Lip-Sticking

Is Busy-ness Taking Over Your Life?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Entrepreneurs seem to believe that they need to work 23 hours a day in order to be productive and to get rich. I admit I used to feel that way. I started work early, ate in front of my computer, hardly stopped for dinner with the family, worked until late at night and then also worked seven days a week! Whew, I am exhausted just remembering it. I worry that if I hadn't gotten a health wake-up call if I'd still be there... doing all of those hours, missing out on my family until I had an even more life-altering health issue. It's quite likely that I would have.

Because I have been forced to slow down I've come to realize that being busy 24/7 certainly didn't mean I was productive 24/7. Now that I've taken several steps back I realize quite the opposite was true. I was spinning my wheels a lot of the time. What should have taken me an hour was sometimes taking me two... just because I wasn't focused -- I was working too many hours; being “on” all the time eventually leads to burnout.

My Own 'Happiness Project"

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

I've recently been trying to... I'm not sure, I want to say rediscover myself, but honestly I don't know if I've ever had a self to discover or a self that had been discovered before. It's true that when faced with a life-altering issue, you really do re-evaluate. Sure I would have been much happier to have developed a grinding headache and a note from the Universe that read, "Hey! It's time to slow down." Unfortunately, I was given a much larger, not-able-to-be-ignored wake up call. So, here I am. Where that is, I don't know. 

What I do know is that I won't keep working for clients that don't either pay me what I'm worth or value what I bring to the table. I've started setting actual office hours (even though my office is in a corner of the living room) I start at a decent hour and I stop at 5 p.m. It was very hard to turn the computer completely off at 5, and I was convinced that something earth shattering was going to happen and I'd miss it. Know what I realized? Nothing has happened that I have missed out on between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.! Who knew! 

Stress…A Necessary Part of The Holidays, And Life?

Guest post by AmyK Huchens

With the holidays quickly approaching and still so much to do this time of year, chances are, you like many people may be feeling stressed. Stress will never go away, and you may be surprised to know it is actually needed. That doesn’t stress you out does it?!

It’s when you mismanage stress or when you don’t manage it at all that it creates trouble. While too much stress can be mentally, emotionally and physically disruptive, (cortisol, a stress related hormone, when overproduced leads to heart disease, which is the #1 killer of women in the U.S.) not having enough stress can reduce your motivational resources and your energy levels.

Finding the right amount of stress to achieve optimal levels of performance is no easy task, and your ideal stress level is unique to you. Learning how to move from a victim of uncontrollable circumstances to a manager of your own priorities will help stop the devastating effects stress has on your mind and body, and while you will never be able to get off that speeding bus, you can take over the wheel and slow it down.

How can you start creating balance and reduce your stress in regard to your daily schedule of activities? You can’t.

Does Your Morning Routine Inspire And Motivate You?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

I'll admit I am a hold out to reading the daily newspaper. I subscribe to The Arizona Republic and when I am back in New York I pick up a copy of the Democrat and Chronicle. I rarely read the paper on its actual day because I don't like to have to run out and buy the paper on the days it's not delivered I "save" one to read the next day. 

The other day I was watching The Balancing Act and someone (for the life of me I can't remember who it was) was on the show talking about morning routines and how the way you start your day can color the rest of it. Common sense, but not anything I had ever thought about. Consider it though, you wake up listening to doom and gloom on the news, pick up a paper and read about crime sprees, fiscal irresponsibility by government officials and other snippets of bad news. It is enough to make you say blah and want to crawl back under the covers. 

Actually Taking Time to Slow Down

Post by Blog Manager, Robbi Hess

Know how everyone tells you to "stop and smell the roses"? Well when people have said that to me before, I kinda wanted to make 'em sniff the thorns of the roses. Now that I find myself in the position of caregiver for my father, I've learned the beauty of that saying. 

