't waste any more energy thinking about it and continued watching my show. I got up to go get my son a new person feeling free, capable and successful. Now I refuse to allow any defeating thoughts to take root in my mind, no negative thoughts that I will fail at life, no bad perspectives of myself and I am certainly going to keep my sense of humor sharp and ready!

The Secret Of Success

Success is a buzz word that is thrown around with the intention to inspire and motivate others. Let me tell you what, though. If I did not start my day by successfully getting in the shower like I needed to, or

successfully washing the dishes from the night before, or successfully becoming alert before getting on line and I see an inspirational quote about success-it annoys me. Why? Because I feel like a failure already and nothing that you can say or do will convince me otherwise. Wow, huh? "Success" starts with doing what is right by you as a person, for your self-care before you try to give to, or share with others.

For me not knowing that I needed to be kicking fear's behind daily has kept me from success, because I lived believing lies. I lived reflecting back from my eyes into the eyes of others their lying thoughts about me, their perspective of who I am because of the adversity that I have endured, and the expectations that our western culture has for what it calls success. I was defeated every day before I got out of bed. I was defeated in my sleep, in my dreams!  I was defeated before anyone looked at me because I was what I saw in the mirror and I did not believe in me, after all, why should I? No one else does. WRONG! That is a lie! Maybe I did not feel that anyone believed in me, and maybe I don't hear it enough because of how strong my personality is, but others do believe in me. My son, who's counting on me only felt like I was being burdened with a yoke that I could never bear and the farce was that I did, he believes in me. The most powerful thing that my son has said to me (even though it was regarding providing him with some small favor initially) has been, "Oh, thank you mommy! I knew that you wouldn't let me down!" How humbling that is to hear when I put it into the context that my son believes that I will always come through and succeed for him! Wow. Just simply wow. There is a universal law, that all a person needs to succeed is 1 person to believe in them, just 1. 

Well, I may not know who another person is, or what their battle is, but I can tell you right now that I understand having a battle that seems to never end and let me tell you that I believe in the human spirit and that I believe in your spirit and your ability to overcome whatever you are dealing with! Why do I believe that you have the ability to overcome what you are dealing with? Because not only have I overcome, but many people have, many leaders that you would not think came from adverse backgrounds and faced insane odds to be successful in achieving amazing things; Albert Einstein, Celine Dion, George Washington Carver, Winston Churchill and many others. Your circumstances do not define who you are! 

Remember that what you allow is what will continue.

About your author

Amy Smith is an e-world presence in efforts to share internet marketing success with others. Her
YouTube channel WorkingWithAmyAtHome features posts about her discoveries in hopes to aid others in discovering their potential to have the freedom to work at home.

 

 

 

 

 *This Blog and Video the intellectual property of Amy J. Smith, all rights reserved 2013

Income After Disability

Discovering Disability

The shock that a person has a serious condition when they visit the Emergency Room is like being burdened with an invisible Bushmaster snake to carry around-you can feel the weight of it, you know how deadly it is, but you don't have the ability to get it off of you. Late in July in 2011 I left work after being unable to stand due to excruciating pain. I had the very humbling experience of being in a wheelchair for 2 weeks straight and it shook me to my core. I felt very defeated, like a social pariah and did not have much hope of a regular life moving forward.

This is soooo not my favorite place! But my visits here have educated me as to why I can't work at a regular job, with regular hours and be anywhere near as healthy as most people. I need other options and I have been looking for them, applying for possible jobs and trying to buy work at home education. I am stuck, I am needing more information and help and like so many people waiting for disability, I need it now.

The Crucible To Beginning To Fight

January of 2011 I got the confirmation of my worst fears(at that time) and complicating news- I had Fibromyalgia and since it is considered a secondary condition I went to a rheumatologist and learned that I had Lupus markers. I was in denial. I was only 28 and a single parent without family support. I had just tried to give my estranged mother the opportunity to be a part of my life and had moved to Florida right before Christmas. I had had a sneaking suspicion that something was not right with my health after going through a pathology course in college and I wanted a safe place to be able to handle the news of a sure diagnosis. Instead I found myself in a domestically violent environment with a 3 year old. I was homeless with a child for the first time and scared out of my wits. I didn't have enough money to get back to Colorado Springs, so I called my ex-husband's mother to see if we could come to North Carolina. Let me just say that we spent the night in Georgia with a really great friend and spent one night in North Carolina and we haven't had much communication since. I had a friend in New York and I liked a college there. I thought that I would be ok if I had a chance for a new start. I was so wrong. I tried very hard to get stable, but the housing was too expensive and then when my physical strength began to wane and I couldn't wait tables anymore.

