Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Phyllis Schwartz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Phyllis, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I think the roots of my resilience comes from my parents. They believed in me and my abilities from a young age. They read to me all the time and encouraged me to love books and
encouraged me to write even in childhood: letters, in diaries, poems, little stories.
Fast forward many decades I think my battling 3 different kinds of cancer throughout my adult
life gave me a strong survival instinct and resilience.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Currently I write poetry for adults and children’s books. My rhyming children’s books take on tough subjects in a fun, upbeat way. For instance my first book “When Mom Feels Great, Then We Do Too! is a riff on my experiences fighting three different kinds of cancer. It’s about how a family can help a sick or injured loved one get through tough times with love and humor. My latest book
“Mom Wombat Says Make War No More!” has an anti-bullying/anti-war theme.
I want my books to help families bubble up conversations about such challenging subjects.
I love the writing, I love the rhyming, and I love trying to get people to talk about things that
are hard to talk about, especially with little kids.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities, etc.; 1)My parents emphasizing the value of learning to read, loving to read was the first building block
in my life’s journey.
2)Follow that with appreciation of humor and fun.
3) The desire to teach/illuminate/share what I have learned with others. Both my parents were
teachers. I am not. But my love of reading and writing led me to a career in news. And news people
are similar to teachers: they bring what they know and what they’ve learned to people through
the news. My college degree and career were in local television news..a different path to
teaching, showing, illuminating.
Advice? Do what you love. Learn what you love. Value humor and compassion for others.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
When I feel overwhelmed I try to make sure I’m doing everything I can to be healthy. Make sure I’m sleeping enough, Eating right. Take a nice walk. Breathe.
Have a great piece of chocolate. Read a good book. Watch a funny move or TV show. Call a good friend and have a nice, deep conversation. Get organized on paper: write a list of what I want to accomplish the next day, the next month, or the coming year.
Write a poem. Drive over to the ocean and watch the waves. Listen to good music.
All of the above to clear my brain.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.phyllisfeelsgreat.com
- Instagram: @phyllischwartz_author
- Facebook: Phyllis Schwartz-Author