Why Personal Stories Matter in Caregiving
After exposing my heart-filled art journal about the saddest time in my life as the book, The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: An Art Journal of Caregiving and Grief, I thought my second book about caregiving as leadership would be mostly logic and cerebral stuff. I welcomed the chance to talk about caregiving through a leadership filter.
Not so much. The project manager at my new publisher, Wise Ink, gave the initial manuscript a read through and said, “Jennifer, this is good, but you need to add some personal stories to make it more relatable.” So, I committed to peppering the text with personal examples and starting each section with a very personal caregiving story that relates specifically to the subject matter to be covered in the section.
When I started to prepare for my first author talk and reading for Care Boss, I realized that, once again, I had exposed my vulnerabilities and stories to the degree that is extraordinarily difficult to talk about and read for an audience. I had to rehearse the readings from those personal messages numerous times to learn the places I would need to push through and not let the words catch in my throat or, worse yet, cry in the middle of my presentation.
Nevertheless, I am thrilled by the glowing reception of Care Boss: Leadership Strategies & Resources for Family Caregivers. In February, it was the chosen book for End of Life University’s A Year of Reading Dangerously, as well as the February book pick for the When You Die podcast.
Moreover, I have received direct feedback from family caregivers who say it is helping them to become more effective in their own caregiving.
So many people are, have been, will be, and/or will need a family caregiver. It is essential we all continue to support each other. One thing that will help get Care Boss into the hands of more people who need it is by posting five-star reviews on Amazon. If you would like to write a sentence or two, that would be wonderful. If you only have the time or inclination to give it stars, please do that. Even if you do not purchase books from Amazon, please consider leaving a review. Amazon is the search engine for books.