A Brick Wall & A Sheer Cliff

My soul-crushing moment was July 29th when I left my job in an ambulance because I couldn't walk or stand. I spent the next 2 weeks in a wheelchair. I felt defeated and hopeless.

I was fortunate to have a kind doctor and an altogether efficient medical experience. I got on a total of 9 prescriptions and I was able to walk again, but without the massive amounts of caffeine that I had been used to being on my stamina was really that of a 4 year old. I only had 4-6 hours of energy and crashed to nap whether I wanted to or not. I kept stuffing the feelings that I felt and the depression & anxiety with medication. I finally admitted defeat after a month of struggling and losing my apartment and most of my possessions. I called up my step-dad, who I knew would have space for us, and I came back to Widefield, Colorado. I got an education first-hand about what a traumatic brain injury does to a person. My son and I quickly became a burden and were in transition again. I struggled again living only on public assistance as I got weaker and started to put on weight from the medications that I was taking. No energy, no help and no hope-that is what I woke up with every day. No answers, no love input, stress and anxiety were what clung to me as I medicated myself to be able to sleep. Fears and questions about my son's future haunted me. Feeling inadequate, broken, and like walking dead weight are not exactly self-esteem friendly things.
When I had lost my keys for the 2nd time in a week only to find them on top of my vehicle and had too many , "What was I doing? What was I looking for?" moments all to often. I went to my really nice doctor and got an MRI of my brain and then I waited. I had hoped that I was just concerned about nothing, but the more I had researched and learned about FMS-fibromyalgia, the more I discovered about PTSD, depression and anxiety and the nervous system, both parasympathetic and autonomic, the more I felt dread at what results I would receive. I have a great reference in my 21st edition of Taber's Medical Dictionary. I also had read the material for my pathology course while at a medical trade school and I read topics online via Google & Wikipedia.
My doctor told me not to worry, that I was probably fine, but if my results said something different that he would refer me to a neurologist.
I got my referral to a neurologist in the mail after my 30th birthday. That was my breaking point. I was in a further decline than I thought, but I didn't have the luxury of giving up or getting worse.

If Nothing Changes I Have No Future

I had to find a solution because I am a very solution-minded, positive individual. I would go somewhere

that I was loved and supported, that would have warmer weather and where I would not have so many bad memories, and maybe a chance to thrive and to take care of my son. After all, what kid deserves the life that living below poverty affords?
 
I made a fearless attempt at starting over in Mesa, Arizona and thought that I was doing well, but I was dosing myself with caffeine to make it through 14-16 hour days for months on end, and I re-injured my sacral illiac joint that put me in a wheel chair and the pressures of a hostile work environment...I just couldn't push any longer. But every morning I got up and did it for my son. I had been working 6 days a week trying to pay my down-payment for my vehicle because I couldn't walk miles at a time. I lived on $20 a week for food, I paid $145 for childcare and I was broke.
I lost my job the day after Christmas. I was just a temp, disposable and when I didn't cow to a permanent employee's bullying I was a threat. I had been having to medicate to be able to get through each week.
As scared as I was to be unemployed, I was actually relieved. I went to DES and I got the food benefit, for the first time I was able to fill my cupboards and fridge. I had time to go to the doctor, time to talk to a disability attorney, time to drop my son off at school, time to bake and cook healthy food, time to pick him up, time to help him with his homework and time to shower.

Creative Solutions For Income

The challenge was keeping my apartment and vehicle and my bills while not becoming ineligible for disability. Wow is that ever a challenge!  A person is deemed unable to do conventional work because of health, but you have to make money to live, how? I found part time contract work, but the guy reminds me how his business is not doing well and how he can't afford me. So, I look for and apply for at home

customer service jobs and I don't get them. I have a headset and laptop cooling pad now, though.
Then there is the "get paid to post ads, pay to learn how" and I went through my share of painful lessons(with refunds) on how to get into internet marketing. I was lucky enough to meet a couple great mentors in this journey and a couple of great ladies, one of whom brought me a life changing product and I will be chronicling my journey back to health as well. I did not know how to effectively market the ahhh-mazing things that I found people could really use; a pre-paid cell phone service that pays for itself, travel coverage for my vehicle that goes beyond what insurance will do(unless you can afford the premiums), the wellness products that I discover work and of course my favorite commodity- knowledge.
I learned that ignorance is expensive and that a dedicated mentor is worth their weight in gold. It is important to be patient and to have faith, and to have a treadmill, and to eat regularly & hydrate, and to sleep...oh is that a challenge. Stress is the mother if insomnia and partner to anxiety which doesn't stop jabbering. So, I guess my really lesson that I have learned today is to reach out when I am frustrated, confused and scared and not to keep it to myself. I can work at home, because I have to and I am not alone in this journey.

