The story behind When Life Hits the Fan

When Life Hits the Fan-A Mindful Guide to Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others is written based on my own personal experience and those of over 50 family caregivers who were interviewed for the book.

I wrote it to share some of the tools of mindfulness and emotional intelligence I used in recovering from depression and anxiety while caring for my partner who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

As an entrepreneur, a wife and a mom, the load of caring for my wife and best friend and dealing with the medical system while keeping our heads above water was devastating. My self-confidence, career, relationships and health all suffered, and I had no idea where to turn.

Therapy, drugs, self-medication with alcohol, none of these things worked, and I finally turned to a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program as a last resort.

Not only did that course give me what I needed to recover my strength, it gave me a passion to help others realize that they too could find a path to being more resilient and even finding happiness through whatever events occur.

Since that MBSR course I’ve recovered my strength and confidence. I’ve studied Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence and Compassion. I dug deeper into teaching these skills through training with the Search Inside Yourself Program (started at Google) the Center for Compassion Altrusim Research and Education at Stanford, and an extensive series on Positive Neuroplasticity to train others to reset their state of mind and practice self-care.

I’ve pivoted my career to teaching and speaking about the effects that these tools can have on our lives in all aspects.

Data on Caregivers in the US (source: Caregiving in the US 2015 study by AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving)
At last count over 40 million individuals in the US alone are caring for a loved one. These are the unpaid caregivers, not including the home-health aids and medical teams.
On average, caregivers spend 24.4 hours a week providing care to their loved one.
Nearly one- quarter provide 41 or more hours of care a week (23%).
Caregiving is particularly time -intensive for those caring for a spouse/partner (44.6 hours per week ).

43.5 Million people in the US care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend each year
20 hours per week is the average number of hours committed to family care
75% provide care for less than 5 years
12% more than 5 years
Only 53% say they have other unpaid caregivers to support them
60% are also working while giving care, 56% of them full time

When you read the book you'll find real-world strategies to take care of yourself even when life hits the fan!
When Life Hits the Fan: A Mindful Guide to Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others