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Meet our featured beauty with brains Chitra Cynthia Nathan, a relationship counsellor based in Sydney, Australia. She is the owner of 3R Counselling (http://www.3rcounselling.com.au) and works from her heart.

Here is an interview with her.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself, your hobbies, dreams, passions etc.

My name is Cynthia Nathan, I’m an Indian, Malaysian. I’ve been married for the last 22 years to my husband Ravi and we have 2 teenagers, Rani 18 and Rajan 16.

We migrated to Australia 12 years ago but we remain very close and connected to our family and friends back in KL. We have a lovely community of friends and neighbors here in Sydney too and we feel very blessed and thankful for it all.

2. You run a counselling service. Can you share some basic tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?

I am a qualified Relationship Counselor and a Marriage and Relationship Educator. I opened my private practice 3R Counselling which stands for Relationship ,Responsibility & Reality (of marriage) in 2017 after facing a job redundancy, which at that time left me a little lost and hopeless but as they say ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, the rest is history!

In my past jobs I had worked with couples and their children facing separation and divorce. It was very painful, sad and difficult to witness families shatter, their struggles with custody battles and then single parenting etc.

I often worked with helping the children voice their pain and helping the parents come to a new understanding of co-parenting despite their divorce & new living arrangements. It was sad and difficult to comprehend most times. The recent stats in Australia show that 1 in 3 couples end up in divorce.

It then became a true passion of mine to help couples prepare for and to build a strong foundation for their journey into marriage and to hopefully try to prevent these things from happening in the long run. After all, when we know better we can all do better. I feel that Pre Marriage Education is a great prevention method especially since the course itself has been researched for over 40 years on thousands of couples around the world.

Also with DV being on the rise in our country, I believe that the Pre Marriage Education Course, Bringing Baby Home Program and Relationship Couple Check Up’s that I offer will help prevent violence from happening in families. These courses are all cleverly targeted at helping couples thrive at different stages of their relationship by providing them with the skills and tools to overcome such struggles and challenges that are inevitable to all families.

Some great tips on maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse is to never forget to be each other’s best friend, to make time intentionally to connect with and talk to each other daily with a date night or 2 per month and to always uphold our vows and commitment to marriage with each other.

3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

In 10 years from now, I see myself training other counsellours and professionals to run these wonderful programs that I offer in strengthening both couple and family lives. I see my small private practice growing and thriving in helping couples from all walks of life to achieve the best they can for their marriage and beyond.

4. How do you define happiness and what makes you truly happy?

Happiness for me is defined by the lives I can help touch and bring some intended change into. When someone feels touched by my work, words or sincere gestures, I feel true happiness in my heart and I thank God for the opportunity to have crossed paths with them. Happiness to me is ultimately to lead a life in service to others.

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Shannon Miriah, a law enforcement officer based in Colorado, USA.

She is 31 years old, lives in southwest Colorado and has been in law enforcement for about 2.5 years, 6ish including dispatching. Hostage negotiator, possibly SWAT team in the nearish future. She enjoys baking, music, working out, reading, hunting, fishing. She feels she can be “one of the guys” but also enjoy being a girl.

Here is an interview with her.

1. What are your hobbies, dreams and aspirations?

I have many different hobbies. I enjoy running and for the most part lifting weights. I like riding horses, although I am very novice! Fishing, hunting (also novice on this one). I love to read and enjoy knitting.

My dreams include living on a nice piece of land in SW Colorado, where I can have a garden and some animals (I want goats so bad!). I also hope to travel. I would love to go to Ireland, Italy, England, Spain… everywhere!

I aspire to be the best I can be in my field and to keep learning. I also aspire to be the best human I can be. I want to improve upon myself, and hope to be able to help people going through difficult times, by sharing difficult times I have been through.

2. What does a typical day in your life look like?

Honestly, my days vary so much it’s difficult to say what a “typical” day is. I work night shift, so a typical work day is me waking up around 3 pm, drinking a cup or two of coffee, getting in some sort of workout, then showering and heading off to work. Days off, I wake up mid-morning, drink coffee, and catch up on house work.

3. What does women empowerment mean to you?

I believe I take a pretty different view of women empowerment than a lot of people. In a way, I believe women have concentrated in giving so much “equality” to women, that we have negatively tilted the scales. I do take great pride in being a strong, independent woman and being able to be “one of the guys.” I also enjoy being able to take “advantage” of different aspects of being a woman.

