'From Hectic to Healthy' Authors: 'God Meets Us In the Middle of the Storm'
Craig and Mary Jutila are the authors of a new self-help; self-empowerment book entitled "From Hectic to Healthy." They spoke with The Christian Post about the struggle to move from hectic, harmful behaviors to healthy mindsets and actions.
Where did the acronyms (SPIN, STOP, PACE, and WALK) come from?
We didn't plan on writing a book about our life experiences, but here are the broad steps of how we got to where we are. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, family and friends, we were able to develop our SPIN, STOP, PACE, and WALK acronyms. We wrote this for Type-A personalities-looking back on what we did is how we developed them.
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How did the book come to be?
Mary had been trying to get Craig to go to counseling for "workaholism," which is not only accepted but rewarded in our society.
"It's just in both of our bloods, and it's something that I brought into the marriage," Craig admitted. "I was working 60-70 hours per week."
It wasn't until Craig found his wife's journal, opened it and read the words "I hate my husband" until he realized something needed to change.
"Journals don't lie," he explained. "I was neglecting her and our family."
"I knew going into the marriage that Craig was very driven, which was attractive to me. But the way it actually affected us was unexpected- I felt like a single mom with three kids and no husband … felt alone, isolated. After so many years, I couldn't handle it anymore but wasn't able to get him to the place where he would make the change," Mary said. She wrote those words in a fit of pain and needed a way to release them.
"One night I went to the grocery store, and he found my journal under the couch … he found it. I came home, he was standing in the garage with the journal and that broke the ice. God's timing is perfect and used that to get Craig's attention to go to counseling with me," she said.
Mary insisted that she never meant for Craig to find and read her journal, but that the honesty of her words broke the ice and allowed Craig to see how she truly felt.
"We generally have a good relationship, and I had a humbling personality. Reading that felt like a light coming on and I realized that I had been living in the dark," he explained.
What is the status of your relationship now?
"Our relationship now, five years later, is different because we have tools now. We're able to talk about things, pay more attention, and talk about the feelings of neglect, loneliness," Mark said.
The couple offers a final piece of advice to readers, which is to rest and reboot whenever possible. "The fact of the matter is that if you keep working without any form of recovery, you can get physically ill as well," Mark said. "The Japanese have a word for (sudden death from overwork). We in the US outpace the Japanese in stress-related disease. "
"You can become addicted to your own adrenaline … it was a pattern that I was in. You start manufacturing things to do in order to keep yourself going. But don't expect God to do what you won't do. You can't expect God to heal you if you are continuing on in your unhealthy lifestyle," he explained.
"In our situation, we had to put in some hard work and tears, and God met us on that journey- Jesus met the disciples in the middle of the storm. God always calls you to the other side but is always willing to meet you in the middle of the storm," he added.
"From Hectic to Healthy" is available online. For more information visit www.hectictohealthy.com.
