Who wants to start their day distressed and overcome with worry? Not me! Not anyone. But, when we have morning anxiety, then that’s exactly how each morning begins. So how do we live a fulfilling and peaceful day, after waking up on edge? Morning anxiety comes from many different sources. Sometimes the morning itself is triggering. Maybe you had a nightmare the previous night, or you wake up into a traumatic flashback. Regardless of the...
Rejecting love is normal for us survivors of abuse. We were once told that we were unlovable, that we deserved to be hurt, or that we weren’t worth anything. Now, when we’re handed truly unconditional love, we push it away. It’s normal to do this, but that doesn’t make it pain free. Something in your past caused love to seem scary. And today, that cycle of fear repeats—pushing love even farther out of reach. I’ve feared...
Too exhausted to reach your goals? When you’re fighting a daily battle in your mind, it can be hard for you to muster the energy to pursue your dreams. This is okay. It’s possible to reach your goals even when you’re tired. All it takes is a willingness to rest and recuperate, then consistent effort when you have energy. You don’t need to make forward progress every day. It’s not required to work every free second towards...
If you can’t reach a place of mental health recovery, it’s because of one single mindset. Your version of recovery is not the right one for you. There is a place of mental health recovery you can reach. First, simply define what recovery means to you and you alone. You are guaranteed to reach it—so long as you’re realistic and willing to do the work. Recovery is diverse and unique. We all live with different mental...
You ultimately get to decide what you believe and reject. And, with this power, you can free yourself from the pain of feeling like a failure. You can redefine success. You can honor all your accomplishments. Someone once told us what success and failure meant. It may have been our parents, trying to coach us on our career. It could have been advertisements or societal stigmas. Whatever the cause, we learned what “failure” and “success” meant...
You deserve to enter this New Year with pride. With joy for who you are and all you have accomplished over the past year. This compassion and optimism comes with a beautiful form of self reflection, one that inspires your journey. Self reflection, if done in a critical way, can make us feel bad about ourselves. The last thing you want is to enter this new year feeling down about the past 12 months. You...
Maybe you have stellar techniques for handling short term stress. A panic attack. Nerves before a presentation. But, what about chronic stress? It’s the kind that zaps our energy, leaving us exhausted even in the first moments of a new day. Chronic stress is, to say the least, no fun. It takes a toll on our physical, mental, and emotional health especially if we let it become unchecked. Also, as the lovely title of chronic...
Self worth is a serious battle for many of us living with mental illness. We reject good things when they happen. We put ourselves down even when complimented. Maybe we even take senseless risks because we simply don’t care enough about ourselves to avoid danger. All of these manifestations of low self worth are common. You’re not alone in this struggle. And you will not be stuck with it forever. One of the most painful...
Do you feel like a bad person for holding sadness, anger, or shame? Like there is something wrong with you when you feel them? When you reject these emotions, you reject yourself. Your authenticity. Your Truth. You hold the most divine love just out of reach, simply by pushing away these feelings. When you pull them close and give them an inner hug, this compassion will come flooding back. It’s through radical acceptance that we...
Gratitude is good for us, but how the heck do we foster an “attitude of gratitude” when life is super tough? When it’s hard to get through each day, the last thing we want to do is count our blessings. Feeling grateful seems nearly impossible. Gratitude is even more important when life is hard. This is when we need it the most. Feeling grateful is not about erasing the hardship from our life. It’s important that...