Because I am a woman, if I choose to have a child and breastfeed, my place of employment has to accommodate me. Because I am a woman, people tend to think twice about fighting with me, and I’m able to talk people down better than most men. I don’t want to be treated equally to men.

I can be strong, and stand up for myself, but when needed, I can let the man handle the job. I can shoot a gun, kill an animal, change out a light fixture. But I can also ask my man to do it for me.

Women empowerment to me, means being proud of every aspect of being a woman, and not complaining about being treated “different.” We ARE different, and it’s a beautiful thing!

4. Have you faced any gender based obstacles in your personal and professional lives?

Not as many as you may think. I have actually found the opposite, that being a woman in a man-dominated field has worked to my advantage. It’s often appreciated to be a more “sensitive” individual. However, my guys also know I can take care of myself and won’t take crap from anyone.

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Chandni Ravi, an immensely brave and a very inspirational lady who has battled many obstacles in life including cancer but have never let anything dampen her spirits and positivity. She recently shared an experience with us with some advice which we feel is truly invaluable.

Here is what she shared:

“I have friends from every culture ranging from 5 to 90+. I find it is a great way to be connected and to really keep me in perspective and grounded.

I have a friend who has turned 90 recently. We became friends around 15 years ago in Sydney. We bonded and she would open up to me time to time. I met her while she stayed with her children, to witness her being shifted to an old age home in Sydney CBD.

I would still visit her regularly and she would tell me nuances of life and experiences. Each time I visit her, I would have an eye-opener and most of the time I would come out with a heavy heart. Each time we go there, we would wonder what would be our fate when we get to that age.

She would say, Chintu (my nick name), remember you only live life once.

1. When you have children, in a frantic rush to nurture your children, you forget your partner and you move on. Once the kids have left home , the gap is too far and readjusting with your partner becomes tough. You become 2 different individuals with nothing in common.

Prioritise the people in your life. Your partner first, then children, then your extended family.

2. Have a good savings account for you and your partner. Never disclose the amount to your children. They will have 1001 needs and it is unfair to say you wont help them.
3. Never sell all your properties and move in with your children. If there is a fall out, or you want to take a break, you have nowhere to go.
4. Visit your home country as much as you can. As you grow older, the people you love pass on and the next time you go, you only see their photos. Never postpone visits.
5. Have your own circle of friends. It is hard to be friends with your children’s friends and their parents.
6. Avoid the habit of giving free advice. Open your mouth only when you are asked for an opinion, else kids stop telling you anything and start finding you a nuisance.
7. Just because you looked after your children sincerely or too sincerely, it doesn’t mean they will. Cease expectation. You just did your duty.
8. Remember that you cant reprimand your kids their whole lives. They only listen while they stay with you. If you continue your style, they will say many a thing you don’t wish to hear.
9. Schedule your own set of activities and hobbies so you don’t have to depend and get disappointed.
10. Visit your parents and siblings as much as you can. Call them regularly. When they pass on, the void becomes unbearable. As you get older, you will get illness, deafness etc and everything becomes an effort. You really don’t know what tomorrow has in store for you.
11. When your children are with you, take it easy. Build good memories, as it is memories which will get you going in later life. Make sure you take them for funerals as they will get an idea, today or some day, your turn will come.

I would always feel sad when I met her as the advice was real. In my last meet with her, we were sitting on the lounge. She was happy to see me as she said it gave her a chance to talk in Malayalam, which had become a rare luxury for her.

Suddenly she showed an old lady in a wheelchair dozing away. She told me “See that lady? She is 105 years old and demented. Her son was in another aged care and has passed away. No-one has visited her for months. Thankfully she isn’t aware.

Is that a blessing in disguise?

Love

Chandni Ravi.”

https://www.chandniravi.com

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Meet our featured beauty with brains, Needa Imran Shaikh, a successful businesswoman and professional based in Sydney, Australia. She is the owner of the popular restaurant Indian Curry Club.
(https://www.facebook.com/indiancurryclubsydney/)

Here is an interview with her.

1. Tell us about yourself – what you do, your hobbies, aspirations etc.

I am Needa Imran Shaikh, a Corporate Employee and the Director of Indian Curry Club.

I have been working in the corporate field for more than 10 years and love my work in every way.

