Book Review: You Deserve The Royal Treatment by Stacey Joiner

Stacey Joiner is a Licensed Massage Therapist and Certified Yoga Instructor, but she only entered that line of work after realizing what her path in life was and what she, in her heart, truly wanted for her life. She wanted to help people and with the release of her book You Deserve The Royal Treatment, she gives the people who have the pleasure of reading her book the inspiration to do the same.

Women have this natural instinct to nurture those around us, whether it’s our husbands or partners, our children, our parents or other loved ones we surround ourselves with, although we often don’t make time to nurture ourselves. We make sure the people around us happy, fed, clothed, that our houses are clean and decorated, we bake cookies for our children’s bake sales and we strive to perform above-par in our careers and satisfy our managers and bosses. We lead very hectic lives and if there’s one thought that crosses our minds the most often, it’s that days need to include more hours so we can do more every day. Women are keen to putting more pressure on ourselves than we are often able to deal with. When I had first started to read Stacey Joiner’s book, I had felt this way. I was working for a person who did not appreciate the hard work that I put in day after day, many more hours than I had first agreed to work, and all of this was at the expense of what I truly wanted to do with my life career-wise.

Stacey Joiner cuts through every excuse every woman has ever used to not treat herself like royalty; to not make time for themselves, to not relax with a mug of coffee or tea and enjoy the fall leaves that are changing color and falling from the trees in your backyard, to not take a relaxing bath, to not take an hour before bed and read a book, to not treat yourself to a massage that could save your sanity. While living in New York City after September 11th and in the transition from corporate citizen to owner of a massage and Yoga practice, Stacey Joiner experienced first hand what chaos ensuing around you could do to your stress levels and overall to your life; she also distinctly experienced what women think when they see another woman taking the initiative to take care of themselves, their well-beings and their mental stability; she knew that what the doctor ordered for her at that time was a massage to relax herself while all of her problems, obstacles and impending triumphs stayed exactly where they were. When she told her mother that she was going for a massage, she thought she was crazy, but Stacey knew exactly what she needed–and she was right; that self-care made it possible for her to perform greatly in her practice and tend to the other priorities in her life.

At the end of every chapter of You Deserve The Royal Treatment is a section entitled ‘Your Royal Duty;’ at the end of the first chapter are instructions to log onto YouDeserveTheRoyalTreatment.com for a free, two-minute audio meditation, which I strongly recommend you do. As for the rest of the Your Royal Duty Sections, she gives a yoga pose–it’s name, what doing the yoga pose will do for your body and for your mind, and bullet points instructing you how to perform the pose. However, even if you currently don’t do yoga or aren’t familiar with it, reading this book is still, as far as I’m concerned, a royal duty in itself.

Stacey Joiner hits the nail on the head again and again, but if you only take one thing away from her book, let it be that if you don’t take care of yourself first, how would you ever have successfully tend to all of the priorities in your life? When you neglect your own needs, illness, anger, resentment, disappointment and frustration invite themselves into your life. Joiner is changing the mindset and in turn, the lives of women for the better just by giving them sound advice that Joiner herself had learned throughout her life and is now spreading the good word to women everywhere. She stresses the truth in the fact that it does not matter how much or how little money you have in your bank account, if you live in an extravagant house or a studio apartment, if you’re single or married, if you have no children or have nine, nothing can stop you from making the most of your life and truly living royally. In case you were wondering, from the time I finished Stacey Joiner’s book, I have since ceased working for a person who does not appreciate the hard work that I put in to their business and I have begun working, albeit a little too much, but doing what I truly want and love to do.

Rating:
Buy the Book!