Published March 11, 2013

Is There an Easy Way To....?

by Helen M. Ryan

Those of you who read my blog know that I preach one thing primarily: Baby steps, consistency and perseverance pays off. And it's the only thing that works for many.

I wrote 21 Days To Change Your Body (and Your Life) because I want to help people. Period. I have been where you are. "I'll never lose weight" are words I have myself uttered a million times.

I know the pain and the turmoil. I know feelings of sadness, hopelessness and just wanting to give up.

Writing the book itself was the easy part. The words flowed smoothly because I connected with the message and I could see you—the reader—right in front of me. I am you. You are me. We are all together in this.
The harder part has been getting the word out and getting the book noticed (it's kind of like losing those last 10 pounds). No one wants to write about the book unless someone else has written about it first. No TV or radio station will talk about the book's message unless someone else has already talked about it.

The weight loss field is filled to the brim with so many books and fitness personalities (many of them espousing hard-to-follow rules or plain-out nonsense) that my "real world message" can't be seen or heard over the noise.

So I have been trudging along, using baby steps and consistency....just like I did with weight loss. I have wanted to give up  many, many times. This is exhausting, and I sit here at night chatting on Twitter, posting to Facebook and even Pinterest, with nary a response.

In other words, promoting a book is much like watching what you eat and exercising, and then not seeing the numbers on the scale shift downward

But guess what? Finally—nine months after the book was first published—I am seeing small glimmers of light shining through. Aside from my early book virtual tour (where I met some amazing people doing really great things), and a few mentions here and there, last month I was extensively quoted in the Daily Breeze newspaper and then this week I finally saw a crack in the "publicity ceiling" glass with a mention and before/after photos in an article on Shape Magazine's web site.
It hasn't brought me much recognition yet, but what it has done is to show me that, once again, persistence pays off.

Small steps do work

And though I might not get on Dr. Oz's show (and you might not lose 10 pounds this week - heh), every movement we make in a positive direction counts for something.
Time goes by whether we do something or not, so we might as well do SOMETHING. Which is more than most.

Photo: My daughter at the Norwegian Technical Museum, Oslo, Norway