Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health issue on the planet. It takes many forms, can impact people of all ages, and has a tendency to escalate at night. Not for everyone, mind you, but for enough folks to make this a very relatable problem.
Codependency vs. Interdependency: What Are The Differences?
Codependency, on paper, may sound like you’ve found your soulmate. Meanwhile, it actually involves a marked decrease in independence as you gain more and more of your value from something external: your relationship. To keep this going, you must make unhealthy sacrifices and avoid analyzing your emotions.
What Is Codependency and Who Does It Impact?
The concept of codependency was long associated with addiction but it covers a lot more ground than that. In fact, it is more often used today to explore the dynamics of dysfunctional, one-sided relationships. Such patterns usually involve boundary issues. A codependent couple is made up of two partners who seem to have lost track of the line that separates them.
4 Tips To Prepare For Your Upcoming Retirement
If we were to believe in pop culture, we’d trust that retirement is a stress-free paradise. In reality, like any of life’s major transitions, it is a mixed bag of obstacles and revelations. “Stress-free” is not a realistic appraisal of any period in our life. Someone who is about to retire may have genuine concerns about adjusting to “free time” and a loss of identity.
What Is The Connection Between Chronic Pain And Anxiety?
Ask someone to describe anxiety symptoms. You’ll probably hear plenty about sweaty palms, shaky voices, and racing heartbeats. Probably the only aches that stand a chance of being mentioned is a headache. In reality, chronic pain is a common indicator of an anxiety disorder. It can range from unexplained tension and pain to diseases like fibromyalgia or arthritis.
Anxious About Retiring? 4 Tips For Preparing For This Next Chapter
You can’t be anxious. These are your golden years, right? Ideally, we’d treat all of our years as golden but retirement does have a unique status in modern society. You’ve paid your dues and now come the rewards. No more daily grind. You’ll have more time than ever before and with that, an opportunity to try out ideas, hobbies, and pursuits that were previously put on hold. So… why does it all feel so stressful?
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3 Tips To Reduce Anxiety Naturally
Anxiety has a bad reputation. To most people, that word evokes images of stress, worry, fear, and dread. In reality, it’s a normal and inevitable emotion that can be mighty helpful. Anxiety is our body’s alarm system. It has the potential to warn and protect you. However, when you feel anxious too often — when danger is not present — it can turn into an unhealthy cycle.
Is OCD a Form of Anxiety and How Can You Control the Impulses?
What is OCD and How to Deal With It
It should come as no surprise that a condition called Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. The key word is “cycle.” Each of us, from time to time, has obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors. They can be unpleasant and feel intrusive. But, with OCD, they are disruptive. The obsessions and compulsions are extreme enough to hamper daily functioning.
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What are the Differences Between an HSP and an Empath?
All of us have moods, temperaments, and personalities. Each of these is subject to change — although making personality changes is a large undertaking. Beneath these individual trends lies something more fundamental. People may use words like “soul” or “heart” to describe it. It’s sort of an internal compass that shapes your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors.
How Can Therapy Help a Highly Sensitive Person?
Obviously, “sensitive” is often in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has times when they feel more susceptible to the temperature, noise, textures, and general vibrations in their environment. This is frustrating but normal. Almost always, it passes rather quickly. However, the existence of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is also a psychological concept.
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Letting Go Of The Old Year And Your Anxiety
While most folks are talking about resolutions, you may find yourself stuck. How can you focus on the new year when parts of the old year seem to still have their claws in you? Anxiety has a way of blocking the path forward. It wants to keep you mired in the past — ruminating and obsessing. There’s no shame in this scenario. But there’s plenty of joy to be found in letting it go.
Breaking news: You do not have to replay and relive the past. In addition, you can reduce worrying and live in the reality you desire this new year.
Understanding Your Inner Voice
Anxiety is a convincing liar. It will highjack your inner voice and turn it into your inner critic. That critic will tell you lies like:
You can’t get over past mistakes (or perceived mistakes)
The future is dangerous and risky
You’re not ready to grow and mature
What happened last year matters more than you realize
More breaking news: You can talk back to that inner critic. This life-altering process begins once you identify it as an offshoot of anxiety. It doesn’t mean you harm. On the contrary, your anxious inner critic believes it is protecting you. But it’s not a true voice.
Your truest voice can be heard when you practice self-care and offer yourself appropriate positive affirmations. This is not about practicing denial. The counter to anxiety is balance. Talk to yourself with a nuanced perspective and trust yourself more. Stop fixating on past events because you can reframe them this new year — and beyond!
4 Ways to Reframe the Old Year
1. Past Events Can Inspire You to Take More Calculated Risks
Negative episodes are inevitable but they have the power to build resiliency. You endure them. In some cases, you suffer through them. But you also recover from them. You come out on the other side wiser and stronger. Errors and screw-ups can often be very useful motivational tools.
2. Last Year Taught You to Think Like a Sculptor
When a sculptor works with a hunk of clay, they do a fair amount of molding. They also hack away anything that doesn’t save a great purpose. As you assess the old year, you have the opportunity to see your mistakes and down periods as a lesson. They show you what you want to hack away or at least, mold into a new shape. What a gift!
3. More Compassion and More Self-Compassion
Every time one of us fails or disappoints, it is a reminder of our humanness. It is crucial to carry this humanness with us. Our mistakes don’t have to define us. Every person we know has the same ups and downs. There is no logical reason to let anxiety or an inner critic try to convince you that you are uniquely flawed.
In addition, what we don’t like about the old year can guide us to a place of empathy. We understand that everyone is vulnerable to similar mistakes and mental health issues. This understanding can help ease our burden by feeling more compassion for ourselves and others.
4. Practice Mindfulness
The past is where regret may live. Anxiousness dwells in the future. Fortunately, all of us can only exist here and now — in the present. Mindfulness practice reminds us to embrace the moment and make the most of it. Working with a therapist (see below) is an ideal way to learn mindfulness skills.
If the anxiety of the old year feels overwhelming, you are not alone. I invite you to reach out. Let’s connect. Let’s get you on a path away from anxiety and toward abundance. Or click Anxiety Treatment if you want to read more.