Stress Fights Your Wellness

 As defined by http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/stress

Definition

Stress is defined as an organism's total response to environmental demands or pressures. When stress was first studied in the 1950s, the term was used to denote both the causes and the experienced effects of these pressures. More recently, however, the word stressor has been used for the stimulus that provokes a stress response. One recurrent disagreement among researchers concerns the definition of stress in humans. Is it primarily an external response that can be measured by changes in glandular secretions, skin reactions, and other physical functions, or is it an internal interpretation of, or reaction to, a stressor; or is it both?

Description

Stress in humans results from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being. The element of perception indicates that human stress responses reflect differences in personality, as well as

differences in physical strength or general health.

Risk factors for stress-related illnesses are a mix of personal, interpersonal, and social variables. These factors include lack or loss of control over one's physical environment, and lack or loss of social support networks. People who are dependent on others (e.g., children or the elderly) or who are socially disadvantaged (because of race, gender, educational level, or similar factors) are at greater risk of developing stress-related illnesses. Other risk factors include feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, extreme fear or anger, and cynicism or distrust of others.

Compartmentalize Your Stress

The way I see stress is my reaction to my perceived circumstance being the cause. Think of the last thing that stressed you out and then the outcome and the fact that you are still here today.

Here is my example: Homeless 11 weeks pregnant with a dog, a cat, possessions & no job due to horrendous morning sickness.
Solution: Reaching out to others for help, got help moving, dog & cat got new homes & I got well
enough to work.
That was 7 years ago, but at the time I felt like my world was coming to a crashing halt the day that my then husband handed my divorce papers and a 48 hour vacate notice.
What was most paralyzing about the experience? Fear. A friend once told me that fear is just an acronym;
False
Expectations
Appearing
Real
I remember that when I am overcome by feelings of fear. On July 29th, 2006 my world stopped, but it did not come to an end. I did not dissolve into a helpless puddle of nothingness. I put my stress in a box and became active, vocal and unrelenting to get where I needed to be. The few relationships that I had and the kindness of others bore me through that time. This is my seed for hope.

The reality that you might be that what you are facing right now could be more than you can bear, but it is temporary!
If your stressor is your work environment, then it might be time for a change. I could tell you studies and stories about people who have had extreme health improvements just by changing what they are doing for work.

                                                         Wellness Wheel

Wellness: Occupational

Unless you are a trust-fund baby, you have to work. To achieve wellness in working it takes more than just a job that you like and an income that you can live on, it takes having a supportive network that not only feeds into you, but that you can give back into to feel like you are a part of something and that you have a value that others need. Take time to cry and vent, then look at your goals and ask for help when you need it to get to those goals.

You may need to evaluate a few things;

Why do I work where I do?
Is this the job I want in 5, 10 or more years?
Am I treated with respect here?
Do I have more income potential?

My questions were a bit more based on working for 14 years and feeling stuck.
How come people with degrees and less experience get higher paying positions than me?
I can't afford the time for school to finish my degree, but I need more money...why doesn't anyone listen to my ideas?

I had to find something that outlet my creativity so that I was not stressed anymore when I was trying to make an income. Stress is also a creativity killer, a strategy killer and overall your brain's cement boots.

Success doesn't happen overnight, it might take a week, or two to see the fruits of your labor, sometimes a month or longer. You just have to not put down the tools. And don't try to go it alone.

Your work should not consume all of your energy hours of the day. It is important to make time for wellness activities, like yoga, walking(which helps defeat my insanity and anxiety), and of course taking time to create a healthy meal, to create something and relax your brain.

Working At Home 

I see having a work at home job as having a way to control multiple aspects of my wellness wheel my occupational, environmental, intellectual, emotional and spiritual wellness. Why? Because for the most
part, I control what I come in contact with and that affords me a sense of security, elongates my energy and provides me with a sense of fulfillment that allows me to sleep better at night and wake up with peace that I had previously never known.

Can you put a price on; 

Lower blood-pressure?
Lower weekly expenses?
More time?
No one telling you what to do?
No one questioning your capabilities, intellect, or motives?
No one talking down to you?
No harassment?
Getting to know people that you like and choosing whom you work with?

I think that you would feel the freedom of having your little universe in the palm of your hand, like the above tiny tree, a micro-ecosystem contained and calm.

Maybe you owe it to yourself to look into working at home.

For more information and to start working with me at home the smart, productive and affordable way.

Please see my blog thefreemarketenterprise.blogspot.com for how to work at home too!
WorkingWithAmyAtHome YouTube channel

*This Blog is the intellectual property of Amy J. Smith, all rights reserved 2013