I had moved out of state last year but my dad was diagnosed with an inoperable lung tumor and he has spots of cancer on his spine -- all of a sudden my life changed. I came back to NY to help out as my sister and brother had been doing the majority of the running to the doctor's visits with my parents until the diagnosis was handed down. I'd planned to come back to NY for a few weeks to help out then head back to AZ. Now that I am here, I've extended my trip and paid the exorbitant airplane ticket fees -- thank you American Airlines/Continental -- so I can help out. 

CVS Minute Clinic: the death of doctor’s offices?

By Amanda Ponzar

Here’s a true account of my experience this week. Got a sore throat on Friday, probably from all the relatives here for Thanksgiving.

 TRADITIONAL DOCTOR’S OFFICE

Called and made a sick appointment, waited an hour in the waiting room, dealt with disinterested office staff, paid co-pay, saw drug rep go in ahead of me, finally seen by the doctor, tested for strep and told it would take 2-3 days to find out if I had it, given a paper prescription for penicillin to start taking in case it was strep.

Got worse.

California Poison Control Launches iPhone App "Choose Your Poison"

From the Editor's Desk. This article proves there truly is "an app for that!" 

California Poison Control System (CPCS) is spearheading poison education through a mobile health (mHealth) initiative by launching a free iPhone application, Choose Your Poison, now available at the Apple app store in English and Spanish. The app will appear in Spanish for any iOS device (Apple's mobile operating System) with its language set to Spanish, otherwise it will display in English.

The Choose Your Poison game is also available online. The game is fun, interactive and underscores an important poisoning prevention message - that medications can easily be mistaken for candy. Last year, CPCS kicked off an SMS program with weekly poison tips sent to cell phones by texting TIPS to 69866.  Messages are also available in Spanish by texting PUNTOS to 69866.

"By 2012, more smart phones will be shipped than desktop computers, and by 2013, people using their mobile device to search the Internet will overtake desktop Internet users for the first time (Morgan Stanley Research)," says CPCS communications director Iana Simeonov, who spearheads technology and mHealth (mobile health) projects for the CPCS. "We wanted to be on the forefront of mHealth in the area of poison control and since younger people 18 - 29 tend to search for health information on their phones - a group likely to be of child bearing age -- we felt it was important to make poison prevention information available this way." 

Is Your Daughter Suffering From An Eating Disorder?

Guest post by Chloe Spencer 

Many young girls, teenagers and young women suffer from eating disorders. The most common are Anorexia and Bulimia--which have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness (American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 152). And over 24 million people are suffering from an eating disorder in the U.S. (The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, “Eating Disorders 101 Guide: A Summary of Issues, Statistics and Resources”).

In a list of case studies on a Harvard webpage for students, I found a case study about a twenty-year-old woman called Brenda, who was Anorexic, becoming Bulimic in later years.

Hottest Trend of Today: Being Beautiful.

Guest post by Chloe Spencer 

Working out is no longer just for personal health and fitness. It's become a trend. Something that is considered "cool" or "in". Especially in big cities like LA and New York, where fashion is a much bigger deal than in small country towns. Speaking of fashion, there are even designer work-out clothes for going to the gym in, that cost hundreds of dollars! Top designer clothing to exercise in!

That's how "trendy" exercising has become. Yoga, spinning classes, jogging down the street, using the machines at the gym; these have all become places to be "seen" at, and "seen" doing. Dressed in your Bebe or Ralph Lauren work-out clothes of course. Oh and perhaps along with your little dog too! That is considered even extra "stylish".

A Milkshake a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Guest post by Chloe Spencer 

You may be thinking, in regards to the title, how in the heck do milkshakes keep the doctor away? Well, maybe not in literal terms, but when referring to the newly launched non-profit, Milkshake, communities in third world countries and in places suffering because of disease or disaster all over the globe are helped through all sorts of different causes using this new site. Charities on Milkshake also include causes to help the environment, abused animals, and people making a difference.

I love eco-friendly shopping and discovering new creative causes, and I came across Milkshake after it was mentioned to me by a friend. I took a liking to their site and what they were doing, so I got an interview with the founders, and I incorporated all their answers into an article to share with all my readers on Lipsticking.

So, what is Milkshake?