My friend Kim Johnson over at I Tripped Over a Stone, got together with Karen Anderson and wrote a book to help others find how they can LIVE with fibromyalgia. They know that with fibromyalgia every day can feel like you are fighting shadows.
With over 50 years of combined experience with fibromyalgia Kim and Karen understand that it doesn’t just affect you physically, it affects you mentally and emotionally as well.
The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal, is an interactive book where Kim and Karen help you on your own journey.
In The Shadow Boxers…, you will find Kim and Karen’s personal stories from first symptoms to the present. They prompt you to make your own plan, write down your own ideas, and figure out how to really live your life with fibromyalgia!
The journal features
- Definitions, with room for you to write your own definition or experience. For example, they give the definition for a Fibromyalgia Flare, then you are given room to journal what a fibromyalgia flare means to you. You could write it out, tell of your experience with a fibro flare, draw a picture showing what it means to you….it’s your journal, you get to decide what’s best for you.
- The Seven Areas of Positive Change. Discover “seven areas of you life that will respond to positive choices you make”. Kim and Karen discuss these areas and prompt you to journal about each area. You could tell how you will incorporate a change in your life, how you have already changed aspects of your life…, again, it’s your journal. You get to decide how it works best for you.
- Questions and Answers. This section contains questions from the fibromyalgia community. There are sample answers given, then you are given the chance to answer these questions for yourself.
- Dear Fibromyalgia. Write your personal letter to Fibromyalgia.
- Six Healthy Habits to Develop for Fibromyalgia Syndrome. These habits are explored individually, and you will find your own way to develop each habit.
- Your Story. At the end you are encouraged to continue to write your own story. This is your journey, your story, your illness, who better to write your story?
- Resources. Be sure to check out Kim and Karen’s Recommended Resources, this is invaluable information. Along with other resources you will find Fighting Fibromyalgia with Kim, Karen, and Andrea is a wonderful online support group.
Let me sum up by saying, I love this book! I love the how it’s interactive. I already journal, but my journals are simply thoughts of the day and such. This journal gives me prompts to think about. It gives me guidance. It challenges me to think about things I might otherwise have overlooked. This journal helps me find my way as I navigate through this illness. I now have my own story.
The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal is available on Amazon as a Kindle Book or a physical book. If you get the Kindle version you will need to get a journal to use in conjunction with it.
Or, you just might win it!!
Enter for your chance to win your own copy of The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journey.
Kim has so graciously offered to give a copy of The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal to one of my lucky readers. Please only one entry per person. I’m sorry, but this giveaway is available to US readers only.
To enter to win a copy of The Shadow Boxers... simply leave a comment telling why you’d like to win. Contest closes at midnight EST on September 20th. The winner will be notified by email. (make sure the email you comment with is the email to you would like to be notified) The winner will be announced on Friday, September 22nd.
Good Luck!!
**note. I purchased my own copy of The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Story. All opinions in this review are my own and I have not been influenced by anyone else.
Picnic with Ants 
Now this is a book I could get into–LOL! Like you said, I journal every day–but I only talk about my health in passing facts. This would be a place to really dig into it. Honestly–something to explain to family–to leave after I am gone. That probably sounds strange but I don’t think I have ever focused my writing on what it is like to live with all this. Well, that’s my weird take on it. Thanks for the chance to win. 🙂
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Great giveaway! I’m sadly not in the US but I’ve requested to join the FB group so thanks for the linky 🙂
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Darn, I’m sorry. Shipping out of the US and all that, you know.
The Kindle version is a great buy, if you’re interested. You’ll just need a little journal to write in.
Hope you enjoy the FB group. ♡
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Thank you so much for the book review! I am so glad you found it helpful and liked the prompts this interactive journal gives you! This book took 10 months to write, a lot of fears, and tears, and emotional turmoil from memories surfaced at times. But it was worth every bit of the work that went into “The Shadow Boxers” if individuals with chronic illness find this journal helpful. I am honored to be mailing out the book to the winner, and I hope there are many more who just take a look on Amazon and check it out. Yes our facebook group is very supportive and I also blog at, I tripped over a stone. Come visit, join, read and etc! Most appreciated!~Kim
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Reblogged this on I tripped over a Stone. and commented:
The first book review and giveaway for “The Shadow Boxers!”
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Thank you so much for that wonderful review. You really got it right when you described the chapters and I really appreciate that as well as your endorsements. Kim and I worked very hard to make user friendly and something that everyone with fibro would benefit from! Thank you again from the heart, Karen Anderson
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You are so welcome. I’m so glad you like it.
It’s a great book.
Thank you for the terrific resource.
Wendy
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My pleasure…..I want to write another one and Kim says “NO.” lol
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I agree — I think that the interactive nature of this book makes it a great resource and learning tool. Thanks to Kim and Karen for writing it, and you, Wendy, for reviewing it. Sounds like a must have!
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After reading what you have to say about this book, I want one! I like books that are interactive and put me to task. Let’s do this but first I have to win the book! 🙂
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This book sounds like such an amazing resource! Thank you for this opportunity to win it! And even if I don’t, thank you for making me aware of its existence!
There are many reasons why I would like to win this book. Apart from simply having fibromyalgia (and currently being so aware of it because my body is in a flare-up and my hands and feet feel completely shattered right now) and being in need of more knowledge and understanding, I would say the most important reason for wanting to delve into this book is because I still struggle with acceptance. Through reading your review, it seems like the very interactive nature of this book might be a valuable tool in helping to prompt me to look deeper into what life with fibro means for me. I don’t write about it much. I haven’t really put into words how it’s impacted me and every aspect of my life. For the most part, on a daily basis, it feels like I’m okay with it. But then something triggers me in the most unexpected way, revealing to me the depth of how not okay I am, how I haven’t really accepted it, and how I haven’t reached that point of learning enough to know how to live my life to the fullest despite having fibro (and my other complex chronic disease).
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This is a great book! I bought the e-book as I’m not in the US either but it’s an easy read and full of great info. I’m also part of the Facebook group too! Highly recommend both!
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Thank you so much for coming by!!
The book is awesome isn’t it?
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I was diagnosed a few days ago. When will you do another contest or where can I purchase this? Thanks!
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Hi, I don’t plan to do another giveaway for The Shadow Boxers, but you can get it at Amazon. I’ve posted the link below.
The physical book is great because you can write in it as your journal, but I think the Kindle book would work well too, you would just use a separate journal to go along with it. (I like my journal separate actually) I hope this helps. be sure to check out Kim’s blog “I tripped over a stone”,
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Thanks so much. Here is a toast of water to my new journey!
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