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Maybe Forgotten, but So Important

On my way to my workout in the morning I often listen to a podcast. It is about a half hour drive to the gym I go to, so I decided to use the time in the car for my mobile university. I don’t always do this, but most days I do and am fired up and ready for the day and my workout by the time I arrive. This morning I was finishing up a few podcasts I had started and something hit me. I may have missed sharing an important key for you this month as we focused on overwhelm. I then did my devotions after my workout. (Yes, the days I travel to do my workout I have been doing my time with God a bit later.)

I go to Panera after my workout, grab my coffee, put on some quiet reflective music and spend time with the Lord. It is amazing how much noise canceling headphones can do for you while at a public space! I listen to a mix of instrumental christian music and it has been so uplifting as I read and spend time with the Lord.

Today, after I finished my devotions I realized what I have been sharing about overwhelm could be shifted a bit. Though I am giving you some helpful tips on my podcast to move out of overwhelm, and I will continue on Monday with more ways to move you through the feelings, but I wanted to emphasize something today. Though it was implied, I don’t know if I really encouraged you to trust in the Lord FIRST and More. It was an underlying thought for me, and I assumed you were already bringing your overwhelmed feelings to the Lord, but why should I assume you are doing that? Honestly, we often do all the things (the worry, the counsel, the complaining, the wishing things were different, etc.) we do all of those things before we bring things to God. I am not saying you didn’t go to Him first, but often we don’t.


What if we put everything we are worried and overwhelmed about into our God box? What if we fully surrendered our need to control and shifted it back to God? What if we let go and let Him lead? What if we chose to be in gratitude for everything we had? I mean everything!

In my devotions this morning the author was referencing Job. If you don’t know the story of Job, I encourage you to read the book of Job. In Job 1, verses 20 to 21, Job’s reaction is so amazing. I do not know if I would have reacted to all of the trauma hitting me the way Job did. I mean, my reactions to my overwhelm were not close and what I was facing was nothing compared to what Job went through all at one time! Within a few minutes he lost his children, property, livestock, and most of his servants. Seriously, so much! This really hit me when I read these two verses this morning. 

“Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to WORSHIP He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Job‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ (Emphasis mine)

When tragedy hits your life, is this your reaction? Do you fall down and worship? I will honestly say I don’t act this way. When I was in my state of overwhelm several weeks ago, I was set in self-pity. I was not worshiping the Lord. Now, I called out to God and asked Him for guidance. I pleaded with God for relief for the angst I was feeling, but I was focused on ME, MY pain, MY frustration, MY disbelief things were working out for me… Do you hear the common word in those sentences? “MY” Me, Me Me! 

If we learn anything from Job, we realize his example is the one we get to pattern our lives after. Now, I know it will take practice to really put aside self to be in a place to react to things like Job, but his example shows us, if we fully rely on God, He will give us the strength to walk through whatever overwhelm we are going through. 

One of the ways we can really push through overwhelm is gratitude. I have talked about this before, but I challenge you to stop, grab a piece of paper and start writing down your gratitude. What are you truly grateful for? I think when I say we focus on what we can control, a huge area we can control is our gratitude. What all are you able to thank the Lord for today?

My goodness, do we have so much to be grateful for. If Job can fall down and worship the Lord and thank Him during such turmoil, we can thank the Lord too! You have the capability to read this blog, which means you have a phone or some other device, you have access to the internet, you have a space where you can read this safely, you may be drinking a coffee or some water while reading this. You have a working toilet, running water, heat or air for your home, a home, clothing beyond what is on your back… should I go on?

Now, I am not saying whatever you are going through is not difficult and the pain you feel is absolutely real, but there is another side of the pain. There is comfort from the Lord. There is hope in His plan, timing and direction. You have so much to be grateful for my friend. This feeling you are contending with will pass. You get the opportunity each day to wake up, rise and make decisions to move forward as you trust in HIm.

