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Chaos to Calm: 5 Ways Busy Parents Can Break Free from Overwhelm
Chaos to Calm, developed by Jenna Hermans, a businesswoman and mother of four, utilizes easy-to-implement strategic tools and philosophies to show that moms can find calm and joy amidst the chaos of their everyday lives, all while staying deeply connected to their families.
2023 FOREWORD INDIES FINALIST
2023 PUBWEST DESIGN AWARDS WINNER
2024 IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
Chaos to Calm is the guide every busy parent needs to help streamline their endless daily tasks. Using examples from various parents, along with insights from her own experiences, author and businesswoman Jenna Hermans shows us that achieving and maintaining calm is possible, enabling us to take control of the chaos and focus on what really matters.
The chapters cover five targeted topics—Efficiency, Habits, Communication, Community, and Self-Care. Each section includes practical how-tos and simple tasks anyone can undertake to reduce the frenetic pace of everyday life. Chaos to Calm is an invitation to move forward with well-thought-out, practical plans that prove everything can get done without losing your cool.
PRAISE FOR CHAOS TO CALM
“This book is chock full of simple, small changes that can bring us back to calm and, ultimately, make a big difference in how we connect with ourselves and others. It's what every parent needs in their life, right now!” —Fran Hauser, author of Embrace the Work, Love Your Career and The Myth of the Nice Girl
"Insightful, practical, humorous, and relatable, Jenna Hermans has written a must-read for anyone who wants to have more calm and happiness in their life." —Peggy Klaus, Fortune 500 communication coach and the author of The Hard Truth About Soft Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They'd Learned Sooner
2023 FOREWORD INDIES FINALIST
2023 PUBWEST DESIGN AWARDS WINNER
2024 IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
Chaos to Calm is the guide every busy parent needs to help streamline their endless daily tasks. Using examples from various parents, along with insights from her own experiences, author and businesswoman Jenna Hermans shows us that achieving and maintaining calm is possible, enabling us to take control of the chaos and focus on what really matters.
The chapters cover five targeted topics—Efficiency, Habits, Communication, Community, and Self-Care. Each section includes practical how-tos and simple tasks anyone can undertake to reduce the frenetic pace of everyday life. Chaos to Calm is an invitation to move forward with well-thought-out, practical plans that prove everything can get done without losing your cool.
PRAISE FOR CHAOS TO CALM
“This book is chock full of simple, small changes that can bring us back to calm and, ultimately, make a big difference in how we connect with ourselves and others. It's what every parent needs in their life, right now!” —Fran Hauser, author of Embrace the Work, Love Your Career and The Myth of the Nice Girl
"Insightful, practical, humorous, and relatable, Jenna Hermans has written a must-read for anyone who wants to have more calm and happiness in their life." —Peggy Klaus, Fortune 500 communication coach and the author of The Hard Truth About Soft Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They'd Learned Sooner
- GenresParentingNonfiction
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 2, 2023
11 people are currently reading
1672 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 30, 2023
I find this book really helpful and will recommend this book to my friends and relatives who are really in need to make their lives a lot easier when they are really struggling each day trying to do everything for their families.
Five main sections from which I find each section to be equally important and helpful. Each section (efficiency, habits, community, communication and self care) provides so much value to the reader. We do not need to follow everything at once but we will know from where we can start effectively and what we can stop that do us more harm than good.
The details and the examples, the writing and the tips, from little daily habits to healthy eating and mindfulness this book has the basic minimal ingredients for a better calming routine for every adult.
Thank you, The Collective Book Studio, for the advance reading copy.
Five main sections from which I find each section to be equally important and helpful. Each section (efficiency, habits, community, communication and self care) provides so much value to the reader. We do not need to follow everything at once but we will know from where we can start effectively and what we can stop that do us more harm than good.
The details and the examples, the writing and the tips, from little daily habits to healthy eating and mindfulness this book has the basic minimal ingredients for a better calming routine for every adult.
Thank you, The Collective Book Studio, for the advance reading copy.
April 4, 2023
Chaos to Calm by Jenna Hermans was the perfect refresher book for me. As a mom of a teenaged son, I thought it to be helpful and full of actionable tips to put in place for myself, with my son and rest of the fam. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars!
July 31, 2023
Practical tips in a digestible format. Loved it and I am already making changes in my routine!
April 5, 2023
Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!
If you are a parent struggling to juggle it all, you may want to read this. There are lots of great tips and tricks in this book for how to process, organize, and slow down in your life.