Since childhood me and my family have always been food lovers and have tried different varieties of cuisine around the globe. I also hold qualification in Hospitality Management before pursuing Business Management in University. My skills and my passion of cooking lead me to enter the exciting world of food business with a huge support from my family.

My husband and my brother plays a huge part in this business, they provide me with a lot of support and guidance and we together work as a team.

Being an Entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride each day but when we see our customers enjoying our food that’s where our hard work pays off at the same time we are also grateful to have an amazing team of qualified staffs and also our qualified Chefs are renowned for their combination of ingredients and for their creative style of presentation.

In my spare time I like reading with a big cup of black tea and travelling is my other interest.

2. You are the owner of a restaurant. Who or what inspired you?

My parents are my inspiration. My mom is a passionate cook and I have learnt a lot from her she is my absolute strength.

My dad is a person who never stopped believing in me. He has been supportive in every decision I took from studying Hospitality Management to Business Management and my dad strongly believes in women power.

Today I feel blessed to implement both skills in my daily life and make my parents proud in every possible way I can.

My husband is my mentor, a person who I can go to anytime for advice or counselling. He has a very strategic approach to life and always encouraged me in every part of our life journey.
�Basically, my family is my inspiration.

3. What is your advice to women who want to start their own business but not sure how to?

The most important piece of advice I can give to fellow future female entrepreneurs is to have confidence, take a step-by-step approach, learn to embrace rejection, keep a goal in your mind and move quickly with your ideas. Far too often, females are held back by their fear of failure, especially as it compares to their male counterparts. That mentality can be extremely debilitating.

As women, our brains often tell us we need to have a perfect business plan or product before we ask for help or engage mentors, but the truth of this is our fears have more credibility in our heads than they do in reality.

Meet our featured beauty with brains Rebecca Nina, a teacher and blogger based in Switzerland. Here is an interview with her.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself, what you do, your hobbies etc.

My name is Nina and I am on my journey to become the empowered and limitless woman I’m destined to be. On my blog, I invite other women to join me on this journey and try my best to encourage and help them to pursue their dreams.

As an empath, I feel deeply and helping people – especially women – seems just like the right thing for me to do. In my past, I struggled with extremely low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. I was a magnet for toxic people and always felt trapped in

my own life. Until I realized that I, in fact, was the toxic person myself. I know, this might sound a little extreme, but let me explain why. Primarily, the problem was not my environment or my job – it was how I approached things, how I talked to myself – my MINDSET. I was attracting all this BS into my life. I was responsible for what has happened.

As soon as I knew that, I began to work on myself. For the first time in my life, I started to develop a vision of who I actually am and want to

be. And this was when I discovered my purpose. I am here to empower women, to help them unleash their feminine power and to encourage them

to be brave and never give up on their dreams.

I have been a “creative mess” my whole life… I absolutely love drawing, writing, and crafting, photography, interior – and fashion design – the list is endless. Some of you might relate when I say it is

a mixed blessing. Why? In fact, having that many talents is like having one penny of every currency in your purse. You can’t buy anything anywhere. I always felt like I’m not good enough in any of these things to make it my profession. But now with my business, I can actually unite all those things and use them to empower other women to do the same.

For example, I create and sell digital affirmation art prints on Etsy, to use my passion to draw and design in order to help women manifest their

dreams.

2. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?

Since I got to know myself better, I am able to envision my life much more precisely now. I know exactly how I want my future to look like. By

visualizing it on a vision board, I try to manifest these goals in my life.

At the moment, my biggest goal is to grow my online business: I want to be able to live from helping women, and working from home has always

been desirable for me. However, this requires patience and a great batch of dedication, and let me tell you – I’m not quite there yet. But even

though it’s not always easy, I’m not giving up and work on it almost every single day. Even on bad days, where it seems like I can’t get anything done at all, I try to find a small and simple task that I can

do regardless. And if even this is too much, I give myself a break and try to not pressure myself.

3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

I picture myself as an empowered woman, who is living her purpose by helping other women. Besides my online business, which will be my primary source of income by then, I would have invested in real estate to generate passive income as well. Not only will I empower women all over the world as a mentor, but I’ll also invest in projects to support

animals and our precious planet. I love the idea of sharing as much as I can, whether it’s love, wisdom, or money.

Living in a small old house amidst a large wild garden, together with my partner, probably two kids, a dog, at least three cats and a bunch of

chickens, I’ll be making sure to grow plenty of fresh and healthy veggies, fruits and berries for the entire family. I always loved the idea of having a low impact on the environment while being self-sufficient.

