social media – Connie Bennett, Your Bounce-Back Boldly Guide™

9 Ways Strategic Social Media Breaks Make You More Social

In today’s world you need to be social even if you’re not naturally gregarious or extroverted.
To spread the word about your book, program, product, or professional expertise, you have to be active in social media in a BIG way, using such tools as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your blog, Pinterest, etc.
But what if you’re feeling decidedly anti-social, because you’re facing a grueling Dark Night of the Soul?
Should you continue to post regularly on Facebook, Twitter, and your blog when you’re enduring an existential crisis like a terminally ill parent or spouse, the breakup of your long-term marriage, or the death of a cherished loved one?
TwitterWhen you’re shaken up by such a trying situation, I contend, you need to take Strategic Social Media Breaks of varying lengths of time—from a few days to a few weeks.
Something interesting happens when you become deliberately anti-social. Ultimately, after you devote time to yourself and your healing, you ultimately become more social.
In other words, staying away from social media paves the way for you to become active again and to return with vitality, peace of mind, and a better frame of mind.
Gab with the Gurus Large LogoFor my part, I discovered the value and need to take Strategic Social Media Breaks soon afterddiscovering that my mother—who lived on the other side of the country—was terminally ill with stage 4 lung cancer.
Over the next two years, I took several Social Media Breaks—during Mom’s final months when we enjoyed a plethora of plays, operas, and farmer’s markets together, and she taught me how to die with grace and spunk.
Three months before Mom died, I became quite active again on social media when my new new book, Beyond Sugar Shock, was published. But soon afterwards, I needed a longer Social Media Break after Mom passed away and I was grief-stricken and depressed.
Again, I needed more time away from social media when I needed to travel around to find a new, peaceful place to live; and when I needed to Take Back My Power and heal from my mother’s unintentional cancer-driven rage, abuse, betrayal and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
If you’re facing a family crisis, I urge you to step back from social media. Here are nine benefits of staying away from the Web for a few days or weeks.
You can spend precious time with a loved one. (This is especially important if your loved one is very ill.).
You can take ample time to go inward and put your attention on nurturing and nourishing yourself.
Focusing on yourself rather than on posts or tweets allows you to emerge more compassionate and committed to giving valuable information to your fans through social media..
When you’re absent from social media, you can become more fully present in your life.
You can reassess your priorities without getting distracted by social media.
When you shift your focus from serving others to preserving yourself, it’s easier to triumph over your stressful, heart-breaking situations.
When you’re not concerned about the responses you’re getting to a comment, quote or photo you posted on Facebook, your blog or Google+, you have more energy to face your profound pain, which, in turn, will help you move faster away from the dark and into the light.
When you’re not sidetracked by social media, you can gain valuable perspective, insights, and the distance you need to rise above your pain.
A Social Media Break “fills you up” so that you can return with more energy, exuberance, and enthusiasm to serving people.
So how do you know you need a Social Media Break? Youi may benefit from time away from social media if you haven’t regained your mojo, zest, or gusto after your Dark Night of the Soul. In other words:
You often feel anxious, depressed, and devastated after the death of a loved one.
You just don’t have much enthusiasm to share great information with your fans. Rather, you need to focus on healing after your challenging time such as the end of your marriage.
You just don’t feel ready to serve your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, blog readers, etc. Before being so visible ot he world, you need to regain your strength.
Anyhow, now that I’m active again in social media, I invite you to become social with me.
Please subscribe to this Sugar Shock Blog; listen to my Gab with the Gurus Shows on BlogTalkRadio; connect with me on Facebook; and follow me on Twitter.
Share Your Feedback: Have you ever taken a Strategic Social Media Break? Why and for how long? How did being anti-social help you to become more social? Let us know your experiences here.

