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Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the Military!
Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the Military!™
Join us to learn how to Increase Your Energy,
Decrease Your Stress, and Go for Your Dreams!
An "as we can get to it" newsletter/ezine with
ideas, resources, stories and inspiration so you
can Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the Military™ written by military spouses for
military spouses!

February 2003

In This Issue:
Help for your personal dream

Help for Your Personal Dream
I went into a funk in December and January. You know. The blues. Feeling like I didn’t have any focus or purpose or energy. Feeling depressed without anything I could point to that was causing it. Of course, it could be hormonal or the lack of sunlight (that SADD syndrome often experienced in the Northwest at this time of year.) But no matter, I realized I was missing the help I usually have readily available to help pull me out of a funk.

My group.
I haven’t been without a group for very long since starting my first group in 1988. Of course, there were months during a move before I could start up a new one, but I always had the support of my prior group still running by email and phone. And sure I still have that. But I miss the meetings every two weeks, the accountability and support of that, the hugs. I miss the energy created by brainstorming each others dreams and coming to meetings full of ideas and resources for each member. My last group dissolved after two years due to a number of things — distance, moves and new babies.

I recognize now that I need my group more than I realized. So I took steps to start a new one. Our first meeting is tomorrow and I can hardly wait. It’s like there is this big door of opportunity just about to swing open.

So, what are these groups and why would you want to be part of one?

Well, you’ll hear them called all sorts of things, from Success Teams to Mastermind groups to Boards of Directors to Ya Ya Groups. The basic concept is the same. The idea is that the purpose of the group is to help each member go for their dreams.

What the group provides is support, ideas, contacts, courage, and accountability. Let’s face it, it’s hard to stay self-motivated all the time, especially when you face the added challenges of moves or deployments. We all get down at times.

I’ve always said that one great reason groups are so helpful is that not everyone is ever depressed at the same time. You might be down but there is someone there ready to pull you back up.

And you are just one person, with one set of ideas and experiences. No matter what your dream is, you are limited in what you can do. By adding six to seven other people to your group, you now tap into all of their ideas and experiences and contacts and resources.

I could go on and on with examples of what groups have helped people accomplish. And these are all military spouses like you and me. One woman wanted to learn how to work a computer. Within a few years she’d built a computer-based service company that she then sold to another firm. One woman got her resume together just because everyone else in the group was doing it and she decided to tap into those resources. Within days of arriving at their next assignment, as she signed up her kids for school, she dropped off the resume to see if she could at least substitute teach. She walked out with a fulltime position. My groups helped me as I developed my seminars and my writing. With their support and courage, I managed to publish a book, get a regular column with the Army Times, and do seminars all over the world. Can you see why I don’t want to be without one?

There’s more of course. Groups help you figure out how you want to live your life, what’s really important to you — and they help you from getting off track.

This week I heard a woman talking about her husband deploying once again. "I gain 20 pounds every time he deploys," she said, "I guess I eat out of boredom…and for comfort." I immediately thought, "this woman needs a group!" Especially during deployments, your group can help you stick to good health patterns and more importantly, help you get excited about a project or goal so there’s no space for boredom.

So, what about you? Int erested? Do you want to start your own?

Holly and I would love to help anyone else who wants to start their own support group, success team, whatever you choose to call it. (My group in Corvallis called ours the Big Group because we wanted to learn to live Big!) Here’s what we can do to help.

We have a detailed handout of what these groups are and how to start one and how to run one. We hope to add it to our website soon for anyone to download. For right now, just email us and we’ll send it to you by return email.
We are happy to answer your questions as you get going with your group, to give you ideas of exercises, to brainstorm resources and contacts for whatever dreams your group members have (we are really good at that and love to do it.) In some cases, with your permission of course, we might ask the ezine audience for ideas.
We want to hear your stories as your groups develop. They might just be things we can include in the book we are writing to help other military spouses.

Action Step:
request the Success Team handout
Start talking to people about the group concept to get your own going
Write us with any questions.

Copyright 2003 Hightower/Scherer

TOP

Share your story:
As part of our research for the Follow Your Dreams
While You Follow the Military™ book, we are
collecting stories of military spouses who have done
just that — created a life, a program, a business, a
career that allows them to pursue their passion as
they live this military life. We’ll share some of
these stories in future issues.

Do you have a dream to share? Either, one you want
help with, or a success story to inspire other military
spouses? Email us at kathie@jumpintolife.net (and
you’ll get a free Joyful Living booklet in thanks for
writing.)

Fun Products
While we work on our Follow Your Dream While
You Follow the Military‘ book, we have some other
products that can help you create and live your
dream! To order any of these call Kathie tollfree at
866-569-5695 or email or fax in an order— see
contact info at the bottom. And, yes, I can take Visa
or MC (does that make us professional or what?)

The easiest way to order is to go to the product part
of the website, www.jumpintolife.net, and download
an order form to fax or mail or call in.

Creative Living Audiotape Set: (2 tapes,12 minutes)
- on the joyful living concept & goal achieving
tools, tips & resources) $12

Your Enchanted Life: A Journal of Discovery &
Delight (a playbook full of exercises & action
steps) $18

Simple Joys: Little Things That Make a BIG
Difference (a pocket-size book with one idea per
page) $6
*similar ideas in a booklet that can mail in a #10
envelope are in the Joyful Living Booklet $3

Magic Rainbow Glasses
(see the good in Everything) $6

As Is (pewter pins)
Show the world you are already quite wonderful just
the way you are – faults and all! $25

A Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the
Military Workshop at your post/base?
We do four-hour workshops for military spouses.
(These have been called different things in the past
— Joyful Living, Creative Living, Jump Into Life —
we’ve finally settled on what it’s really About —
Follow Your Dream While You Follow the Military.)
We’d love to do all day sessions or 2-3 day retreats
someday too. We have LOTS of information to
share.

Here’s what other military spouses are saying:
"Wunderbar! I have gained worthwhile & valuable
information on how to turn my dreams into reality.
I wish I had a seminar like this to attend 15 years
ago." –Gwendolyn A. Williams

"This was the best thing that happened to me
in Germany!"—Alicka Ampry-Samuel
If you know someone who hires trainers for your
base (often the Family Advocacy Office or ACS),
send us a name and address and we will mail a full
information packet. We’d love to come to your
location.

Feel free to forward this ezine to other military
spouses. We are also happy to have you use any of
the articles in your newsletters providing you ask us
first and then provide us with a copy for our records
and celebration!


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Contact Us:
Kathie Hightower & Holly Scherer
Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the
Military Seminars
kathie@jumpintolife.net
2908 N. Warner Street, Tacoma, Wa 98407;
Tollfree: 866-569-5695;253-761-8161;
fax253-759-4009

Or contact Holly directly in Memphis at
901-756-7391 or email her at
schererjh@earthlink.net

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