4. What does women empowerment mean to you?

I think by reading between the lines, it might already have come through what my understanding of women empowerment is. But I absolutely love to

talk about this and I could do it for hours, so I’m trying to only write a short summary here.

An empowered woman is embracing her divine feminine power. She is a goddess, a priestess, a witch, or even a warrioress. She doesn’t hide

from the world – She has found her voice. An empowered woman knows her worth and has boundaries. She lives her life wildly, unapologetically, and limitlessly. Whether you are just starting your journey of empowerment or you’ve already forged ahead, we are all women in process

and we all have this empowered women inside us. We just need to wake her up. And this is what women empowerment means to me: The process of

awakening your inner goddess and unleashing her divine feminine energy to live a purposeful life.

Feel free to check out her blog:

https://shedigsdeeper.com

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Christina Henry, a Registered Nurse based in Gold Coast, Australia. She has a passion for health promotion and writing. Her website Midlifestylist.com combines both passions and aims to inspire other midlifers to live the healthiest version of themselves. Having overcome several health issues herself, she is able to use her knowledge of the issues people may need to overcome to achieve their goals. Christina is married to her second husband, has two adult sons and a house full of pets. She enjoys cooking, gardening and traveling.

Here is an interview with her.

1. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?

My goals in life were to bring up my children to be the people they’re meant to be, to make a positive impact on others’ lives, and to create a life of peace and joy for myself and my family.
I loved watching my children grow up into the creative, intelligent men they are.

I realised early on that they were creative and musical so trying to force them into an academic pathway wouldn’t work. By allowing them to express themselves, they’ve both used their creativity in their own way which I am extremely proud of.

My career as a nurse enables me to make a positive impact of peoples’ lives even for the short time they are in hospital. My blog allows me to reach people on another level and hopefully inspires them to live a healthy lifestyle.

I continue to seek peace and joy for myself and my family. My home is my haven. Being comfortable in my own surroundings helps.

2. Who or What inspires you?

Whenever I’ve gone through difficult periods in my life I find myself drawn to books and documentaries about people who have overcome the worst situations you can imagine. Reading how they rose above their problems and strove for a better life by finding inner strength is what drives me to find the same inner strength. I’ve had a life that’s so full of adversity and overcome more drama than most people. It has resulted in severe insomnia, anxiety and depression at times but it didn’t break me entirely. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those challenges in my life.

3. What is your success mantra?

“Do what you can do rather than focusing on what you can’t”

So many people let things hold them back, things like health issues, troubled upbringing, socio-economic status or lack of knowledge. Where there’s a will there’s a way. There is so much free information available now. Focus on the things you can do, e.g. my chronic back pain and heart condition prevent me from going to the gym or doing high intensity workouts. I can walk however, and I walk as much as I can, including taking the stairs rather than the lift. My upbringing by an alcoholic father, the early death of my mother, and a marriage to an alcoholic and abusive ex-husband, could have been reason enough to go down the path of alcohol, drugs and other addictions, but I chose to not use that as an excuse. You can only blame your circumstances for so long, after that it’s up to you to fix your life.

4. What is your advice to women who are too busy with family and career and unable to devote much time to health and well-being?

Your health is your most important asset. Don’t neglect it. Find some way to fit it into your schedule. After I nearly lost my life at 43 due to complications after a simple procedure, I realised how quickly life can be snatched away. My sister passed away at 44 from an epileptic fit. She landed with her head up against a door, which tilted her head forward so that she choked to death. Tragedy like that makes you appreciate life even more. I don’t want my sons being without me so I incorporate healthy lifestyle choices into my daily routine.

Feel free to check out her blog and social media:

My blog is midlifestylist.com
Facebook – https://facebook.com/midlifestylist
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com.au/chenry1320
Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/midlife_stylist
Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/midlifestylist
Email – midlifestylist0@gmail.com

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Amber Dean, a blogger based in Georgia, USA. Here is her story:

“My name is Amber, I recently started a blog that covers everything from Domestic Violence to Addiction and loving an addict and learning to love yourself and having faith in the middle of the chaos. Inspired by the life I lived and now want to bring awareness of these topics that nobody wants to talk about. Growing up my dad and mom were amazing parents, but my dad was an abusive (to my mom) addict due to undiagnosed mental illnesses he self medicated for. In 2014 I found them both dead due to a murder suicide. My husband has struggled with addiction most of his life and I balanced it all not knowing where to turn until 2019 when I said enough is enough and we separated, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It ended up being my saving grace to find my self-worth while at the same time my husband reached out for help! All by the grace of God. Now we are taking it one day at a time, we are working things back out but living separately and I talk about our many struggles and how we got through them.”