My friends, no matter how overwhelmed you feel, stepping into gratitude, turning your focus off of yourself and back to God will change the perspective for you! I would love for you to reply with a few things you are grateful for. Keep on the journey to Flourishing my friends! 

If you didn’t know, or haven’t had a chance to listen, here is the link to my podcast. Listen Here.

I’m Back & A Bit About Reviewing

Well, hello, friend! I have been absent for quite some time. You may even be wondering, “Who is this and why is she posting all of a sudden?’. This is Stephanie Book and I am so glad to be back with you.

I took some time to evaluate and decide what direction I wanted to take my blog and explore some different avenues. I needed some time to focus and find my direction. Lots of time and life has gone by, but I feel more focused and ready to step back in. I will be posting some blog posts, but if you haven’t heard, I started a podcast. I am so excited about this step and have wanted to do this for a long time. You can hear my first episode ​here​ or click on the podcast button above.

Flourish in Health podcast is where I will help others see their lives beyond where they are and learn to move from places where they feel stuck toward a flourishing life. I hope to walk the journey with you as we learn to recognize our true identity of who God has made us. Then apply a reframed mindset to combat the lies we have been believing about ourselves. We will walk the journey of health physically, but most of all mindfully. We will apply new habits of thinking and a turn toward a life that is flourishing.

I would love for you to check it out, subscribe, leave a review and share it with others you think it may encourage. I appreciate you and I know that together we will continue to build a flourishing life. Ok, enough about the podcast and on to what I wanted to share.


Where is the Year Going?

Anyone else feel like this year is flying by? I mean, how are we already at the end of June?

I don’t know about you, but around this time of year I take a look back and see what the year has brought me so far. It is good to reflect and you are able to learn so much. I hear so much about reviewing your week, month, quarter and year, but I really don’t do it as much as I would like. Typically, I do a few reviews in a year, but I want to create a new habit to review more often.

In my coaching business we use a MAP that helps us review and I am thankful for that. I have done this MAP every single month since August of 2018 and I can go back and learn so much from them! I have been able to see the victories and the ups and downs of my coaching business. (Remember success is NOT a straight line! But, that is a topic for another day!) My MAP helps me see how important it is to review and I can definitely see the benefits if I do a review in other areas of my life as well!

So what does reviewing do for you? Here are a few things I believe a regular time of reviewing can do for you!

The Benefits of Reviewing Our Progress:

Celebrate what you have done

Yes, a review will also help you see what you haven’t finished, but I like to start with what we did do. We are so quick to judge ourselves without any chance of celebration for what we have accomplished. This is why I know that if I reviewed each week, month, and quarter, it would make the yearly review so much easier. Here is our first benefit of reviewing our progress, We are able to see what all we have accomplished, be grateful and then celebrate. There will always have a to do list that never seems to be completed, but if we focus on what we have done and what we have created, this will make a big impact as we move forward! This is why there are so many benefits of reviewing our progress.

We will always have a to do list that never seems to be completed, but if we focus on what we have done and what we have created, this will make a big impact as we move forward!

Recognize what you love to do

When we review, we are able to see our patterns and habits and recognize what we love and what’s important to us. Our second benefit of reviewing our progress is to find out what we love to do. Where has our time gravitated toward? Where did you spend your pockets of time? What did you always make time for? Did you decide what makes you happy? What came together without thinking? (a habit was formed)

One thing I do track is my movement each week and month. As I look over the weeks and months, I can see the days that I typically skip the workouts or have less motion. This will allow me to set goals for baby steps of improvement and help me question why those days may be filled with less movement. You can ask yourself questions to learn and grow. NOT to blame and shame yourself (remember we are focusing on what we did Do first!) Plus, I have learned that movement is a priority to me and I make it a priority most days!

See where you can grow

After we have been grateful for what we have done and taken time to celebrate our wins, then we can have a clearer view to set the next goals and steps for the week. Our final benefit of reviewing our progress is to see where we can grow. What did we learn about our habits? Where could we use some improvement? What are we loving that we want to make sure we have made time for? See? This review allows us to see so much more than a list of things we didn’t accomplish!

