Sue Patton Thoele continues her quest to help readers enhance their self-esteem and tap into their core emotional strength. Geared to women who too often find themselves meeting the wants of others at the expense of their own needs, the book provides necessary tools to help readers transform their fears into the courage to express their own authentic selves. By sharing her own journey and the journey of other women, Thoele helps readers learn to set boundaries, change self-defeating behavior patterns, communicate effectively, and become a loving and tolerant friend to themselves. This tenth-anniversary edition contains 30 percent new material, including a new introduction.
Writing made me sit down and shut up and, as a result, helped me become aware of the desire to move from an over-busy lifestyle to a more balanced one. I actually didn't begin writing until all four kids were either in college or on their own. In fact, I was forty-five when the Muse grabbed me by the back of the neck and wouldn't let go no matter how much I resisted. And resist I did! However, my first book, The Courage To Be Yourself, seemed to have a mind of its own and simply would not let me rest until I was totally committed to it. By the time the original book was completed, I was passionate about writing. Since I'd had a private psychotherapy practice for many years, it felt natural to write about issues similar to those with which my clients and I grappled.
I am incredibly blessed to be able to do work I love and to have the support of My Husband Gene, without whom I would never have become an author. We--well, really he--self-published "The Courage To Be Yourself", stacked the first 5,000 copies in our itty bitty garage, and hand delivered two and three copies at a time to local bookstores before the book was eventually picked up by a "real" publisher. To this day, Gene continues to do all the heavy lifting, paper and financial work, schlepping of author to speaking engagements, and has enduring patience with the weirdness-of-wife-while-writing phases I inevitably go through while working. He is my rock.... and he makes me laugh.
Each of us plays many roles and works in different arenas during a lifetime. Below are a few roles I've played and some of the work I've done. Several I still do and others seem as if they existed in another time and space.
ROLES I'VE HAD
Wife, divorcee, wife again ... still "wife again"
Mom, single mom, stepmom ... once a mom of any kind, always a mom
Grandmother, mentor ... love these roles
Myriad acting roles in community theater ... now do some Reader's Theater
WORK I'VE DONE
Author
Psychotherapist in private practice
Public/Keynote Speaker
Seminar/Group/Retreat Leader
Hospice Chaplain, Trainer &
Counselor
Director of a Counseling Center
High School and Adult Ed teacher
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