Here is an interview with her.

1. What is your advice to women stuck in a bad relationship but lacking the courage to come out of it?

You get one life. One single life! You hesitate too long and life will pass you by. Can you imagine being in this horrible relationship and wanting to leave but being worried about the what if’s. You spend another 5 or 10 years on the fence, promising yourself tomorrow. What happens when you wake up at 60 or 65 and realize the days turned into years and you wasted your one life on someone who was not worth it, who didn’t fulfill you?! Now imagine, you decided to pack up and leave today. You didn’t think about what could go wrong. You just thought about what could go right. And you find yourself again. You find what makes you smile, what makes you happy, what makes you, you. And in that time you happen to meet the person that was completely made for you. Life is about choices, make sure you are making the right ones!

2. Are there any memorable experiences in your life that you would like to share with us?

I got married to the love of my life in 2009, only to find out one year later he was struggling with drug addiction. In 2014 I walked into my parent’s home after many failed attempts to get them on the phone, to find them both dead, due to a murder-suicide. Ironically, this is the same year my husband addiction really took off. By 2019 I couldn’t handle anymore of what was going on with him and that crazy life, so I packed all of my things and moved. 6 months later and days away from signing divorce papers, we decided to give it one more chance, but this time living separately. 2019 was my saving grace, I fell in love with myself and learned I was worth so much more than I had been accepting. Also the same year I watched my husband start taking steps to recovery. I am so excited for what my future holds, with God and new found love of life, I know it will be amazing.

3. Given what you have gone through, how do you cope with your traumatic past and how do you overcome it and focus on the future?

Faith! Short and sweet. In my hardest times I hit my knees and prayed. In my best times I hit my knees and prayed. God touched my soul and helped me see what I never was able to see before. I am worth it. I can do it and no matter what happens, it will all be OK!

Feel free to check out her blog:

http://reelwomen.net

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Angela Hill, a blogger based in Vancouver, Washington.

She is a stay at home working mom and works remotely for a high-end skincare company. She has been married for almost 13 years and has 2 kids – a teenager and pre-teen. Her 35th birthday is coming soon but she considers herself pretty much a kid at heart. She loves her pets (2 dogs, 2 cats) and is a Pit Bull Advocate and rescuer. She has struggled with mental illness for 13 years and is taking this year (well once everyone can leave their homes) to explore that more and hopefully find mental wellness. Her blog will be focused on self care and wellness because she knows first hand how important it is.

Here is an interview with her.

1. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?

That’s an excellent question. My goals have changed throughout the years but they’ve all maintained the same theme; mental wellness. I have been through quite a few really difficult times in my life due to mental illness and even 13 years after it began I find most of my life is greatly affected by my mental state. 2020 was going to be my year, the year I changed everything. Then COVID-19 decided to step in and laugh in my face! Forced to be indoors, away from my fears, I have decided to spend this time reaching out to others and helping them in a way I didn’t have offered to me when my problems began. So, to answer your question, my goals are to create awesome blog content centered around mental wellness and self-care, while working on myself in the meantime.

2. What is your advice to women who suffer from depression and are unable to lift themselves up?

Seek help; first and foremost. It seems daunting, it seems scary. We don’t want to admit to our mental illness, we don’t want to admit to being broken and weak. But when your illnesses are affecting you they will make you weak, and you WILL need help. You may need to reach out to a mental health professional for the first time, you may need to confide in a close friend or family member, but you need to tell *someone.* There are tons of resources out there as well, Facebook groups and blogs you can follow. After that, make a to-do list and just do one thing at a time!

3. What are some of the challenges you faced in life and how did you overcome them?

In 2007 I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. I wasn’t able to drive 2.5 miles to get my son to daycare, and my job was only a mile past that. I have struggled with panic attacks and generalized anxiety ever since until I finally was hospitalized on 2011. With the right medication I was finally able to do some of the things I hadn’t done in years; like take a 1+ hour car ride. I have since gotten even better at conquering my fears but they still hold me back in a major way. I don’t think we should be ashamed of admitting we use prescriptions to be well, if I didn’t I might not be living today. But with the right medications, or meditations, or therapy, coaching, breathing techniques, close personal relationships, or anything else someone may find positive relief in, we can really begin to conquer some of the problems we face in day-to-day life living with mental illness.

