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Campbell teacher co-writes stress management guide
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
No matter how often she hears the same thing, Tula O’Neal can’t believe how many people actually have to stop and think about when they last took time for themselves.
“I’d say, ‘When was the last time you exercised? Did something spiritual?’” said O’Neal, who has taught health and physical-education classes at Campbell City Schools for almost 30 years, and is a certified professional coach. “They couldn’t answer. They’d say, ‘I had to work.’”
O’Neal kept thinking about these unnecessarily overworked, overstressed people, whose productivity actually plummeted as their hours devoted to work increased. She wondered, too, why so many refused to take care of themselves, when health and wellness information was more abundant than ever.
Coincidentally, Kim Hamilton — a longtime friend of O’Neal’s, who is a certified professional coach and a registered nurse — was grappling with similar questions in her own work. Like O’Neal, Hamilton wanted to help people discover the underlying sources of stress, anxiety and tension in their lives.
“People work because they don’t have to think about stressors or anxiety. But it’s a Band-Aid, and it leads to health and wellness problems,” Hamilton said. “We want to solve for the long term, not offer a short-term solution.”
O’Neal and Hamilton soon realized that they’d been working on one project, not two, and began putting together what would become “The ‘Safe Zone’ Lifestyle Improvement Manual: An Alternative Approach to Stress Management.”
The book was published by the Positive Choice Network in Youngstown last month, after about two years’ worth of work. O’Neal joked that it was actually 20 years in the making — the length of her friendship with Hamilton.
O’Neal and Hamilton wanted to write “The ‘Safe Zone’ Lifestyle Improvement Manual” because though there are many strategies intended to help manage feelings related to stress, anxiety and tension, very few exist to uncover the thoughts and beliefs that stand in the way of purposeful, positive and productive behaviors.
The two simply wanted to teach people how to take control of their stress, anxiety and tension — as well as their lives.
To do so, O’Neal and Hamilton broke the book into nine chapters, with titles ranging from “Relaxation,” to “The Decision to Change,” to “Health, Wellness and Ideal Weight.” Each chapter is set up in the same way, with definitions that introduce the topic, a question to consider as the chapter is read, a “main course” that provides an overview of the topic, and a “recipe” that offers specific tasks for the reader to complete.
These tasks — which include questions such as, “What will you do for yourself today?” — will become the reader’s “victory journal,” consisting of reflections to look back upon even after completing the book.
O’Neal and Hamilton will appear at the Poland branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, 311 S. Main St., at 6 p.m. Thursday for a gathering of local authors, artists and musicians. They’ll have copies of “The ‘Safe Zone’ Lifestyle Improvement Manual” to sign, and the book soon will be available on Amazon.com.
It also can be purchased via O’Neal’s website, www.tulathegotogirl.com, or Hamilton’s website, www.kimhamthegotogirl.com.
Though O’Neal and Hamilton are certified to help those struggling with stress, anxiety and tension, they explained that they are not therapists or counselors, and are not trying to replace them.
What the two most want readers to take from “The ‘Safe Zone’ Lifestyle Improvement Manual” is that they are the only ones who can effect change in their lives — even though many look to others to choose who and what they should value, preventing them from developing trust in themselves.
Regaining self-worth, self-gratification and self-control is an ongoing process, but deciding to make a change is a start.
“We’re not saying that you’re going to have a stress-free life,” Hamilton said. “But no matter what is happening around you, you’ll still be in control of it.”