When she was a child, Shannon Schaefer recalls being labelled as the "shy kid."
“I was the daughter who was a little bit more panicked, the little things would upset me,” said Schaefer, 22. “I was shy, sure, but it was stemming from this place where I was going for over-perfection, always feeling like I made a mistake, always feeling overcautious.”
Years later, and during the pandemic, Schaefer began to investigate those feelings with a therapist. By reflecting on her childhood, Schaefer began to write a children’s book based on her experiences with anxiety called Rudy’s Belly of Bees, which was released in early November.
“Describing anxiety as being a belly of bees was my kind of child-friendly entrance to terminology, because when we talk about anxiety, from my experience growing up, it was that feeling in your belly, it was that tightness, it was always a little bit off-centre, feeling kind of shaky,” said Schaefer.
The story follows Rudy, who wakes up on the day of the school relay with bees in her stomach instead of excitement. As Rudy experiences these new feelings, she receives advice from Coach Christine, and her younger friend named Wyatt, who share mindfulness techniques and a basic grounding exercise that Rudy can incorporate into her own life.
“With Rudy, the book focuses on running in a relay, and that was a trigger point for me. I had a lot of issues with anything competitive, and it comes back to that need to be perfect and the need to excel at things,” said Schaefer.
“What I really try to express in Rudy’s Belly of Bees is that experience can range for any child, and to be excited is as valid as being nervous, and all those emotions in those moments all need a little bit of patience and understanding and explaining.”
While the book is about anxiety, Schaefer stressed it's not a tool to diagnose anxiety. Instead, the book provides tools that children and adults can use to cope with their anxiety.
“For children, they can go to this book for language that’s very accessible to them, and has these emotions explained to them in the most simplistic way without talking down to them,” said Schaefer. “On the flip side to that, I’m hoping for parents and educators, that it also gives them language that they can use.”
She also hopes children who may not be experiencing mental health challenges personally can use the mindfulness techniques with their friends. Growing up, Schaefer said she and her friends were going through things they didn’t understand or know how to address.
“Not every child will have a belly of bees, some children won’t and that’s fantastic, but what this book can offer for them is understanding of their friends and family in their own lives,” said Schaefer. “There can be the older authorities in our life that we can turn to, parents, teachers, coaches, and they can help us, and sometimes in our own circle, where we tend to depend on the most, and where we feel most safe, can also help us to a degree.”
Since publishing Rudy’s Belly of Bees, Schaefer said at least 100 students have read the book, including within three different classrooms.
“That just means the world to me, it means that I have been able to communicate with an audience much younger than I, and that’s potentially a hundred children who have read it and took something away from it.”
Recently, the book was picked up by Indigo and will soon be in its stores. It's also available online at places like Amazon, and Schaefer is not working on getting her book into other bookstores here in Guelph. A list of all the places where the book is available for purchase can be found here.
When asked if she would consider writing a second book, Schaefer mentions she is interested in exploring different facets in mental health, including adoption, which impacted her mental health.
“A big factor of my own anxiety was adoption,” said Schaefer. “I was adopted, and looking at how that affected identity, dissolving into perfectionism, the need to fit in, and that’s a topic I would love to explore as I know now that I do have a capability to reach these audiences.”