Bloggers, Wellness Experts, Authors, Health Coaches, Low-Carb Advocates & More: Join My Bestseller Book Launch for Beyond Sugar Shock on Tuesday, June 5: Help Build Grass Roots Momentum & Buzz

Attention:
Mommy and health bloggers, wellness experts, authors, health coaches (who, like me, are graduates of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition), low-carb advocates, Paleo gurus, and former sugar addicts, as well as stay-at-home moms, business executives, struggling sugar addicts and others interested in health and wellness,
Please help me to help millions of sugar adddicts or carb addicts around the world.
On Tuesday, June 5, you’re cordially invited to join the launch of my second book, Beyond Sugar Shock, which was released Friday, June 1 in the United States and Canada and will be published in the United Kingdom on Monday, June 4.
If you’ve never participated in a book launch before, let me explain how it works. Trust me, it’s really easy, personally rewarding, and even potentially lucrative (later on) to join us!
So, on Tuesday, June 5, you’re invited to send out a beautiful email prepared by my wonderful publisher, Hay House, to your entire mailing list.
Now, if you don’t have a mailing list, don’t worry. You can still join us. Just think about it: Everyone is either a sugar or carb addict herself or himself or knows one, right? (Just look at the people around you mindlessly polishing off those quickie carbs .)
For those of you with no mailing list, simply dash off this snazzy email to 50 to 100 or more of your colleagues, friends, neighbors, relatives — whether they’re hooked on sugar or not. Then, send to people who help you such as your chiropractor, fitness trainer, hairdresser, or physician — even if they don’t “get it” yet. Just ask them for their email adress.)
In other words, join this massive grass-roots effort to reach people who need help to gain control over their sugar or carb addiction and Get a Life that Rocks™, as I like to put it.
Why Millions Need Our Help: Sugar Is Toxic & It Can Kill You Before Your Time
Why do millions need our help? And why can Beyond Sugar Shock come to the rescue? Because the average person in the U.S. — perhaps you? — consumes at least 170 pounds of sugar and other sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, etc. per year. Insider figures cite far higher figures — 228 pounds per person per year! (I’ll have stats soon for Canada and the U.K.)
In addition, the typical U.S. resident — you again? — unthinkingly takes in nearly 200 pounds per year of sugar’s culpable cousins — refined white-flour products such as white bread, white-flour pasta, white bread, mashed potatoes, and white rice. All these processed foods — what I call quickie carbs or much-like sugar carbs — also are speedily metabolized in our bodies.
All those sweets and refined carbs put you into Sugar Shock often. That means these quickie trigger elevated blood sugar levels, repeatedly over-stimulate insulin release, cause excessive inflammation, and pave the way for nearly 150 devastating, mostly preventable diseases or conditions, including obesity (of course), but also heart disease, blood sugar disorders (from hypoglycemia to type 2 diabetes), cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease.
To put it bluntly, if you put yourself into Sugar Shock on a regular basis — as most people in civilized countries do — you can get fat and sick, and die well before your time.
Will You Join Us to Help Save People’s Health, Moods, Inner Peace, Relationships & More?
So will you join our worldwide effort to help millions of people worldwide to shed pounds, become more energetic, reverse or halt type 2 diabetes, prevent heart disease or cancer, and even boost their libido? Yes, quitting or cutting back on sugar and refined carbs can do all of that — and much more, as you can learn in Beyond Sugar Shock.
How Will this Book Help Sugar or Carb Addicts? And How Did it Come About?
You’re probably wondering why I think this book is special. Well, in Beyond Sugar Shock, I present a six-week Mind-Body-Spirit program, that gently, compassionately takes sugar or carb addicts on a fun, empowering adventure so they can easily, joyously release their dangerous, potentially deadly habit.
Briefly, here’s the back story. Beyond Sugar Shock has been about 14 years in the making. Back in 1998, when I quit sugar on doctor’s orders, I didn’t know how to go about doing it. So while kicking sugar, I began to create simple techniques to help me easily let go of my over-attraction to those tempting sweets. In Beyond Sugar Shock, I share these easy tools.
Then in 2002, four years after quitting sugar, I began in earnest to coach people to achieve that exhilarating state I now call Sugar Freedom. At the same time, I interviewed hundreds of experts to learn about sugar’s dangers and to discover new cool tools, which I also share in Beyond Sugar Shock. (In between, my first book, Sugar Shock, also was published, and much to my joy, it was even praised by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra was the medical consultant, and Dr. Nicholas Perricone wrote the foreword.)
Beyond Sugar Shock — which has been endorsed by Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Daniel Amen, Joe Vitale, Marci Shimoff, John Assaraf and many others — gives sugar and carb addicts what they need and seek. (That’s my intention, at least!
In fact, this book is what I would have loved to have in 1998, when my physician insisted that quitting sugar would make all 44 of my awful ailments disappear. (He was right!)
How to Join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch
It’s simple to join us. Here are the 2 quick steps to take:
Sign up now to join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch. (Many thanks to Hasmark Services for their vital support to coordinate this Book Launch.)
Email the snazzy email my publisher, Hay House, provided to either your mailing list of hundreds or thousands or, if you don’t have one, to a group of 50 to 100 friends, colleagues, and relatives. Just go through your email list. (By the way, you can send either this HTML version or an text version. (Huge gratitude goes to Hay House for creating this dazzling email for you to send.)
Attention, Bloggers: Another way to join our Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch is to blog about this book or to post a review. We’re also offering you two books — one for you and one to give away as a prize. For details on the Blogger Book Launch, please contact me, and I’ll send you details.
Note to Colleagues of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition: When you get involved with my book launch, I’ll help you help your sugar-addicted clients. In fact, on June 28, I’m hosting a special teleseminar just for you. Please contact me to get details.
Here’s a quick reminder how to join us:
Sign up now to join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch.
Share this special email from my publisher, Hay House, to either your mailing list or your group of 50 to 100 friends, colleagues, and relatives.
By the way, you may be wondering why I’m holding a grassroots effort. Suffice it to say that in these times of social media, as an author, you have an amazing opportunity to directly reach many of the people you serve, which is very exciting. Also, launching a book is a huge endeavor, and if your budget is limited, you need to use some innovative ways to get the word out. That’s why I could really use your help if you believe in what I seek to do — which is to help sugar addicts worldwide. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining us!
Questions? I’m here for you. Just ask away.

