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The holidays are always a hard time of year for me--and for my schizoaffective anxiety. I have a big family, and I love them all very much, but being around so many people triggers this anxiety. But something happened this year right before Christmas that made me sure I will never take being with my family over the holidays for granted again, even if I get stressed out.
It can be difficult to release anxiety and reduce anxiety symptoms because anxiety is a total-body experience. It has a way of working its way deep into our body and slinking around our mind. Anxiety can be a painful experience, with a host of physical symptoms, negative thoughts, and unsettling emotions. It can make us feel both tired and wired, drained and agitated at the same time, as though we might jump right out of our own skin but collapse with exhaustion while we're doing it. I've discovered that a key part of managing anxiety and replacing it with a pervasive sense of calm contentment is to exercise in a variety of ways. Keep reading to learn about moving your body to release anxiety and reduce anxiety symptoms.
If 2020 was a terrible year for you and it made your depression worse, please know that you are not alone. Even as a mental health blogger with nearly two decades of lived experience, the past year has been one of the roughest years of my life.
I have a lot of books in my collection – several hundred at last count. Book collecting is one of my favorite pastimes – in my free time, I love to browse around the many used bookstores near me.
My son is now old enough that he overhears conversations I have with his dad about his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and he has questions. Explaining mental illness to my child feels like a balancing act. I want to be honest with him, but I want him to feel proud of himself, too. How do I go about making that happen?
In my last blog post, I spoke about how changing the viewpoint I took on my life, and my accomplishments helped to build my self-esteem. Taking a long-term view of my progress over a 10-year period showed that my trend, like that of the stock market, was upwards and to be celebrated. There's another example of changing my viewpoint that helped my self-esteem get stronger that I will share today.
It's the start of a new year, and you may have decided on setting some New Year's resolutions for yourself. This is a great way to start the year, and it is something I try to do every year as well. What I have found over the years is that it is not only a great thing to set goals for myself, but it is also a helpful way to control my anxiety.
In this video blog post, I am going to share with you my favorite eating disorder recovery tool. Meditation, yoga, and walking are great ways to relax but they've never worked for me. The reasons they've never worked for me are largely personal, but they boil down to the fact that they lack what I perceive as incentives.
In January, wellness culture tends to be more prominent than ever -- it seems as if the whole world becomes intent on creating a healthier, more productive version of themselves. For those with mental illness, this narrative can be damaging. My brother, who has chronic anxiety and depression, has often spoken about how wellness culture can leave him feeling frustrated and inadequate.
I support the positivity of setting goals for the year, but I've found that New Year's resolutions don't work for me. While living with borderline personality disorder (BPD), I have learned that I need to work consistently on the same issues every year. This process is constant and doesn't change with the calendar.
I read this book many years ago, just as I was entering the turmoil of remembering, questioning and doubting myself all the way (as I'd been covertly taught over a lifetime). I happened to mention to my two sisters one day, "This is so strange but I've been diagnosed with PTSD." Both my sisters surprised me by responding, "Me too."
THEN I happened upon an old book manuscript that my now deceased father had written (not published), wherein the protagonist was obviously based upon himself and he rapes his "fiancee," who had my unusual name. Yes, truly.
Then I made myself look at the peculiar memory I always had where he violently threatened me but somehow I had never been able to recall what came before or after the episode. I had to admit that was a bit strange.
The pressures and powers to forget sexual abuse are great, both in family and society. In fact, I've come to the sad conclusion that the vast majority of survivors never really deal with their childhood wounds (a neglect for which there are always repercussions).
To critique an encouragement of people trusting their intuition in such matters is really getting the prescription dangerously wrong.
Thanks!