Last month I received a gift my family and I determined wasn’t a want as much as a need.

An Apple watch.

When they first came on the scene I made fun of them because all I saw was people answering texts and calls as if they were VIP status, not regular folk most likely replying back to their parents. Last year, my opinion started to change. A young friend fainted and she was home alone with her pre-schooler and newborn. She had help in minutes. Why?

Her Apple watch had fall detection. The watch triggered her emergency contacts, and her husband was at her side in minutes.

Last November, I took a fall. I was on my way to the garage with packages taller than my line of vision. I figured I knew what I was doing, so I went by feel down the steps. Thing is, there is a railing I reach for, and I missed it. I grabbed air and down I went. Packages flew and of all the ways to land, I straddled our walking mower. Yeah.

That kind of spooked me, and working a decade next door to the Office for the Aging has not helped me. I remember the fall statistics. I have a bad knee. I do not want to fall, but I realize it could happen, and there are times I’m alone, or somewhere around the house the others wouldn’t notice my absence unless they got hungry, LOL.

Enter Apple watch.

It has really helped me with fitness goals, and of course, fall detection is activated.

The watch has also helped me in another area.

I don’t breathe.

There’s a prompt several times a day for me to stop and breathe. One minute is all it asks of me. Rarely do I oblige. I keep thinking I’ll get to it. But I don’t. Last year the stress and grief I was experiencing manifested in severe anxiety. One thing I learned, when I start to freak out, I hold my breath. Not only am I trying to unlearn that, I’m trying to practice deep breathing. When I actually employ that skill, it helps. But I struggle to breathe. How crazy is that?

Does anyone else struggle with breathing? Do you have a watch that reminds you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Just remember to breathe. 🙂

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Anchored Hearts is available for pre-order!

This is the first book in the new Surrendering Hearts series about the Hart sextuplets and their desire to discover their own identities and find a love like the one their parents shared.

Can two go-getters surrender their need to control and find a happily-ever-after?

Jordyn Bell Hart succeeds in everything she does. Her promotion to morning show co-anchor blossoms her career in the same way her mother’s work had. Jordyn keeps tabs on her family and enjoys helping them grow. When life around her starts to change, can she surrender her desire to control?

Spencer Collins knows how to balance a busy life. He has his work as a reporter, his time caregiving for his grieving father, and looking out for his little brother. When he learns he’s the new co-anchor of a morning show with Jordyn Hart, can he handle working with a celebrity who brings a lot of challenges to life on and off the set?