Interns & Volunteers Sought: Sugar Addicts, Get Free Coaching!

With my next book, Beyond Sugar Shock, scheduled for publication in the United States and Canada on June 1 (and on Nov. 1 in Australia), I need lots of help from dedicated volunteers or interns to spread the word about it.
Sugar addicts and carb addicts around the world need to know, I firmly believe, that this simple, friendly book can help them to easily release destructive habit for good so they can get slimmer, sexier, and sweeter. To help people, we’re planning many Book Launch activities. (Stay tuned for another post.)
If you come on board as a Beyond Sugar Shock volunteer or intern, you’ll get a number of benefits. Of course, you’ll get the satisfaction and “warm fuzzies” from knowing that you’re helping others, but you’ll receive much more. Keep reading to learn how I’ll help you if you help me.
So let’s get to you — how will you benefit when you volunteer or intern for me?
Specifically, anyone who interns or volunteers to help build buzz for Beyond Sugar Shock and the companion Sugar Freedom Now Program, gets:
Frequent access to me. (Previous interns and volunteers tell me that just being around me has helped them to improve their lives.)
A chance to have your many questions answered.
Complimentary admission to my programs, including one that helps you Bust Stress, another on How to Write How-to Articles with Joan Stewart, and, of course, my popular, six-week Sugar Freedom Now Course, which is the companion program to Beyond Sugar Shock.
Free, weekly, half-hour group coaching calls, during which you pick the topics. Previous volunteers and interns have found this to be powerful in helping them to lick sugar or another bad habit (what I call a “babit”). By the way, you don’t don’t to have sugar issues to get helped, because I’m both a certified certified health coach and certified life coach, thanks to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC).
Valuable work experience or, if you’re a student, great resume-building duties.
These are the positions now available.
Social Media Interns – 2 or 3
Book Launch Publicist Intern(s) – 2 available
Graphic designer
Bloggers/Writers – 2 or 3
Radio Show/Book Launch Assistant Producer Intern
Expert in SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Blog Webmaster (To Update Website on WordPress)
Community Builder (SparkPeople Beyond Sugar Shock Team)
Another position that’s ideal for you (Feel free to suggest something!)
If you are interested in any of these positions, reply here, and my assistant and I will get back to you ASAP. (You can include all info here, which we will not publish.)
Be ready to provide:
Thoughts as to why an internship or volunteer position appeals to you.
How you heard about me and Beyond Sugar Shock.
Your time availability. We’d prefer at least 6 hours a week, but less is okay, too.
A copy of your resume or bio. Please do NOT include an attachment.
2 references
Please note that we’re looking for people who are:
Reliable and organized.
Compassionate.
Gracious under pressure.
Very accurate.
Interested in health, wellness, personal empowerment, nutrition or exercise.
Interested in serving others and making a difference in the lives of millions.
One or more of these positions are ideal for:
Self-starters.
Stay-at-home moms, homemakers, entrepreneurs, or sugar addicts.
Budding health and health coaches.
Students (graduate or undergraduate).
People who have skills in journalism, PR, social media, etc.
You if you want to find a community of people dedicated to health and wellness.
Other details:
You’ll work 8 to 15 hours per week. You can work at home.
These are unpaid positions initially. May develop into paid positions.
Must have high-speed Internet access.
Thank you in advance for helping me to help people break free of their sugar addiction so they can easily move Beyond Sugar Shock. I couldn’t do this without you!
Please note that we will NOT publish your responses. These are for our internal use only — we will respect and honor your privacy.
Reply now if you’d like to volunteer or intern with me.

