About
the Book
Title:
Become You
Author:
Toneka R. Etienne, Ph.D.
Genre:
Self-Help, Personal Development
Ready to create
lasting transformation in your life? Become
You reveals a practical lifestyle
blueprint for the modern day woman. Begin your deep dive
transformation by turning an honest, but loving mirror on your belief
systems, habits, and spiritual life. This book will help you create a
balanced lifestyle so that you can passionately pursue your goals and
dreams without losing yourself in the process.
Author
Bio
Toneka
R. Etienne, Ph.D., is a Psychologist, wife, mother, Huffington Post
contributor, and creator at www.tonekaetienne.com. Toneka is a
self-love advocate encouraging women to balance their daily lives
with the ambition to continually pursue their dreams. Her calling is
to fully support women as they call soulful purpose and intention
into their life and business connected to their deepest and most
authentic selves. When she’s not holding sacred space for women’s
transformation, Toneka can be found doing her favorite things:
spending time with her husband and two daughters, traveling, reading,
connecting with like-minded visionaries, and looking for divine
inspiration.
Links
Book
Excerpt
Pushing in is
sometimes the only way out.
I sat there with a
huge lump in my throat. Why was this
happening to me? I take pretty good care of myself. I mean I’m not
a saint, but I at least try and eat healthy. Why would this be my
diagnosis? Wait, she’s kidding, right? I don’t have diabetes, not
me. The nurse practitioner showed me
the results and proceeded to give me a
prescription for a drug
to stabilize blood sugar. She also gave me a
prescription to pick up a blood glucose
meter, a device to keep
track of my blood sugar.
I left the office
with tears in my eyes, trying my best to remain strong. Once I got in
my car, I let it go. I was shaking and crying like a baby. In an
instant, my life had been turned upside down. But after all the
tears, when I allowed myself to be quiet and listen, a voice said,
“Go deeper.”
I knew what that
meant because I had been asked to go deeper before. In the summer of
2007, my husband, Wesley, and I relocated to the metro Atlanta area
with our eight month- old daughter. I spent the summer enjoying
motherhood and getting acclimated to our new surroundings. One night,
I was awakened around 3:00 a.m., an hour that would soon become the
regular time for my spiritual encounters. I lay still. I don’t know
how else to explain it, but I knew who it was that wanted my
attention. He spoke to my spirit. It was as if He was preparing me.
The time He was preparing me for was going to be hard and rough. I
could feel it in my spirit. I was scared. But I knew that if I
listened and remained close to Him, everything would be fine.
A winter season of
my life started in the fall of 2007 and the spring would not arrive
until July 2013, almost six years later. During that multi-year
cycle, I hit the lowest points of my life, emotionally, spiritually,
and physically. By the winter of 2007, I was at the doctor with heart
palpitations, stress being the culprit. Full-time work, full-time
doctoral pursuit, a young daughter, and another on the way leaves
little time for a young married couple. My marriage was suffering
tremendously, and I couldn’t see a way out of it. Then in 2010, I
quit my job, a decision I made because the alternative might have
sent me into a nervous breakdown. It was halftime; this was my chance
to take it back into the locker room. I was getting my butt kicked
out there! And it was in that moment that I started to go deep. I
started to listen to those subtle nudges at 3:00 a.m. He would say
things to me like, “Soften,” “Listen,” “Pray,” “Relax,”,
and “Wait.” And I started to pay attention. He had been speaking
to me through the world. I just hadn’t taken the time to listen. It
was in those moments that the world started to come alive, and I was
ushered into my purpose. My experiences were no longer the harsh
realities of life. They were a catalyst for my own evolution.
By the spring of
2013, my spirit knew that winter was over. I shed my layers, closed
the chapter, and for the next six months or so, I just enjoyed life.
Then one evening in early 2014, I got the 3:00 a.m. wakeup call
again. He said to me, “It’s time.” I didn’t know what that
meant, but I shared it with Wesley and told him that I felt like God
was ready to use me. In the summer of 2014, when I sat in the
doctor’s office hearing my diagnosis, it all came back. “Go
deeper.” This is it. This is what He wants me to do. After that
diagnosis and a few days of self-pity, I pulled out the big guns. I
opened the toolbox God planted in me during the winter and used it to
heal myself. In the process, I realized that all of the gifts He
instilled in me, the experiences I had, all came down to a system, a
lifestyle, a way that I approach life. This is my purpose: to
inspire, to heal, to listen, to support. It’s all encompassing; it
requires all of you. But the transformation is deep, it’s
authentic, it’s real, and it’s lasting. To get it, you have to go
within. It’s your only way out.
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