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  Excerpt from Tips, Tools, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic by Joanna Charnas.  6. The Same Pep Talk   I’ve had the same chronic illness for forty years, and I continue to have occasional relapses that necessitate staying home for one to two weeks to recover. I’m frightened every time this happens, and with each episode, I give myself the same pep talk. I remind myself that, with one notable exception (when I had a relapse and a sinus infection simultaneously), I always recover within two weeks. I tell myself my illness isn’t progressive, and so this relapse will be like all of the others, and I’ll be able to resume my regular activities in at most two weeks. I remember that eventually I always return to a functional state, and all I need to do is take care of myself and I’ll be fine. These re lapses never get easier and they still frighten me, but giving myself a pep talk and remembering how well I’ve managed over the decades helps me get through...

  Excerpt from Tips, Tools, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic (Charnas) 5. TOUGH TIMES   Running a therapy group on happiness is one of my favorite job responsibilities. There’s a huge industry focused on happiness. While doing research for the group, I learned that optimism boosts happiness, so we discuss this concept in the group. Like many of the things that make people happy, optimism may be innate, or we may have to mindfully develop the habits and skills that boost this attitude. Here’s my template for optimism:   Be hopeful. Show up. Do your best. Let go. Repeat.   Over the years, I’ve found it’s a winning formula. For more posts by and about Joanna and her books, click HERE . For more book excerpts, click HERE . For more pandemic books that are still relevant, click HERE . the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out info...

 In honor of Caturday, we are sharing a picture of Joanna Charnas's foster failure. It probably is difficult to give up a foster cat -- one gets attached. To get a better understanding about Joanna, read her book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance .  A diverting and informative story of searching for love in mid-life by a divorced social worker, who intertwines entertaining stories of successful love interests with well-known movies containing similar plots and themes. Written as diary entries covering a 15-year period, the author shares openly, in detail, and with insights her experiences with dating, friendships, affairs, and relationships. Written candidly with a light hand and turns of phrase that reflect her personality and make the book hard to put down. Joanna has also written award-winning non-fiction about coping with chronic illness. Check out: Managing chronic illness demands constant mindfulness and management. It’s a process that constantly evolves over a lifetim...

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES 1. DO WHAT WORKS: VILE COUGH DROPS As I recovered from a splenectomy, I caught the horrible cold that was going around my work place. It started with a hacking cough in my chest. The day the cough started, I went to the Nex (Navy exchange, similar to a 7-Eleven) in the basement of my building and bought cough drops. They were vile but wonderfully effective. I hated them but needed them to be even marginally functional and to get to sleep. I ran into my neighbor a couple of days after the coughing started and mentioned the horrible cough drops. He said he’d had the same illness and recommended a better- tasting brand. He fished one out of his pocket and gave it to me. His brand tasted much better, but I didn’t have the time or energy to go to the drug store right then, so I continued to ingest the horrid ones for a while longer. I often advise my mental health patients do what works to improve their health even if they don’t like the options, su...

Lovely review from NYTechMommy/Instagram Excerpt: T his little book is an easy read. It’s filled with great little anecdotes that help put things in prospective. And I love that it focuses on both physical and mental well being! Read the full review HERE . For more posts by and about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE .

Part of a series on the coronavirus pandemic written by MSI Press authors to share expertise, help, and hope,  Tips, Techniques, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic  focuses on physical and mental well being during any time of crisis. Topics include meditation and mindfulness; positivity; managing setbacks; laughing at oneself; overcoming chal lenges; friends, family, and others; managing daily tasks; adaptive solutions; tricks and tools; and miscellaneous musings. Joanna is also author of: Living Well with Chronic Illness 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness and A Movie Lover's Search for Romance . More posts about and by Joanna Charnas may be found HERE .