Interview with Jae Ellard: Author of Success With Stress
Disclosure: I received a free copy of Success With Stress by Jae Ellard to review and share my thoughts with my community here on my website and social media outlets.
For years now, stress seems to be a constant in my life. There are times when it overwhelms me; times when it propels me and times when it’s just there – hovering.
When the opportunity read and review Success With Stress came up, I jumped at the opportunity to get additional insight on stress-management and how to work with it in my life rather than battle and struggle with it.
[Tweet “#NowReading: #SuccessWithStress by @SimpleJae an @iReadBookTours #Review”]
This was a simple but thought-provoking read for me. There is plenty of blank space within the pages of this book to jot down notes, reflections and responses to the questions posed to help you focus on those people, things and actions that may affect the level of stress in your day-to-day life.
The chapter on Communication – especially hedging words – gave me many ah-ha moments! I appreciated the actionable steps and strategies to manage stressors within my daily routines. Many of which I was able to implement immediately and see tangible results.
My goal is to continue implementing the action steps within Success With Stress as a part of my #HealthyHabits Routines. I highly recommend this book if you’re struggling with stress management in your life.
Interview with Jae Ellard
Jae Ellard is an author, speaker, and expert on developing the skill of awareness in the workplace. After years in senior communication roles crafting content for executives, Jae collapsed from stress-related adrenal fatigue. This life-altering experience propelled her to research human behavior, neuroscience, mindfulness, and organizational relationship systems. In 2008, Jae founded Simple Intentions and developed the Mindful Life™ Program to generate intentional conversations to disrupt patterns and create awareness, accountability and action at team and individual levels. Jae has taught the skill of awareness in more than 50 countries to thousands of employees at multinational corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia.
Jae is a columnist on workplace awareness for Mindful Magazine, as well as the author of 7 books on the topic. She contributes to the Healthy Living section on Huffington Post as well as the Simple Intentions blog. In 2013, she founded Seattle Wisdom, a community organization working to create and support conscious conversations in professional spaces in the Pacific Northwest. Jae has a master’s degree in Communication Management from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Communication from Metropolitan State College of Denver. She holds certificates in co-active coaching and organizational relationship systems coaching.
Connect with Jae: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
There are many books out there about stress. What makes yours different?
Indeed, there are many books about stress on the market. Most of which tackle the topic from either a science point of view or a victim point of view. I wanted to create something that talks about the proactive role we have in creating and managing stress in our lives as well as the link between stress and communication or lack of communication. The degree and level we experience stress in many ways is a choice, and I feel it’s important to talk about this topic with a new perspective.
You hear a lot about the negative impacts of stress – can stress ever be a good thing?
Yes! Stress can keep you alive when you’re facing danger – like being chased by a wild animal, getting into a car accident, a house fire, things that are truly life threatening. Stress is our friend. At times it can even help us prepare for a presentation or tough conversation. Short bursts of stress are healthy and acceptable. It is when our bodies don’t have time to recover, and stress becomes our normal state of being that stress creates harmful effects for the body and mind.
Communication is a key point in your book. How can we overcome our fear of having tough conversations?
When we are speaking our truth with context and compassion there is nothing to fear. That said, practice is key as many of us want to please others and we fear potential rejection if we let others down. When we offer context and deliver the message in an authentic way most times we will be met with support over rejection and might find that your relationships deepen.
Where do you get inspiration for your writing?
By doing the work and contemplating the struggles people share with me. When teaching workshops or consulting with clients I hear firsthand what drives stress and the impact it has on work teams, families and health. I listen, I research, I meditate, and I write and repeat as needed.
If you were stuck on a deserted island, what books would you want with you?
- Any collection of Rumi’s poems
- Pema Chodren – When Things Fall Apart
- Deepak Chopra – The Spontaneous Fulfilment of Desire
- Swami Satchidananda – The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Many thanks to Jae Ellard for taking the time to answer these questions for the Divas With A Purpose community.
