Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Publishing" in Relationships, Parenting & Personal Development

No one said motherhood would be easy. For Adiba Nelson, the journey to parenthood started with a big bang and continues with a breakdown (or two) and several “why?” questions for God.

Is everything terrible? Is your life going to shit and your brain’s convinced you that you’re utterly screwed? Have you found yourself in a dark place with no way out? Are you having trouble holding onto reality and getting out of the dumps? All of the above? Sounds like you’re freaking out. Simone has been there, and she made herself a book to remind her exactly what to do to get herself out of danger. She has used that template here, so that you can create your own guide suited to your needs. She also shares the vital skills that she has learned over the years.

Friendship is one of the most important yet most underrated necessities of life. A sense of connection and belonging is a key part of being human, and there are boundless benefits from having close friends who know everything about you, can help you out in a pinch, can be there with you through all the joys and hardships of life, and for whom you can be such a friend in turn. But making and keeping friends becomes increasingly difficult when we become adults with busy careers, family responsibilities, and dispersed locations.

Downsizing your home or possessions can be a tough project to finish - or even start. From simple logistics to complex feelings, the process can quickly overwhelm without a plan in place. Here’s help organizing and accomplishing your decluttering; Downsizing: The 5-Step Method for Life Transitions Big and Small. Written by a minimalism expert, this straightforward guide draws from real life experience and offers actionable advice for specific situations.

Everyone reads the headlines. Millennials aren’t buying diamonds or saving for retirement. Millennials want cushy jobs handed to them by organizations with futuristic nap pods. Millennials are killing the housing market because they eat too many avocados. The truth is, millennials were raised being told they could do anything if they worked hard, and then they worked hard only to be told the world owes them nothing. Here’s a headline people need to read: Millennials were set up. The tide of young adults standing up for themselves is culminating in massive societal change.

Fishing was Mark Hume’s passion since he was a young boy, a lifeline through a childhood marked by his family’s frequent moves. When he became a father, he knew he wanted to pass on his love of water, fishing, and the natural world to his daughters. Most of all, he wanted to give them hope for their future. As soon as they were old enough, Mark taught his girls how to read the water and see the patterns in nature. He discovered that fly fishing and fatherhood require many of the same skills: patience, flexibility, and the knowledge of when to reel in and when to let go.

You already know Mr. Darcy—at least you think you do! The romantic hero of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy initially insults and ignores the witty heroine but eventually succumbs to her charms. It’s a classic enemies-to-lovers plot and one that has profoundly influenced our cultural ideas about courtship. But what if this classic isn’t just a grand romance but a horror novel about how scary love and marriage can be for women? In The Darcy Myth, literature scholar Rachel Feder unpacks Austen’s Gothic influences and how they have led us to a romantic ideal that is halfway to being a monster story.

Relationship coach Denna Babul is here to tell women the real truth: You have to change your narrative to change your life. The search for love is a booming business in the United States. There is speed dating, matchmaking, online dating, and every other modality under the sun to help women find love. However, finding love is not the issue. Finding the right love and sustaining it is where the difficulty lies. More than any other time in history, women are facing their problems head-on.

Some writers look at life with their eyes, others with their heart. In this collection of evocative, funny, and moving stories, Peter Damm does both. These are vignettes of growing up in small town, rural Michigan, but also a closely observed portrait of mid-century America. The tone is alternately wry, elegiac, poignant, and humorous, as Damm recalls the joys of fishing on a northern lake, the rigors and confusion of childhood, or feasting on blueberries in autumn.

The experience of the Vietnam War is almost impossible to grasp - the fear, smell, pain, and camaraderie. Boys were turned into men, men were transformed into soldiers, and then from soldiers to warriors. These warriors had wives who shared in their transformations. Some marriages were strengthened, while for others men and their families were left emotionally and spiritually battered. Focusing in on a singular company’s experience of war and its eventual homecoming, Andrew Wiest discusses the shared experience of combat and both the darkness and resiliency of war’s aftermath.

The onset of cold weather brings out the boots, coats, gloves - and the stoplight-red “Flu Shots Available Here” signs in drugstore windows. For many scientists and public health specialists alike, flu season has become a little like Russian Roulette. The likelihood of a deadly pandemic outbreak of influenza is not far from reality considering the nature of some of the different viral strains. In this book, we delve into the science of the flu, starting with past pandemics and what we can learn from them.

An infant born in the US today will probably live more than 20 years longer than the average lifespan a century ago. While living well into the 80s and 90s is becoming more and more attainable, how many more years can humanity expect to gain? And how can we raise the quality of those later years? The two main barriers are accumulated damage to cells and organs that occurs over time and age-related illnesses like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

While many of us strive to live healthy lives, the task can be daunting and the information overwhelming. Should we be more concerned with our diet or with keeping our weight down? How important is exercise? What kinds of diseases should we really be worried about getting - or preventing? In Eat, Move, Think: Living Healthy, we’ve assembled a number of stories on what we think sums up a healthy lifestyle, as well as some of the common obstacles faced in trying to achieve it. 

Letters from a Better Me is a transformational guide igniting the powerful woman inside us that we’ve suppressed for too long. Discover how holding onto anger, fear, hate, and separation traps us in an ongoing cycle of destruction. Now is our time to become the best versions of ourselves and have a lasting effect on the world. The journey starts with taking a trip into our own darkness. We take off our blinders and see how these attacks on our womanhood affect us on deep levels. Once we are aware, we accept what is and heal from the past.

It’s always somebody else’s kid - until it’s yours. When Katherine James and her husband found out their son was using heroin, their responses ran the gamut: disbelief, anger, helplessness, guilt. As they struggled to come to grips with their son’s addiction and decide how best to help him, their home became a refuge for an unlikely assortment of their son’s friends, each with their own story, drawn by the simple love and acceptance they found there - “the Lost Boys”, James calls them.

Filled with clear and practical solutions, this step-by-step, room-by-room guide to simple home modifications helps seniors make their homes safer and easier to navigate. Age in Place is designed to help seniors and their caregivers address these new challenges together and make life at home safer, more manageable, and less stressful for all.

Leap of Power, written by psychologist and author Robert Schwebel, offers a fully articulated and proven programmatic alternative to the millions of adults who have a substance use disorder, and to their friends and families, and to the professionals who provide counseling to them. It casts a wide net with a welcoming and nonjudgmental tone, and is filled practical advice about how people can and do take control of their lives, including their use of alcohol and other drugs.

More than three years in the making, this book changes everything for Alzheimer’s couples and caregivers. When her husband, Mike, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Rosalys Peel made a deal with him. Together, they vowed that they would manage Alzheimer’s in their own home and go right on living life as normally as possible for as long as possible. Over the next 10 years they found new ways to defy and surpass virtually all the typical Alzheimer’s statistics. Despite Mike’s illness they pursued their dreams, traveled the world, helped raise their granddaughter, and more.

Being a mom is challenging no matter how long you’ve been doing it. You want to give your best to your family, but pouring yourself out each day can leave you exhausted, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have nothing left to offer. In Unraveled, authors and fellow moms Stacey Thacker and Brooke McGlothlin encourage you to start finding strength and peace in the One who loves you most.

Bystander intervention is simply overcoming that “freeze” instinct and getting back to the very human desire to take care of one another. It’s not about being the hero, strapping on spandex, and saving the day. And it certainly isn’t about sacrificing your own safety. From the nonprofit organization Hollaback!, I’ve Got Your Back teaches listeners the ins and outs of bystander intervention using Hollaback!’s methodology: the 5D’s of bystander intervention—distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct.