SelfhelpMagazine Blog

What's Up with Dr. Maheu??

What' up with me? Too much!

I've been recuperating from auto accident injuries and unable to sit upright for the better part of several years (see, I told you it was too much)!

The good news is that my injuries are getting more manageable at this point. Given the proper supports, I can sit upright for short periods to type

And now, after soul-searching to reconsider my life's calling, given my physical limitations, my heart keeps pulling me back to this website, to the many programmers and writers who built it as a labor of love, and to the millions of people who have visited.

Many have taken time to give me feedback (mostly very good) about the website, it's information, and especially to connect and support each other within our SelfhelpMagazine Discussion Community.

There's something magical about a website that so many people have voluntarily built, and which still serves people from around the world. Somehow, we've all found each other and have built a true community, one that keeps people coming back over time.

I've also grown to respect. admire and even love many of the people who literally spent years working on the website. One of my most heart-warming programmers was a woman who came here seeking information about battered wives. After 20+ years of marriage to an abusive husband, who refused to share his $$ with her, and left her to raise chickens and puppies to sell for her own spending money, she came to SelfhelpMagazine and did just that, she helped herself!

She read about women and abusive husbands and felt so motivated to change her life that she wrote me a note telling me how our information helped her understand herself and her circumstance. In thanks, she dedicated the next few years of her life developing this precious website, for free, 6, 8 and sometimes 10 hours a day!

I knew she had really been transformed when she wrote to tell me that she had found a full time job as a programmer in a large company, with a full time salary and full benefits! Within a year, she wrote to tell me she had just purchased a bright red Mustang convertible, and was not allowing her husband to drive it!! How's that for someone helping themselves??

Many other people just like her have built this website, each with their own story, their own life circumstance that pulled them here and inspired them to share their time, their energy and their creativity.

Well, now I am BACK, with some of those same programmers and with several new crew members!!! We bring renewed energy and a host of new ideas. Even some of our orginal writers have been dropping back in to see what's cooking. Many apparently were waiting for some sign of life from me. Well, to all of you, I want you to know I'm not only alive, but kicking again!!

I am here to breathe new life into SelfhelpMagazine and plan to let it (you) breathe new life into me!! After my several years of difficult surgeries and therapies, please help get re-energized by saying a few words about what you've found here and how it has impacted you – if you have a few minutes and feel inspired. If not, that's ok, too.

If you prefer a more private exchange with me, please use this feedback scale and it's open field at the end to write to me privately.

Just for you to know, as I continue my recuperation, I will bring in new features and services to SelfhelpMagazine, and continue in my goal and vision of making it a trusted resource for you .

So let's get started!

If you still have a few minutes after this long "hello- I'm back" message, and have new suggestions or question for me, drop them into a comment box here and I'll pick a few to answer back here every week or so in this blog, for you to see and hopefully respond.

Wow – it sure is good to be back! I thank you for still making this such a warm place for me!

Dr. Marlene Maheu

aka Doctor Marlene