Hi guys! I thought it would be fitting to introduce myself to those who don’t know me personally. I have spent much of my author life attempting to be “professional” because that is what I thought I needed to do. First, it was great. People knew me as an author of children’s books, but that’s all I really shared. Being a private person, I didn’t share much about my personal life. Fast forward to now and what I found is that it’s more than possible to share more about myself while being professional, and that I can still maintain a sense of privacy while doing so. That is what led me to begin writing a blog on a regular basis. So, allow me to start over.
Hello, I’m Toya. Nice to meet you! Yes, I am an author, publisher, and certified life coach, but there is so much more to me than those titles. Don’t get me wrong, those are great and I worked very hard at each of them. However, in this intro, I’d prefer to speak about parts of me that I have worked even harder at achieving, such as motherhood and all it entails, you know, titles such as chef, nurse, chauffeur, handywoman, housekeeper, and personal shopper just to name a few. That isn’t a complaint, by the way. I certainly do not pretend everyday of motherhood is a walk in the park, because it isn’t, but there is definitely something about motherhood that keeps me in line. I don’t know where I would be without my little cubs.
So who am I? I am a mother of three and I love being active in my children’s lives. I am super crafty. I pride myself on being a DIYer as a way of saving money. There is something about knowing how to make a quality item for a tenth of the retail cost that just excites me.
What else? I love music, sunshine, and water. Most importantly, I love to be a light in the lives of others. I am a helper by nature, professionally and in everyday life. Self care enthusiast, yes that’s me! Almost all of my content will somehow focus on self care, maybe not directly, but self care is not just a trendy topic for me, it’s one of the reasons for my existence. My largest project, in the author world, has been writing “Self Care: A Better Version of Me” . I wrote it, almost released it, and then the weirdest thing happened. Something told me to wait. It didn’t make any sense. I had already begun to promote the book. Why wait? I thought.
What happened in the next year made me realize why I needed to wait. It turned out that I hadn’t yet finished writing the book. I hadn’t finished attempting to pour from an empty cup even though I thought I had. I hadn’t been practicing self care enough yet. Perhaps I had not experienced enough. Whatever it was, I didn’t understand it then, but I totally get it now. So much has happened since then that I have enough to write a few more chapters, if not a whole new book. Maybe those chapters are what I needed to experience. I cannot wait to get this book out.
If you have made it this far, thank you and I appreciate you for that. If, like me, you are interested in self care, I happen to have a free self care checklist available for you to download. Feel free to see how many of the tasks you can accomplish in 30 days, but keep in mind, it’s not a race. The purpose of this checklist is to remind yourself to be kind to yourself, gentle with yourself, and yes, to care for yourself the way you care for everyone else.
Last thing, I just wanted to tell you what you can expect from this blog. Because I do a ton of DIY projects, I would love to share them here. I also plan to post helpful, positive, and inspirational content. I would love to discuss topics such as burnout and how to prevent it, anxiety and all that comes with it, depression and how to get through it, mental health and the stigma surrounding it, self care: how to practice it, its benefits, and so much more. If any of this interests you, subscribe to my VIP list and never miss a new release, post or announcement.
Thank you all for checking out my blog intro! Please feel free to leave a comment. Let’s make this a conversation. I’d love to know more about my readers.