April is National Stress Awareness Month. Stress is something that impacts all of us. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to go through life without some sort of stress each day.
As summer comes to an end, a lot of change is on the horizon—starting school, coming back from vacation, new job tasks, and changing seasons. It can be hard to take control of any anxiety that you may be experiencing.
April is Stress Awareness month. Everyone experiences stress, we just all experience it differently. Stress is the reaction to certain situations when a person feels anxious or threatened. It’s an "in the moment" reaction that can have a lasting impact on your body.
The news you consume affects your mental health and well-being. You may think that you’re desensitized or numb to it, but very few humans are—everything we consume, on social media, through media outlets, or hear on our daily commutes has an impact on our nervous systems.
Anxious moments happen to everyone. Some of us experience a thought spiral, which is when one pesky thought leads to another one, and then another one, without an end in sight.
Maybe David Bowie said it best—"Ch-ch-changes…" Or maybe, it’s just that the past year plus has been full of changes for all of us, with a ton of uncertainty tossed on top.
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. It is most commonly associated with work-related stressors, however, it can also appear in other areas of life such as school, care-taking, relationships and parenting.
When many of us hear the term “reopening,” we automatically feel anxious. Keep in mind this feeling is quite functional, as our body and brain are trying to protect us from the unknown. However, it can be extremely painful to tolerate these fearful emotions.
The world as we know it has changed rapidly since early March. Within a matter of days, our lives and our daily routines changed drastically. Adults are no longer going into a workplace and children are no longer attending school. Life milestones like graduations and weddings are being put on hold or cancelled and as a result, many people are experiencing increased feelings of frustration, sadness, and disappointment.
With the emergence of Coronavirus, it’s safe to say that we are all a little anxious as we approach a changing world and the unknown. While there are many articles out there about managing the anxiety and fear of COVID-19, I thought it would be important to take a look at some psychological strategies from Dialectical Behavior Therapy to help us cope.
Have you ever heard a person blame Mercury Retrograde for the cause of a mishap? The concept has become a common pop culture reference in memes and social media posts. Mercury Retrograde is considered the time when the planet Mercury appears to be moving backward, and astrologers believe that it can negatively affect communication and technology.
Anxiety is a hot topic these days and for us in the mental health field, it’s a topic we’ve been talking about for years. As a psychotherapist, it may come as a surprise that I’ve struggled with anxiety, but the beauty of this is that I very much empathize and understand what it may feel like for many of my clients.