Lifelong Learning: #GrozaLearningCenter Roots Booster Workbook Review

Disclaimer: I was sent the Groza Learning Center Roots Booster workbook for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Are you a lifelong learner?

I love to learn new things and I’m always curious to know more. One of my favorite parts about being a newspaper reporter was being able to interview and talk to interesting people. I learned so much!

I’m excited to share my newest endeavor in lifelong learning. I was sent a Groza Learning Center Roots Booster workbook. It’s a strategic vocabulary building guide complete with activities and quizzes to help you improve your vocabulary.

The workbook is made for people like myself who love to learn and want to increase their vocabulary, homeschoolers, and anyone who recognizes the importance of learning root words.

If you can master root words, it will be beneficial for your entire life and especially so in your educational career. The book has helped countless students improve test scores and other vocabulary related challenges.

Looking through the workbook, I can see that there are a lot of roots that I already know but there are also many that I don’t know! Even as a college graduate, these are simple skills that I need to brush up on.

I like that the workbook has various activities based on the different ways of learning—visual, audio, hands-on, etc. This is such a great way to absorb the information.

I really look forward to completing this workbook and increasing my vocabulary and comprehension.

Book Review: Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, By Brooke Shields

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission from the sale which helps keep A Journey to Thin running. Thanks!

(source Google Books)

If you’ve read previous entries on my blog over the past six months, you’ll know that I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and have been on the rollercoaster of recovery. It is with gratefulness that I say that having PPD has been the hardest experience of my entire life because I know that there is always someone out there who has it worse.

This horrible mental illness cast me into the darkest pit, caused me to search the very depths of my soul, made me cry to God for help in absolute desperation, turned me into someone unrecognizable to myself or my family, and stole the treasured first moments with my daughter, replacing them with the heavy weight of guilt and shame. PPD has made me tired and weary, cost me countless tears, and left me wanting to die—me, the ever optimistic woman.

So needless to say, I was looking for solace between the covers of Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields—a memoir about her experience with PPD. This book was written in 2005 partly because Shields wanted to spread awareness about PPD because it’s one of those things that many women suffer from but that nobody talks about.

Here we are 10 years later and it’s still something we’re not talking about as women. There are still many misconceptions about PPD. While there is greater awareness, there still isn’t enough being done in regard to screening and education.

My husband and I took all of the classes, I read all of the books, and we were as prepared as we could be for our baby girl’s arrival. It wasn’t that we failed to educate ourselves, it’s simply that everything I read or that we learned about in our classes did not fully describe PPD and so we did not recognize the symptoms. While every woman’s experience with PPD is different, I’m grateful to Shields for her bravery in writing this memoir which gives a more accurate picture of what living with PPD is like.

As I was reading, there were many times I found myself nodding in agreement. Is there anything more validating than someone else expressing the emotions and thoughts that you thought were uniquely and horribly your own? I found myself wanting to say “me too”. And this is why speaking out about maternal mental illness is so important. No woman should suffer alone and in silence.

I cannot imagine being a celebrity and suffering through PPD. There are times that I don’t want to leave the house. There were times that I left the house (because I had to) and my hair was a mess, I hadn’t showered in two days, my clothes were frumpy, and my eyes were red from crying. I was lucky that I didn’t have paparazzi snapping my picture! To be in the public eye and expected to put on a face for the camera would add to the anxiety from PPD, and that is an experience I know nothing about.

The only disconnect I felt while reading this book was not being able to identify with some of the luxuries of being rich. She hired a nanny who could care for her baby so that she could sleep or otherwise recover. She had a cleaning lady who could keep up the house. She had a home in California where she was able to live for a while, letting her enjoy the benefits of a warm climate and sunlight.

The first sign that I am slipping back into depression is when my house becomes a disaster. I can’t keep up with the housework and that adds to my anxiety.

I was lucky to have my mom come stay with me for quite a while when I was first diagnosed, but that’s a little different than having a nanny who you wouldn’t feel guilty when you asked for help at all hours of the day because it would be her job.

The worst part of my depression was in the bitter and cold winter. The only sunshine I got was from laying on the living room floor near the window and letting the sun shine on my face.

In many ways, I could not relate. That doesn’t make her struggle any less—just different than mine.

It was encouraging to read that she did recover. It gave me hope. It assured me that the way I felt was not my fault, but from a medical condition. It made me feel less alone. I would recommend this book, especially if you are dealing with PPD, but also for those who want to learn more about this terrible illness.

Book Review: What You Can When You Can: Healthy Living on Your Terms #wycwyc

 

What You Can When You Can should be the healthy living bible; its concepts should be thoughtfully approached and applied to daily living for best results.

Many of us in the weight loss world tend to overthink matters when it comes to formulating a plan for our weight loss. How many times have you thought:

If I just eliminate (insert food group here), the weight will come right off. I will never eat (insert food group here) ever again!

I will buy (insert product here) and I will lose the weight in (insert number) days. After that, I will be able to eat however I want to again.

If I exercise for (insert insanely unrealistic number) hours per day, the weight will melt off. I will do this for the rest of my life and never miss a workout.

We are in a constant search for the secret to weight loss. There has to be a plan, a pill, a cleanse, a workout, something that will help us lose the weight. We cling to the most complicated of methods thinking this is the time that it will stick. Until it doesn’t and we’re left defeated having lost a great sum of money but not much weight—we may have even gained weight.

That’s the way the current weight loss and healthy living world work. So many of us are caught up in a cycle of starting an unrealistic weight loss plan with good intentions, giving up, and starting again on Monday. What You Can When You Can teaches that it doesn’t have to be that way, and it’s actually very uncomplicated.

The most influential message that I received from this book is towards the very beginning, in chapter 2:

“Perfect is never coming. You will never be perfect. Your life will never be perfect…So what’s the point of wasting time, energy, money, sweat, and tears on something that will never happen—on an unachievable ideal?”

It’s hard to accept, but it’s the truth. And so, since we can’t be perfect, we can do what we can when we can and that is always enough. This means that the journey does not stop and end at various curves and hills in the road, but we keep on going whether we are creeping along at the pace of a turtle or we are running as fast as a cheetah. And guess what? We will probably find ourselves moving at both paces along this journey.

What You Can When You Can offers common sense tips on how to live a healthy life--from matters of the mind, food, exercise, home, and relationships, this book offers sound advice on each topic.

The concept is simply about doing what you can when you can. Instead of driving to the library, walk there. Park farther away from the store, maybe even blocks away so you can walk. If you can only fit in 10 minutes of activity at a time, do that instead of just giving up and doing nothing at all. Choose the apple instead of the chips. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.

Doing what you can when you can also means that you can enjoy life, enjoy an occasional treat, choose to skip a workout to spend time with your family, etc. It means approaching healthy living in a realistic and maintainable way.

I actually wycwyc’d reading this book. I read a little bit each week until I had finally completed it. Three of us met each week at the A Journey to Thin Book Club on Google Hangouts and chatted about the book and how it applied to our goals and lives. We all three really enjoyed this book.

I highly recommend this book. It’s also special because it’s written by two healthy living bloggers, Carla Birnberg and Roni Noone.

You can find the book on Amazon (affiliate link):

What You Can When You Can: Healthy Living on Your Terms