The Single Mother: Stress Less & Thrive

By Shirelle "Dakota" Brown

This book provides 14 different ways that a single mom can stress less and yet thrive in being a single parent. It is a brief snippet into how a young mother (author) has gone about raising her children and have been quite successful in doing so by taking on a few simple tactics that could help many other women in raising their children alone as well. This book is sure to change a person's mindset and propel them to stop stressing as a single mother and to start thriving as a single mother instead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shirelle "Dakota" Brown
• Release date: Apr 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311142955

Shirelle "Dakota" Brown

Shirelle Brown is a part-time freelance writer and a full-time mother to two beautiful children, and is currently employed as a full-time government employee, who was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She spends most of her down time reading and people watching, which is what led her to pursue her dreams of becoming a psychologist. She has earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Phoenix; however, since discovering so many other passions, Shirelle is presently in the process of starting a Non-profit Organization centered around Single Mothers, being that she has a heart for Philanthropy and since she is not a stranger to the struggle of being a single parent. This organization will cater to hard working single mothers who are striving for greater but may need a little financial, emotional, or spiritual help in order to keep moving forward. Shirelle has always had an embedded passion for writing every since the 5th grade where she won an oratory contest and has a plethora of poems and short stories that she’s written. She has decided to resurrect those old passions by continuing to write and make another deferred dream a new reality. She plans to have this eBook and several others bound and printed in the near future, and is currently working on releasing another eBook in the next month or so, so stay tuned.

Book preview

The Single Mother: Stress Less & Thrive

By: Shirelle Brown

Copyrighted© 2014 Shirelle Brown

Published By Shirelle Brown at Smashwords

Cover Design by Miss Mae

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. This eBook has been copyrighted through the Library of Congress so if you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter1

Chapter2

Chapter3

Chapter4

Chapter5

Chapter6

Chapter7

Chapter8

Chapter9

Chapter10

Chapter11

Chapter12

Chapter13

Chapter14

Closing Note

About Author

Connect with Shirelle Brown

Connect with Cover Designer

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, without God none of this would have been possible to accomplish. A very special shout out to my two talented and beautiful children for always being my number one fans and willing lab rats to any experiment that I’ve attempted, especially in parenting! And also a very special thanks to my friends and family who have always seen the greatness in me even before I was able to see it in myself.

Prologue

Let’s just keep it real, being a single mom was definitely not in the plans right??? Well, I can speak for myself when I say; I NEVER saw that in my future plans. And to add insult to injury, the one who I’d labeled as being the love of my life abandoned ship and left me to fend for myself on not one occasion, but two times around. This new dose of harsh reality took me to a dark and lonely world of doubt, fear, and stress. My dark place eventually became my solace, my retreat, and my hideaway from the cruel harsh world, but now I was being forced to be strong in order to function for the sake of another human being... Did I really have it in me?

I will admit that it was hard. Accepting that I was going to be a single parent was actually hard as hell because I didn’t feel like I was good enough or strong enough to help this little person. Up until this point, I’d gone through my whole life allowing people to mold me into being whoever they wanted me to be, and was used to having handouts from my parents. I was fresh out of high school, so I had no clue on how to help someone else; I could barely take care of myself for that matter. The pain and rejection that I’d learned to mask throughout my life had become second nature to me, so how could I possibly give this little person the love that I didn’t have to give or ever really understood for that matter??

It was only through the help of God, and also through trial and error that I learned how to overcome the stresses and cope with being a single mother. I will share my journey (which is not yet complete, but honestly motherhood NEVER is RIGHT?) on what I have learned along the way on how to thrive as a single mother despite the many obstacles that can and will get in the way throughout your journey.

I am yet learning how to LIVE as a single mother versus merely EXISTING as a single mother and I want to provide a snippet of my world and what I’ve learned on my journey because it just may help you out a little.

Chapter 1

1st things 1st…… QUIT DEPENDING on PEOPLE to help you and DO NOT EXPECT Pity…after all, didn’t you get yourself into this? Of course it takes two to tango, but out of those two, technically women are supposedly the smarter of the two, but yet you are now here. So instead of replaying your should’ve, could’ve, would’ves in your mind over and over and driving yourself mad, it’s time to take ownership of your hand in this ordeal and make the best of it.

I’m sure a lot of you just like me asked, Why did this have to happen? Well, for the sake of love of course!! What else?!?! He said he loved you, you believed him, you had sex on the regular, and you got