Launch Your Product or Business with Michael A. Stelzner

Do you have a product or business that you’d like to build quickly and steadily?
If so, I urge you to listen to this Gab with the Gurus Radio Show that I conducted last year with social media guru Michael A. Stelzner after the release of his book, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition.
This interview is fascinating!
I’m re-listening to it get ideas on how to promote my next book, Beyond Sugar Shock.

Sugar Shock Blog Turns 5 Today! How Shall We Celebrate?

Today is the Sugar Shock Blog’s five-year anniversary! Wow!
I may have missed this birthday, but I had to look it up, because today, someone requested more information about me and what I do.
As long-time fans may know — and newer visitors can discover — this Sugar Shock Blog began dedicated to providing health and wellness information, with a focus on providing tips to quit sugar, updates about sugar research and ifnormation about artificial sweeteners, etc. Now its mission and goal has expanded greatly. Over time, we’ve enlarged our focus to help you live a happier, more fulfilling life.
My intention here is to give you content that:
Helps you improve your health and activate your wellness
Shows or tells you how to become personally empowered
Helps you lead a better life, or, as I like to say, Get a Life that Rocks™
Gives you info so you can master social networking and realize your dreams
Tells you about inspiring guests, who will appear or have entertained and educated you on my Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on BlogTalkRadio. These gurus — many of whom have written bestselling books, have a revolutionary product or are appearing in exciting movies or TV shows, etc. — can help you a lot! In fact, there’s nothing like hearing people’s voices to help you. (By the way, Gab with the Gurus turns 3 next week — actually it’s 4 years (because the show began as the Stop Sugar Shock Radio Show.) Stay tuned for an exciting week of shows, which, as usual, you can listen to live or later.
Educates you about cutting edge studies related to sugar, nutrition and more
Helps you improve your relationships
Lets you catch up with me and connect with me
Updates you about my free teleseminars and my Sugar Freedom Now program.
And so much more
For those of you who are new here, let tell you about myself. I’m:
A trained-journalist-turned blogger.
Author of the book, Sugar Shock (from Berkley Books, part of the Penguin Group).
Author of the upcoming book, The Sugar Shock Diet (from Hay House), which I just finished writing. (I’m taking it easy a little before we go into major editing mode shortly.)
A certified life coach (who studied at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching or iPEC), and certified health coach (who trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition or IIN).
Host of the Gab with the Gurus Radio Show, which is how I bring to you many experts from a variety of fields, including health, wellness, personal empowerment, social networking, relationships, dating, fitness, forgiveness, celebrities, etc. Some of my guests have included Dr. Mehmet Oz, Montel Williams, Lisa Rinna, Suzanne Somers, Chris Brogan, Mari Smith, Marianne Williamson, Gretchen Rubin and many more.
People refer to me as a “Sugar Shrew No More,” a Sugar Freedom Coach or Freedom Coach, Sugar Liberator or Smart Habits Girl (which is my handle on Twitter).
So how do you think we should celebrate the Sugar Shock Blog’s five-year anniversary? Please share your ideas here.

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