Feel free to check out her blog

http://www.theprettypeculiarlife.com

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Meet our featured beauty with brains Anna Bruder, a blogger and businesswoman based in South Carolina, USA.

She is a partner at her family business, Fairview Water Gardens, and deals with marketing and bookkeeping. She is also a blogger and started Fitpire (https://www.facebook.com/fitpireblog) to help moms with health & fitness, parenting and working at home.

Here is an interview with her.

1. What are your dreams and aspirations?

I want to grow my blog and bring in a brand new income to my family just from the blog, all while helping others.

2. Who or what inspires you?

Other bloggers inspire me because I can see where they started and where they are now.

3. What’s a typical day in your life like?

I have 3 kids, two are toddlers, so my day consists of cleaning messes and entertaining them. In between the chaos I work on blog posts and social media. Clean the house. Work on family business, Fairview Water Gardens.

4. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Ten years from now, I see me happy. I see at least one successful blog and a very successful family business.

Meet our featured beauty with brains Joanna Robbins, a respiratory therapist based in Forest Ranch, California (USA). Here is her story:

“I’m a married mom of 2, working full time as a respiratory therapist at a local hospital (been an RT since I was 21). Always knew I wanted to serve others in healthcare.

My husband an I are passionate about home design and decor (has always been a hobby not a professional business) and we self-built our first home when we first got married in 2007 (I was only 19 and he was 21, & we were high school sweethearts), we always had big goals and plans and we started early. We bought a foreclosure property in 2012 and over 7 years fully renovated our 2nd home ourselves, we had 2 kids while we lived there then we sold that home last year (real estate market was great) and we currently are living in a trailer while we build our next home.

We will probably live in a trailer for 2-3 years since we are doing every aspect of the home building ourselves as much as possible to save money.
Our goal is to be debt free. We have always had our sights set on big goals and planned our life as much as possible with our goals in mind (I actually had to convince my husband to do this last one) it’s an adventure for sure, not knowing the costs and it’s a lot of sacrifices to make in the meantime but I am very goal oriented and stay optimistic and can see the benefits in the end so I’m sticking with it. I know we can accomplish whatever we absolutely believe we can achieve.

I also started my own blog a few months ago, so that I can be able to share our home building journey and display the home once it’s completed and decorated. I hope to encourage others to set big goals and go for it despite the fear and setbacks along the way. It’s definitely a balancing act raising 2 young kids, working full time, supporting my husband behind the home building (I help him in his work when I can) and have time to grow my blog/online presence. But I’m persistent and excited to get to where I hope to be in a few years.

We’ve also had lots of setbacks in our lives together, 2 family members’ suicides, a cousin was murdered, and my husband battled with opiate and alcohol addiction for years, but that still didn’t stop us from making it through to where we are now. I’m stronger because of all those things.

As a lead/charge respiratory therapist at a level III trauma center, saying that work right now ‘is stressful’ is an understatement. Everyone’s emotions are high and I have some co workers coming to me in tears for different reasons. We are short on PPE like everyone else so we are having to conserve which makes people worry even more about the ‘what if’s’ of when/if we run out. We have good support from our hospital and community and we are also a rural hospital so everyone is praying and crossing their fingers that we will not be affected as much as larger cities. It’s a waiting game at this point.

At home on my days off I’ve been spending more quality time with my children and husband. The stay at home orders have forced me to have a much less busy lifestyle. It’s been kind of nice. I’m also making sure I have a little quiet time, detaching myself from the constant news and scary updates of the virus and trying to enjoy my life and stay positive. I’m focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, staying connected to family & friends (we have zoom conference meetings with my friends some residing currently in the Cayman Islands & Ecuador). Also just having faith in God has suppressed my fear & anxiety greatly. You also have to just have good common sense and be safe, stay home, stay positive, love & support one another. We’re going to make it through this together.”

Feel free to check out her website, FB page and Instagram:

http://Www.injoannashouse.com

http://Www.facebook.com/injoannashouse

http://Www.instagram.com/in_joannas_house