In a wave of excitement earlier this week, I decided to get a haircut in person for the first time in over a year. The pandemic and my fear are the main reasons I haven’t done this yet, and while I haven’t regretted it at all, I was excited because I found a place where…
When I was in the middle of a series of anxiety attacks a few weeks ago, I couldn’t think of much else that was going on that day. Fortunately, as it was the weekend, I had no work or plans, but my anxious symptoms made me feel like the whole day was a wash. But…
Mental wellbeing is one of my favorite things to do. Because of this, I’ve learned a lot about how people incorporate mental wellbeing into their everyday lives. From therapy and meditation to physical exercise and coping strategies, there are many ways in which we can put our well-being in the foreground. However, it is not…
The inspiration for this post came a few days ago. I was riding a stationary bike at my girlfriend’s place for the second day in a row and wasn’t sure how much I would get from it. I drove through the ride the day before and felt like I wasn’t really getting what I needed….
Last summer I decided to go back to therapy. It had been a couple of years since I’d seen someone regularly, and I thought I would benefit from speaking to someone about some of the life changes that were taking place at the time. Many positive things have come out of my therapy sessions over…
I’ll be honest: it took me a long time to learn how to deal with chronic mental health problems. It was a bit of a bumpy road and there were some definite missteps. Some days I felt like I was just making a trial and error of how I lived my life. This process is…
TW: This post is about suicide / suicidal thoughts. Like millions of people around the world, I saw Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Oprah interview this week. I thought it was very good for a lot of reasons, but since this is a mental health blog, I’ll stick with what we do and what inspired…
I had another post planned for this week that I hope to post soon, but some things happened over the weekend that inspired me to do a different type of post today. As I wrote earlier, fear strikes me sometimes and on Saturday I had one of the worst anxiety attacks I’ve had in a…
For me, research is an important part of living with depression and anxiety. When I first found out about my mental health issues, Google was my best friend and I looked up everything from symptoms to the best way to overcome depression. I found a lot of helpful information that taught me a lot about…
When I started dealing primarily with depression, I got hooked on the concept of routines. I had some routines growing up, but they were created more by things I did, team sports or group activities, than by activities I had planned myself (of course that’s childhood too). I had started my own routines when I…
It’s safe to say that I talk more about mental illness than the average person (okay, a lot more than the average person), which means that I can get so focused on specifics and details that I miss things that are outside of mine Scope of application. Over the years mental illness has gotten more…
Everyone has their own way of seeing the world. While many of us see it in very similar ways, there are still personality traits and life experiences that make our point of view unique. Some people refer to these as the “lenses” through which we see the world. The lenses through which I see the…
Understanding perspective is an important part of this blog. Whether I am discussing my own point of view or sharing details about other people’s experiences, perspective is a facet of mental health that should be included more in the conversation. Sharing our experiences is extremely important in reducing stigma, and something that is just as…
I’ve written before about the impact holidays can have on our mental health, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Loneliness, isolation, and depression are common feelings during this time of year, and although the causes may be different from other times of the year, these feelings persist. Whether you went through a breakup or are…
Earlier this week, I opened a conversation about how social anxiety persists in a pandemic and how it can make it even more difficult to deal with. It helps that I can be more selective about social interactions because of the pandemic, but it also means that there are fewer opportunities to overcome and overcome…
