{"id":179851,"date":"2025-08-27T13:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179851\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T13:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:48:12","slug":"the-best-years-of-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179851\/","title":{"rendered":"The best years of your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Seasonal Vineyarder Chris Willard\u2019s two new books, written for different audiences, both focus on mental well-being. Each is written in a warm, enticingly accessible voice. The books, \u201cCollege Mental Health 101: A Guide for Students, Parents, and Professionals\u201d and \u201cFeelings Are Like Farts,\u201d for children, share the goal of helping readers navigate potential challenges.<\/p>\n

More students than ever are applying to and starting college while managing mental health issues, and some find themselves in crisis once they arrive. Comments like \u201cCollege is going to be the best four years of your life,\u201d and \u201cEverything you do right now is key, because it will set the tone for the rest of your life,\u201d can be enough to make any student anxious. With years of experience working with university, college, and high school students, Willard decided to collaborate with two colleagues to co-author \u201cCollege Mental Health 101,\u201d which offers hope and clear guidance.<\/p>\n

Willard, along with Blaise Aguirre and Chelsie Green, has compiled a reassuring and comprehensive guide on managing mental health and supporting those in need. The authors share their personal experiences, as well as those of college students and professionals who have faced mental health issues. The book answers more than 100 common questions about the application process, transitioning to college, and ways to thrive, find support, and access accommodations once there. Whether you are a caregiver or a student, the book helps you learn how to effectively manage mental health during the college years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The guide is divided into three parts. \u201cHelping Yourself and Others\u201d is the first. It covers topics such as applying to and transitioning into school, managing leaves of absence, seeking help, maintaining progress and self-care, and feeling or being different. Part two explores identifying and managing various mental health challenges.<\/p>\n

In their heartfelt conclusion, the authors reassure readers of many things, including that \u201ccollege, while it is a major milestone and achievement in one\u2019s life, is, at the end of the day, just another life experience. No added pressure needed. Maybe you will realize what your purpose is, or make the best friends you\u2019ve ever had. But maybe you won\u2019t, and your experience is your experience.\u201d They continue, \u201cIf you have struggles with your mental health or experience stress for the first time now, college can be a time when you realize that your self-care is more under your control than you imagined, and certainly more than it has ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willard applies his talents to help children embrace all their emotions in \u201cFeelings Are Like Farts.\u201d This thoroughly delightful children\u2019s book, co-written with Tara Wosiski and beautifully illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura, is at once immensely humorous and simultaneously reassuring. As the book jacket states, \u201cFeelings and farts are a fact of life. We all have them! \u2026 It\u2019s definitely not a good idea to hold them in for too long.\u201d Turning the pages, we see children experiencing a variety of feelings, while the text explains that things like farts can be big or small, and can happen anywhere, anytime. We realize that, although funny, the metaphor of farts being like feelings is spot-on. Some examples include \u201cSometimes you can think of a reason for them, but other times, they just happen,\u201d and \u201cSometimes they follow you around when you try to leave them behind.\u201d The last page perhaps sums it up best: \u201cFarts and feelings. Everyone has them! Remember for next time: It isn\u2019t the first and it won\u2019t be the last \u2014 just like your farts, your feelings will pass!\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what it\u2019s like to have both books come out at once, Willard replies, \u201cThey are a funny contrast. When I have them both out at a conference, people are drawn a bit more to the fart book. They ask, \u2018Is this for all ages, or is it just for kids?\u2019 Really, it\u2019s for anybody if they give themselves permission to buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willard continues, \u201cMy hope is that both books are helpful to young people and their families, although clearly for different ages and in different ways. I also hope they bring some humor, levity, and authenticity to what can be really challenging topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege Mental Health 101: A Guide for Students, Parents, and Professionals\u201d by Christopher Willard, Blaise Aguirre, and Chelsie Green; \u201cFeelings Are Like Farts\u201d by Christopher Willard and Tara Wosiski. Available at Edgartown Books. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seasonal Vineyarder Chris Willard\u2019s two new books, written for different audiences, both focus on mental well-being. Each is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-179851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}