WILMINGTON, DE – Ventures & Bloom Press is pleased to announce that Changing Course Gracefully: A Guided Travel Journal for Calm, Clarity, and Self-Trust by Elaina Kelly Smith has been awarded a 5-star rating by Readers’ Favorite, one of the literary world’s most respected review organizations.
The review, authored by Jamie Michele, highlights the book’s blend of reflective travel journaling, emotional awareness, and practical tools for building self-trust on the road and at home.
The review praises Changing Course Gracefully as “a wonderful guided journal with exceptional tips, exercises, and practical stepping stones that cement PARQS in real life,” noting that the techniques are realistic and usable in everyday situations, “whether it is for a market in Malaysia or the bread aisle at our local grocery store.
In the review, Michele notes that Smith explains how travel places us in a state of “heightened input” and shows readers how recognizing this state helps them manage it more consciously. Changing Course Gracefully invites travelers to notice their default reactions to delays, uncertainty, and decision fatigue. It introduces PARQS—Preferences, Awareness, Right Action, Questions, and Self-Acceptance—as a guidance structure for making more aligned choices throughout a journey.
Readers’ Favorite commends Smith’s pairing of the PARQS structure with accessible tools such as intention-setting, cultural preparation, grounding, and journaling. The review highlights techniques like box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, and the Butterfly Hug as realistic practices that help readers “open up the space for calmer decisions,” turning stressful or confusing moments into opportunities to pause, reset, and respond rather than react.
About the Book
Changing Course Gracefully: A Guided Travel Journal for Calm, Clarity, and Self-Trust is a reflective travel companion that helps readers move off “autopilot” and into a more intentional relationship with themselves. Through the PARQS framework and 80+ guided journal pages, it offers prompts, somatic tools, and gentle structure for anyone who wants to use travel—and everyday life—as a practice ground for building self-trust.
Changing Course Gracefully is available now through Ventures & Bloom Press and major online retailers.
A Companion for the Inner Journey Elaina Kelly Smith wrote this journal not just to document destinations, but to support the traveler. “To receive this recognition is deeply encouraging,” says Smith. “My intention was to create a practical map for anyone who feels like a passenger in their own life. I wanted to provide a pocket-sized companion that reminds travelers that they are their own best protector, no matter where they are in the world.”
About the Book Changing Course Gracefully is available now through Ventures & Bloom Press and our Etsy Shop https://venturesbloompress.etsy.com