June: My Month of Self-care and Creativity

Good evening, you gorgeous Planetarians (all 499 of you - the pixies are waiting with bated breath to see who will become the magical 500^th Planetarian!). And you know what that means - one of our famous giveaways is coming up...Just a quickie tonight to let you know about two online courses I'm doing this month. It's not *exactly* perfect timing with my recovery from my hand surgery and the pixies home for two weeks for the school holidays. But I was so captivated by both courses, I couldn't pass up the opportunities.
The 30 day self-care blueprint

Source

This course is being run by two huge-hearted women, Deb from the inspiring Home Life Simplified (a fellow Planetarian - hi Deb!) and Kirri from the wonderful Happy Mums at Home. It's running worldwide but most of the participants are Australians.
What's the course about?
Deb and Kirri describe the course as:

An individualised action plan that is based on the pillars of Self-care, Self-knowledge and Self-love©.

You will leave with a tangible, workable self-care plan aligned with your current life circumstances, your core values, and designed to enhance your self-worth and well-being!

This is exactly what I've been searching for over the past few years as I've tried to navigate my ship through rocky waters (have a peek here if you are new and would like to get up to speed on what's been going on in my life).
What is self-care?
Deb and Kirri describe self-care as meaning:

• You get to experience a richer life; one that is crafted by  your priorities and choices.

• You value yourself, your needs and your dreams.

• You feel good about yourself.

• It results in you being able to give more. There is a ripple effect.

Doesn't that sound like some nirvana so many of us are aching for?
We're only a few days into the course proper and already I'm finding it challenging, stimulating and thought-provoking, all at once. There's also a lovely rapport being established within the group on the private Facebook page. 
What we have in common
So many of us have similar histories of having suffered from PND, anxiety, depression and the sheer exhaustion which comes with parenting littlies. But it's not just mums with young children - there are also mums with teenagers and grandparents. 
What we all have in common is that we have put our own needs last for so long and to our great detriment.
I cannot thank Deb and Kirri enough for having the vision, dedication, commitment and compassion required to set up and run such a course. They have huge hearts.
I'll let you know how I went at the course's end.
Blogging Your Way 2.0Some of you might recall I did the brilliant Blogging Your Way e-course back in March 2011. Here's a post I did about it. It was an utterly captivating, absorbing and thrilling ride. I relished every second of it and made some gorgeous new friends through it. 
What's the course about?
Just some of the topics to be covered are:

• The future of blogging and key trends;

• Blogging from the heart;

• Owning who you are so you can shine;

• What it means to be authentic (and what it doesn't);

• Styling for interiors (from vignettes on the bookcase to an entire room);

• Social networking like a pro;

• Monetising your blog;

• Growing your readership;

• Taking (and styling) terrific blog photos - from interiors to still life;

• Going from blogger to book author – publishing 101; and 

• Work/life balance.

Doesn't it sound fabulous?!
Who's running it?
This course is the next level up from the last one and it's the first time the ever-inspiring Holly Becker from decor8 has run this version. She's called on some very talented bloggers to assist with the teaching. They are:

• Jeanette Lunde from the divinely pretty blog, By Fryd, and the publisher of  the exquisite e-magazine, By Fryd (you can see the latest edition here);

• Nicole Balch of the renowned design blog, Making it Lovely; and 

• Katrina Tan, better known for her fabulous blog, Pugly Pixel. She's an extremely talentedweb developer.

It's already such a buzz to be working with these talented ladies as well as beautiful Holly. She is so generous in her time, sharing and helping us all however she can.Not only am I looking forward to learning so much, I can't wait to connect with other like-minded bloggers and make some new friends.So, June is going to be incredibly busy for me! I must be careful to pace myself as my hand still needs another 4 weeks to recover its full strength. I'll still be here as well - I think I'll continue to answer your burning questions from our survey. Given so many of the answers are in my earlier posts, that makes posting so much quicker for me and you get your answers - a win-win all round!I'd love to hear if any of you are doing either of these courses (I'm still getting to know my classmates!). Are you doing any other e-courses? Do share - it's so intriguing to find out what's out there, don't you think?
PS You can still link up with the Post of the Month Club here if you're keen! There have been so many varied and fabulous posts so far. Oh, and don't forget to add the POTMC button to the end of your posts (it's in my right sidebar) so everyone knows you're writing for The Club ☺.