I know I am going to focus on reviewing more and so I am going to set a goal for July to review the end of each week for 5 minutes. My goal is to go through each of these 3 areas and see what I find out.

If you review, I would love to know how

often you do it and what all do you evaluate!


So, a quick review of reviewing! Ha!

  • Celebrate What You Have Done
  • Recognize What You Love to Do
  • See Where You Can Grow


After reviewing you would want to gather what you have learned and create a plan of action for your next step. We will talk about this another day.

Do you review? If so, how often? How do you see this could be a benefit to you? Journal on these questions and let me know! Remember, we are on a journey together and the best way to be together is to connect with one another!

As always, thank you for joining me on the journey. I hope you see your amazingness today! 

Making Time for You

Is self care bringing you joy?

Monday morning I went on a walk/run and enjoyed the moments in the windy fresh air. It was really windy, but fortunately it wasn’t too cold to enjoy being outside. As I was running I was listening to a book and it was talking about taking time for self care. What’s funny is earlier that morning I was catching up on some podcasts and self care was the topic too. Maybe I am supposed to hear what they were saying? 

I am all for self care and have been learning to make this more of a priority in my day. However, I was challenged to see if I really was practicing this fully. I realized that even though I may have been aiming for self care, I could do a little more.

One thing that struck me was the author asked you to write down a few things you like to do that you don’t make time for. She said to write down something that brings you joy and isn’t something you have to do. I wrestled with this for awhile because most of what I do has led to something I have to do for someone or something. So, I paused the audiobook and started thinking more.

I realized after spending some time thinking, I have not made much time for things that bring me joy. However, I am an advocate for taking care of yourself. Even though I listen and grow to books and podcasts, I don’t think that is what I need. I enjoy learning and applying what I learn, but most of the time it is tied to doing something better or more effectively. Most of what I was doing for self care was for me to strive to be better, not for joy.

Time to examine

So, I am on a quest to really think about this and examine what I like to do a little more. As moms, so often we put aside the things we love and enjoy for our kids. I love being a mom and am thankful for the opportunity I have to be a mom to my kids. However, I lost a little of me along the way.

One of the things that finally did come to my mind was pictures. Every time I run I always take a picture or two of things I see along the way. Many times they are not great pics and many of them are taken while I am running. Anyone see Yes Man? I always think of that movie when I do that. lol. However, I enjoy looking for something to catch my eye to take a picture of during my time outside.

I post the pictures and many times they are not great, but I still find joy in them. I was thinking about why I don’t spend more time taking pictures of things I see along the way. Why not stop and “smell the roses” and take some more time to snap some pictures of what I see.

Quarantine lessons

Since the quarantine we have really enjoyed watching the pond by our house. The pond used to be covered with brush so we have never had a Spring with the pond seen. We have had our nature lessons as we watched geese, ducks, blue herons, and an egret stop at the pond. There are a few other furry animals, I am guessing they are muskrats. Anyhow, I have been pulling out the camera to take a few pictures. The pictures are not anything that would win prizes, but they are little pieces of our day captured in time.

Maybe this quarantine and time to reflect on self care has been good for finding a hobby? Even if nobody ever sees the pictures, I still enjoy capturing what I see. The next warmer and less windy day I will grab my camera instead of my iPhone. I will spend some quality self care time snapping some pictures along the way.

This is only the beginning of ideas that are beginning to flood my mind for joyful self care items. I look forward to discovering more about what I can enjoy as the days move forward.

I encourage you to take time to examine what you are actually doing for self care? Do you set time aside each day to do something just for you? How about spending a little time focusing on you and nobody else? What brings you joy that you haven’t done in a long time?

Let’s work together to encourage each other to spread our wings and start doing things to brighten our days. When we take care of ourselves, we will have a lot more available to give once we are done. What will you try doing? Let me know!