While this book was filled with great material, there were not many concepts that were new to me. However, it is always a great reminder to go over these self care concepts even if they aren’t necessarily “new” to everyone.
If you are a parent struggling to juggle it all, you may want to read this. There are lots of great tips and tricks in this book for how to process, organize, and slow down in your life.
While this book was filled with great material, there were not many concepts that were new to me. However, it is always a great reminder to go over these self care concepts even if they aren’t necessarily “new” to everyone.
June 13, 2023
Chaos to Calm is more then just a book- it’s a method to simplify and bring the kind of structure to your life and parenting that makes the day to day chaos of being a mom THAT much more manageable. I found the tools, checklists and tips for implementing the Chaos to Calm pillars especially helpful. A must read for busy mamas!
January 5, 2024
“Chaos to Calm: 5 Ways Busy Parents Can Break Free from Overwhelm” by Jenna Hermans and illustrated by Carole Chevalier, is the simple, solution-based guide you need to be calmer today. Parenting can be hectic, which can lead to chaos, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to do. It doesn’t have to be this way, as this book shows.
There are five things you can start working on today to help you feel less overwhelmed with your daily responsibilities. The sad truth is, if you spend all your time stressing, how much time do you have left over for yourself, and in the end, are you having fun? Because being a parent, though a very serious undertaking, should also carry a balance of seriousness and fun. It’s possible to give your family the things it needs and to give you what you need in the process. Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, how are you going to take care of anyone else, especially those who are the closest to you?
Hermans has her finger on the pulse of parenting and self-transformation. The 5 simple but critical areas she addresses with insight and sometimes a sense of humor are Efficiency, Habits, Communication, Community, and Self-Care. She breaks down into easily digestible bites the concepts you need to grasp and use in your everyday dealings with your children, family, and yourself. The advice is practical, not simply theory or ideas. You can regain and maintain control of your emotions. If you don’t, who will?
One appealing aspect is that the author uses her own personal story as an example, as she is a mother of four with a career in the business sector. But she also uses other parents as examples, which shows you that you aren’t alone, and if they can find a new way to be calm in the chaos, so can you. Stress doesn’t make you a better parent. In fact, it could cause even more problems, and that is why this book is important. Don’t read it just once. Keep it in your library to refer to again if you feel overwhelmed and lose focus.
But this book isn’t just about the parent-child relationship, it’s about relationships with your partner and other family members, so this full spectrum approach is sorely needed in today’s multi-generational, blended family arrangements. It’s about remembering your dreams and who you are, about finding and keeping your center and balance, not just holding on by the skin of your teeth. This book seeks to improve all areas of your life, which will in turn trickle down to parenting, and to your children, because it will in turn trickle down to their children.
If you’ve been in search of a self-help book that can give you a new perspective on life and especially parenting, “Chaos to Calm: 5 Ways Busy Parents Can Break Free from Overwhelm” by Jenna Hermans should be at the top of your reading list.
There are five things you can start working on today to help you feel less overwhelmed with your daily responsibilities. The sad truth is, if you spend all your time stressing, how much time do you have left over for yourself, and in the end, are you having fun? Because being a parent, though a very serious undertaking, should also carry a balance of seriousness and fun. It’s possible to give your family the things it needs and to give you what you need in the process. Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, how are you going to take care of anyone else, especially those who are the closest to you?
Hermans has her finger on the pulse of parenting and self-transformation. The 5 simple but critical areas she addresses with insight and sometimes a sense of humor are Efficiency, Habits, Communication, Community, and Self-Care. She breaks down into easily digestible bites the concepts you need to grasp and use in your everyday dealings with your children, family, and yourself. The advice is practical, not simply theory or ideas. You can regain and maintain control of your emotions. If you don’t, who will?
One appealing aspect is that the author uses her own personal story as an example, as she is a mother of four with a career in the business sector. But she also uses other parents as examples, which shows you that you aren’t alone, and if they can find a new way to be calm in the chaos, so can you. Stress doesn’t make you a better parent. In fact, it could cause even more problems, and that is why this book is important. Don’t read it just once. Keep it in your library to refer to again if you feel overwhelmed and lose focus.
But this book isn’t just about the parent-child relationship, it’s about relationships with your partner and other family members, so this full spectrum approach is sorely needed in today’s multi-generational, blended family arrangements. It’s about remembering your dreams and who you are, about finding and keeping your center and balance, not just holding on by the skin of your teeth. This book seeks to improve all areas of your life, which will in turn trickle down to parenting, and to your children, because it will in turn trickle down to their children.
If you’ve been in search of a self-help book that can give you a new perspective on life and especially parenting, “Chaos to Calm: 5 Ways Busy Parents Can Break Free from Overwhelm” by Jenna Hermans should be at the top of your reading list.
September 26, 2023
Reading this book feels like I'm talking to an old friend. Jenna Hermans is genuine and honest about her own experience as a working mother of four, and really generous with us readers—sharing tried and tested tools she created for herself.
As a coach, this has become a useful resource to share with clients (especially working mothers). She shares principles for creating habits and practices that support “calm” in the midst of busy family life. The principles seem obvious on the surface—better efficiency, clearer communication, more self-care. But of course we all know they are so very difficult to implement and embody! Here lies the beauty in her book—she breaks it all down. She gives us tools and ideas for how to take the essential first steps, and she helps us find ways to make a busy life feel more manageable, joyous, and empowered.
Super easy to pick up and read in small bits too—a plus for busy parents!
As a coach, this has become a useful resource to share with clients (especially working mothers). She shares principles for creating habits and practices that support “calm” in the midst of busy family life. The principles seem obvious on the surface—better efficiency, clearer communication, more self-care. But of course we all know they are so very difficult to implement and embody! Here lies the beauty in her book—she breaks it all down. She gives us tools and ideas for how to take the essential first steps, and she helps us find ways to make a busy life feel more manageable, joyous, and empowered.
Super easy to pick up and read in small bits too—a plus for busy parents!
May 2, 2023
Chaos to Calm is an excellent handbook for those seeking to streamline their daily activities and gain mental serenity! The book is well-organized, and the end-of-chapter check-off lists have been instrumental in helping me harness my inner calm. Jenna Herman is humorous, and her tips were practical and simple to incorporate into my daily routine. I won't spoil the book with too many details, but a particular sentiment in Chaos to Calm resonated with me. After decades of washing, drying, then sleeping under piles of clean clothes, I'm proud to announce I have folded AND put away two loads of laundry while they were still warm. Game changer!
August 27, 2023
As a future social worker, I often read books that will help me better understand my future clients or that might be useful to my future clients. This book undoubtedly falls into the second category!! This is a practical easy to implement guide that I will be recommending to many! Even if you do not have kids yet (like me) you can implement these tips into your daily life to ensure more calm enters it! This book assess what it refers to as the five pillars of calm: efficiency, habits, community, communication, and self-care!
June 13, 2023
Jenna, a mom of four herself, has such a relatable voice that can only come from experience. If you heed her sage words, you will have all of the tools to iron out the wrinkles of chaos in your life and will find yourself with an actionable path toward the calm future you deserve.
Note to self: you’ll have to fight the urge to put this book down and start making life changes immediately. Resist! The next page will have more unmissable gold.
Note to self: you’ll have to fight the urge to put this book down and start making life changes immediately. Resist! The next page will have more unmissable gold.
May 28, 2023
Chaos to Calm is an indispensable guide full of practical, actionable tips to help you live a more efficient, productive, and joyful life. Chalk full of useful ideas for how to get out of overwhelm and feel more in control of your life. A++
September 27, 2024
Chaos to Calm by Jenna Hermans is such a gift for parents "in the thick of it". She shares practical examples that feel easy to implement. Her wisdom through her personal story is so inspiring!!
June 11, 2024
As someone deeply involved in helping moms create a life they truly love in my own line of work, I found "Chaos to Calm" an invaluable resource. The book is packed with actionable bites that make the information not only easily digestible but also simple to implement. The concepts around scheduling particularly resonated with me, as this is something I emphasize in my work with clients and have made all the difference in my own life. If it doesn't get scheduled, it doesn't get done!
I wholeheartedly align with everything Jenna presents in this book. Her insights on creating a calmer life through intentional actions are spot on. Jenna draws from her corporate background to offer practical tools and strategies that can truly make a difference and the strategies are helpful for moms in all seasons of life, in every work situation.
This book is a treasure trove of wisdom, and I look forward to buying it for the moms in my life. There's something for everyone in there.
I wholeheartedly align with everything Jenna presents in this book. Her insights on creating a calmer life through intentional actions are spot on. Jenna draws from her corporate background to offer practical tools and strategies that can truly make a difference and the strategies are helpful for moms in all seasons of life, in every work situation.
This book is a treasure trove of wisdom, and I look forward to buying it for the moms in my life. There's something for everyone in there.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews