Mental Health

How to Cope with a Chronic Pain Flare Up

If you live with chronic pain, you’re probably all too familiar with chronic pain flare up days – when the pain that you already live with on a daily basis intensifies and completely levels you. In order to help minimize bad chronic pain flares, it’s helpful to know what triggers your physical symptoms and that can help you to cope with a chronic pain flare up.

How Does Weather Affect Pain?

When the weather changes to an extreme, whether from atmospheric changes or temperature fluctuations, it can affect certain types of chronic pain. This is especially true when your pain is related to your joints, such as with arthritis or fibromyalgia. If you start to keep a pain journal and record everything that occurred on the days when you had a flare-up, you might notice that your neck or knees hurt a lot worse when it rains or gets extremely cold. For others, extreme heat can trigger symptoms. Journaling can help you see what weather changes might be triggering you and help you to prepare for them in the future.

The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Stress

Everyone experiences stress. Some women are living with chronic illness, multiple caregiving responsibilities, work demands and more. It’s overwhelming for sure but we’ve got to learn how to manage it. No matter what chronic illness you’re living with, stress will probably impact your pain levels and cause flare-ups. But be assured that while we can’t eliminate stress completely, effective stress relief methods can help to reduce chronic pain.

Hormones and Chronic Pain

For women, a big flare trigger for chronic pain might be as a result of fluctuating hormonal levels throughout the month. This might be related to PMS, where your pain is worse when you are about to start your period, or you might be experiencing more pain as you head toward menopause. This is yet another reason to keep a pain journal, since it helps you to notice these patterns. The more you know, the more prepared you’ll be for these potential triggers.

Nutrition and Chronic Pain

Eating inflammatory foods such as refined carbs, and sugar can increase symptoms for many people. Others might need to eliminate dairy and gluten. They key is to know yourself and track your symptoms. Again, a journal is going to be helpful here to track your symptoms.

How to Cope With a Chronic Pain Flare Up

Despite your best intentions, chronic pain flare ups can happen at any time. If you’re having a bad day, week or month…just step back and regroup. Think about what absolutely has to get done and let the rest go for now. If you need to spend a few days in bed, that’s perfectly fine. There are things you can do every day that help you cope with your chronic pain. Some things you might already be doing, while others are good to start getting into the normal practice of. It is important that you keep trying to make changes in your life for proper chronic pain management and mental health.

Take Intentional Action to Reduce Stress

Stress has such a large impact on nearly every facet of your life, including your chronic pain. No matter where your pain comes from, stress is likely to trigger chronic pain flare ups and make everything worse. The best thing you can do is figure out what is causing your stress and work to reduce it. Limiting time with toxic people, not taking on extra tasks at work, reducing unnecessary spending and just living a more organized life are a few ways to begin to reduce stress.

Get Those Endorphins Going to Ease Chronic Pain

You may not love exercise, but exercise definitely loves you! We all know it’s great for weight management, but it can also help to promote blood flow that helps to reduce your risk for heart disease and high blood pressure. Working out also helps to release endorphins, the happy chemicals in your brain. When this happens, you not only reduce stress, but your mood will improve and you’ll probably find that you can handle your chronic pain much better. And some types of chronic pain are reduced when you are moving your body more often, like mild forms of arthritis. (This has definitely been true for me in managing the pain from cervical dystonia.)

The Danger of Using Alcohol for Pain Relief

Drinking alcohol may temporarily reduce your pain, but it is only hurting you in the long run. Not only is there a risk of addiction, but alcohol can get in the way of your sleep. Sleeping is extremely important when you are trying to cope with chronic pain, so you don’t want to get into the habit of putting a Band-aid on the pain with alcohol every day. Plus, alcohol is a depressant, so it can make your mood highs and lows a lot worse. And don’t forget how miserable a hangover can be! Finally, mixing alcohol with other meds is extremely dangerous and can lead to catastrophic consequences.

I’ve been sober for over 30 years! Read more about How Sobriety Helps Me to Cope With IBD and Mental Health

Join a Support Group for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is serious business. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by it and let it ruin your life. Unfortunately, even those who love you might not understand what it’s like. Finding a chronic pain support group might be one of the best things that you can do for yourself, whether online or local. You’ll feel less alone and much more empowered.

The Effects of Chronic Pain on Family

Chronic pain can cause a lot of family stress including social isolation, marital conflict, and feelings of anger and resentment. Be patient with each other. Let your family know where you’re struggling and ask for help with what you need. Let them know that you appreciate their support. Keep meals and expectations simple. Don’t take on any additional responsibilities. Finally, when you’re feeling awful…just do whatever nourishes your soul. Binge on Netflix, journal, listen to music that you love, take a long bath or spend some time outside.

How do you like to regroup during a chronic pain flare up? SaveSave

Why Self Care Is Not Selfish

I’ve seen a couple of blog posts recently trying to make a case that self care is selfish. (Not linking to them because as part of my own self care practice, I try to avoid online drama!) This got me to thinking because as a chronic illness blogger, I write about self care practices frequently. And I strongly believe that self care is not selfish…especially for moms living with chronic illness. Have a self care practice can greatly help with chronic pain management and potentially minimizing the need for unnecessary medications.

Take Care of Yourself First

If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you’re probably familiar with the safety presentation before take off. Back in olden times this would consist of the flight attendants demonstrating the proper use of seat belts and reviewing important emergency information.

These days however, it’s usually presented as a video on your personal screen. At some point in the presentation, the use of air masks is demonstrated and it’s notable that mothers need to be reminded to put on their own masks before assisting their children.

The reason I mention this is that it’s a powerful reminder to us that we have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of everyone else and as moms, we’re very guilty of doing this far too often.

It’s all too easy to take care of everyone else around you and never get around to your own self care. Most of us were taught from an early age to put ourselves last when it comes to self care, and this is especially true for women.

Now, there’s always going to times others have to come first. For example, your newborn doesn’t have a choice and you’ll be sacrificing a lot of time, sleep, and energy in those first few weeks and months. But usually, that’s only for a temporary period.

Self Care for Caregivers

I know that some of you are caregivers to children or have other family members who are in need of assistance. Some of you may even have a chronic condition while being caregivers to others (like me…) and help is hard to come by.

Special needs moms, sober moms and moms with chronic illness often are living with PTSD while navigating their circumstances. It’s been said that women like us have psychological profiles similar to combat war veterans.

Self care in our situation is tough, but not impossible. You have to be intentional about it and at times, you’ll just have to grab that five minutes or more for self care on the fly when the opportunity presents itself.

Self Care Is Not Selfish

For many of us, taking care of everyone else before ourselves is something we do on autopilot. Learn to become more aware of it and stop putting yourself last all the time.

And when you’re dealing with a high intensity situations it’s certainly a tight rope walk at times. You really have to be intentional in your situation to be able to make a conscious choice about how you’re going to spend your time.

And you know what…it’s perfectly okay and necessary to put yourself first at times. The consequences of putting yourself on the back burner for months or years are very costly. After awhile, there’s really nothing left to give and your health will suffer.

It may feel good to put ourselves last, but when we routinely do it, we’re doing more harm than good to those around us. It causes us to be stressed and exhausted and that’s not pleasant for those who have to live with us! So, self care isn’t selfish!

Self Care is Having New Experiences

When you go outside what’s familiar and look for new experiences, you open yourself up to new adventures. You’ll discover new ways to do things. You’ll also find solutions that you wouldn’t have come up with any other way. As a result, you learn more about yourself and the world around you.

To begin, it’s easy to bring new experiences into your life just by looking for opportunities outside of your usual comfort zone. Try a new restaurant. Drive a different route to work. Volunteer for an organization that you wouldn’t typically support. Take a weekend road trip to someplace new and see where you end up.

Remember that your environment shapes your self-confidence, so don’t be afraid to look around at your life and make some changes. Surround yourself with people and experiences that build up your self worth and make you happy. Distance yourself from toxic friends and family members if you can.

Self Care Is Living Mindfully

Mindful living is one of the best ways to practice self care. Often, anxious thoughts are the result of worrying about the future while sad thoughts are related to regretting the past. Mindful living helps with this mindset because it forces you to stay in the present.

Unless there’s something you can do to change your past, you’ll have to accept what’s happened in your life. Allow yourself to feel your feelings and grieve, and then move on in your own time. But if you find that you’re frequently haunted by your past or always worrying about tomorrow, it might be a good idea to speak to a trained counselor who can help you move on.

How to Practice Self Care

Starting today, make an effort to carve out some time for yourself. Do one thing for yourself, even if it’s just enjoying a quiet cup of coffee alone, or catching an extra 20 minutes of precious sleep. Investing time for self care matters. Do this more often and see for yourself how powerful the impact can be!

Practical Self Care Ideas

Go outside for a walk.
Do some YouTube Yoga.
Take a hot shower and indulge in some at home spa goodies.
Visit your favorite coffee shop.
Curl up in bed and take a solid nap.
Meditate for 10 minutes. (Yoga nidra is especially soothing!)
Find a coloring book that you love and can grab in a minute.
Stay off social media.
Listen to calming music.
Journal your thoughts.
Put on yoga pants and fuzzy socks.
Healthy food choices…do try to avoid alcohol.
Read some scripture.
Listen to an uplifting podcast.

Gentle reminder – if you’re a woman with chronic illness, please check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise program!

What’s your favorite way to practice self care? Leave a message in the comments below?

This blog has affiliate links.

How to Create a Gratitude Mindset

Having an attitude of gratitude means that you make it a daily intention to express thankfulness in every part of your life. Gratitude is essential to staying in the now. And it’s good for you. Gratitude can help to relieve stress, reduce anxiety and depression, and decrease overall chronic pain levels. Read on to learn how to create a gratitude mindset no matter where you are in life right now.

Why Gratitude is Important

Gratitude Relieves Stress. It’s hard to be both stressed out and grateful at the same time. While you can’t always choose your circumstances, you can choose a positive in the midst of it by practicing gratitude every day.

Gratitude Focuses You. In our technology and social media driven society, it’s very easy to to look at what others have and feel like we don’t measure up. Maybe you’re on disability and struggling to make ends meet. Or maybe your friends get to take fabulous vacations every year. Or you look at the carefully curated social updates on your feed and think that everybody has a great life except for you.

But when you embrace gratitude, it helps you to stay in the present and focus on the most important things in life, such as your family, friends, pets and community. Remember, your relationships matter far more than any material thing you might want.

Gratitude Energizes You. Without gratitude, it’s easy to slip into the victim mindset. You tell yourself things like, “I’m just destined to be a loser. I can’t have an amazing life. I’ve never had it easy, so why should I expect anything to change?”

Gratitude empowers you. Instead of being the victim in the story, you become the hero. You write the ending. You’re one who overcomes the odds to build a fulfilling life.

More Positive Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude is so much more than a mood booster. It can transform every aspect of your life if you’ll allow it to. Here’s some ways that gratitude can help to improve all of your relationships.

Gratitude Heals. In long term relationships, it’s easy to focus on what your spouse is doing wrong or how you feel your friend is never there for you. But harboring these types of attitudes can create a negative loop of thoughts. Maybe you think your husband is lazy. And you keep letting him know. But the more you tell him this, the less he tries. This can set a negative pattern that goes on for months.

Instead of focusing on what others should or shouldn’t doing, think about how they care for you and what you love about them. And then let them know. For example, you might say to yourself, “Yes, my husband just plops on the couch when he gets home from work. But he works so hard to provide for our family and I’m so thankful for that.”

Gratitude Strengthens. You may not realize it but when you’re grateful, it shows up in your relationships. For example, if you’re grateful for your husband, you’re likely to demonstrate this without even realizing it. You take the time to listen to listen to him and make the time to do enjoyable activities together.

When you express gratitude in your relationships, the other person feels valued and heard. As a result, they want to bless you, too. Often, this creates a continuous cycle of generosity that contributes to positive feelings on both sides.

So let your loved ones know how much you appreciate them. You can do this by thanking them for something they’ve done or who they are. For example, you might thank a friend for bringing you cookies after surgery. But you could also thank her for being so thoughtful when you were in the middle of a difficult time.

Relationships are precious and irreplaceable. Spend some intentional time letting a loved one know you care.

How to Create a Gratitude Mindset

A gratitude journal will not change whatever’s going on in your life, but what it can do is to alter your life perspective. A gratitude journal is a worthy investment of intentional time and effort. A gratitude journal is simply a space to record what you are thankful for.

By simply writing down the things that you’re grateful for, positive energy is fostered and increased. While the mundane and unpleasant aspects of life will still exist, they may become dim in the light of a heightened awareness of goodness and wonder. Keeping a gratitude journal can make life burdens feel lighter, or at least more balanced.

If you’re on a mission to start journaling this year, a gratitude journal is a great place to start. With this type of journal, you can write as much or as little as you want every day, use any type of notebook, and just write down what you are grateful for.

Gratitude journals are simple by their very design and are often quicker to write in than full out personal journals. If you don’t have time to write out a full journal entry, just scribbling down some quick thanks is perfect. When you are feeling depressed or are having trouble seeing the light, go back and read your previous entries and gain a new perspective on all that is right with your life, both past and present.

5 Positive Mindset Tips to Radically Improve Your Life

Your mindset determines your course in life. Do you find yourself struggling with your personal life or at work? Does it seem like you keep trying but nothing ever pans out for you? Have you been struggling in work or in your personal life? Do you keep trying but it seems like everything you do is a waste? If you’re starting to feel like success is completely out of reach for you, you’re wrong…read on for positive mindset tips that you can implement right away!

As a matter of fact, there’s a good chance that you’re already doing everything right! The problem isn’t what you’re doing, it’s how you’re thinking. If you want to achieve success in any sphere of life – whether it’s at home, with your family, at work or at school, the key to success is through a positive mindset.

Whether it’s through a toxic past or overwhelming life challenges, many of us are programmed to think negatively about our life situation. Perhaps we finish a project and instead of being excited about it, we worry that it isn’t good enough or are already thinking about the next thing. Or maybe we look at ourselves in the mirror and focus on our flaws, instead of our good parts.

This negative thinking permeates our lives. And while we think a little bit of self criticism might be helpful, it also holds us back. Because if all we see is negative, we easily become discouraged and are rarely successful.

Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that the key to success is believing that you can. This isn’t psychobabble, just an honest truth. When you have a positive attitude, you’re far more likely to do better in your endeavors. This is why teachers are encouraged to always put positive comments on their students’ papers, even if the child has done poorly. Likewise, schools and businesses give recognition to those who have done well, because positive thinking works.

But if you’ve spend your entire lifetime thinking negatively, retraining your brain to think more positively can be a challenge.

5 Positive Mindset Tips to Radically Improve Your life

1. Hang out with positive people. If your tribe often brings you down, branch out a little bit. Begin to associate with positive people. Attitudes, both positive and negative, are contagious. While you can’t always spend the majority of your time with positive thinkers, or completely avoid the negative ones, you can try to budget your time and resources to be in more uplifting company. Remember, you become like the people you spend the most time with.

2. Surround yourself with positive words and images. Think about starting a vision board, or hanging some encouraging prints or even post it notes around the house. Do you remember the poster from years ago about the kitten hanging in a precarious position that said “Hang in there!” It might seem kind of silly but this kind of visual tool can be really effective. You can also look up quotes, people, or images that you find inspiring and post them around your home or workspace. Doing this will provide you with a constant stream of positivity throughout your day.

3. Teachable spirit. Always strive to learn something new. Keep learning and growing. Read from a variety of sources, including those who have a different perspective from you. Iron sharpens iron.

4. Write your accomplishments down. At the end of each day, write down the things you’ve accomplished that day. The little things count here. Did you have a good idea or make someone smile? Just write down anything positive that happened during the day. This will help reinforce your positive thinking and set you up for a positive mindset for tomorrow.

5. Learn lessons from your mistakes. We all screw up at times. It’s part of living. But if you’re constantly replaying the situation in your head and beating yourself up about it, take a step back. Review what happened. What can you do differently in the future?

If you take even small steps to improve your mindset, you’ll soon find success much easier to attain. And even if things don’t go the way you planned, don’t be discouraged about it. Just keep going!

How to Get Moving to Manage Stress and Anxiety

We all know that physical exercise is an essential part of maintaining good health. However, exercise is also a great way to improve mental health. In fact, exercise is one of the best natural stress busters around. Getting in an intense workout to release tension and get those feel-good endorphins pumping through your body is a great way to manage stress and anxiety. But if you’re new to the idea of exercise and the idea of working out makes you cringe, I encourage you to give it a good try. Once you see how much a good workout can help to relieve stress, you’ll be far more motivated to make it an ongoing habit.

Is Exercise Good for Stress and Anxiety?

A good workout releases endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that function as natural painkillers. Endorphins are an immediate mood booster and not only that, they also help you sleep better! A good night’s sleep will also reduce stress and improve anxiety. Exercise will energize and refresh your body, leaving you feeling great during your workout and afterwards. Feeling better all around will help to reduce the physiological and psychological symptoms of anxiety.

Anxiety can quickly consume your thoughts and without intervention, can lead to panic attacks.. Engaging in physical activity that you find both challenging and enjoyable is a great way to get distracted from obsessive, harmful thinking. You’re literally burning the anxiety away. While your body is working, your mind gets a rest as you focus on something else besides what you’re worrying about.

How to Choose the Right Workout For You

Now, you’ll want to be sure to pick an exercise that you enjoy and isn’t a chore, or it might make your anxiety even worse. We all look at the perfectly toned bodies on social media and think that we need to do CrossFit to achieve that level of fitness. If CrossFit is your thing, then go for it. But if you hate the very idea of it, you don’t have to do it. Find what you love and makes you feel good! It might be as simple as a walk, gardening, a swim in the pool, or some gentle yoga. Do you you can and don’t compare yourself others. Good exercise is simply about getting your heart pumping and your mind off worries.

You don’t need a gym membership or expensive equipment to get started. Give a boost to your everyday activities and you’ll feel much healthier. Anything that you do during the day can be an opportunity to strengthen your mind and body. Set a simple goal of more physical activity will help you to feel more accomplished and boost your confidence. These are both really beneficial at kicking anxiety to the curb, since most anxiety is rooted in inner conflict.

Walking Outside

A walk outside is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health. It helps promotes more neural activity in the brain. It is believed that blue skies help to relax the brain. The fresh air that the brain receives from outside promotes circulation, which can increase your cognitive abilities.

If you’re just starting out, put on a pair of sneakers and just go for a walk. Walking is a simple workout that’s accessible to most people. It’s low impact and you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment or special training to do it. Just get out there and do it. Start out with a simple stroll around the block after dinner. It can be as easy or as challenging as you want it to be. After a few weeks you’ll be up to longer walks, picking up the pace, or even tackling a small hill.

Health Benefits of Hiking

We could all stand to get outside more. Hiking is a fantastic cardio workout that can be adapted to any fitness level. It lowers your risk of heart disease, and can help to improve your blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Not only that, but as a weight bearing exercise it will boost bone density and increase strength in your core, glutes, quads, hamstrings and hips which are essential to optimum mobility as we age.

Yoga for Stress Relief

Yoga and meditation are enormously popular and with good reason. They help to heal and relax mind, body and spirit. A regular yoga practice will also help you to incorporate breathing exercises (pranayama) that you can use any time of the day. Breathing exercises are a fantastic way to reduce stress and anxiety and you can use them no matter where you are! When the body releases stress hormones, the parasympathetic nervous systems activatesm which results in rapid breathing. When you get your breathing under control, it will go a long way to alleviating stress and anxiety.

Yoga will also help you to feel more grounded and confident, which you can then take with you into every area of your life. Any yoga practice will help you to develop those important core muscles. Improving the core muscles will naturally give you better posture, which will help you to project confidence.

There’s lots of great free yoga on YouTube. These are a few of my favorites:

Sleepy Santosha (for chronic illness)

Caroline Williams (worried about Christian yoga? Read why I practice without guilt!)

Yoga With Adriene (fun!)

Yin Yoga with Kassandra (yin is one of the most relaxing forms of yoga you can do…check it out!)

Weight lifting

Weight lifting can increase the production of testosterone. This hormone is known to inhibit the production of cortisol and regulate hormonal levels. The body also releases a surge of endorphins during a vigorous exercise. Weight lifting tones and improves physique. This can also help to improve self confidence for many women. It’s particularly important for women as we age to keep our bones and connective tissue strong, so that we can continue with daily tasks of living.

You don’t have to go to the gym to incorporate weights into your life. I like to use light weights during walk aerobics and a resistance band. That helps me to stay relatively toned. Do I look like a CrossFitter? No…but that’s okay!

How to Stay Motivated to Exercise

As I mentioned earlier, the most important thing is to find something that you love and that is realistic to your lifestyle. Then, start to visualize the results that you want, like improved overall physical and mental health. Doing this will help to carry you through on the days that you struggle with the idea of getting yourself moving.

If you’re having a rough or busy day, remember that a little bit of movement is better than none. A simple stretches, a walk around the yard with your dogs or even parking a little further away from the store still count as healthy movement.

5 Easy Breathing Techniques to Reduce Anxiety

In the Nasty Health Dangers of Chronic Stress I talked about the effects of stress and knowing the warning signs that you’re on stress overload. As you learn to recognize the signs that you’re feeling stressed out, one great tool to have in your arsenal are easy breathing techniques to reduce anxiety.

This doesn’t have to be complicated, and it can be as simple as taking a deep breath.

Hold on to this thought…the simple act of taking a few deliberate and slow breaths can help to reduce your stress levels dramatically. Easy breathing techniques are relaxing, supply the body with plenty of fresh oxygen, and relieve any tension you may have built up.

There’s lots of different ways to practice easy breathing techniques to reduce anxiety, relax and release that awful feeling of stress.

One of my favorite things to do when I’m feeling stressed out and life feels like it’s just too much is to go outside for a quick walk. For me, this usually looks like walking around my big yard with my dogs a few times. It doesn’t even have to be long, 10 minutes at a time a few times a day is so beneficial. It releases tension, and is relaxation and rejuvenating.

You might think if it’s dragging you away from your desk that it’s a waste of time, but give it a try. Being inside or sitting at a computer for hours is incredibly draining. You’ll come back inside with more energy and a much clearer mind. You’ll get that time back and then some!

4-7-8 Breathing Technique

One of the many problems with stress is that it gives us a really short fuse. And that makes it harder to be kind and patient with those closes to us! Letting that anger out is rarely helpful. Instead, walk away and practice the 4-7-8 breathing technique. It’s really pretty simple!

Breathe in for 4 seconds.
Hold your breathe for 7 seconds.
Exhale for 8 seconds.
Repeat once or twice.

It may not seem like much, but you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel! While it may not do much to treat chronic stress in the long run, it is a quick distraction for your mind and an effective strategy to calm down quickly.

Try a Breathing Meditation

Breathing meditation techniques are very beneficial to know. They’re a very effective treatment to reduce anxiety and stress. Not only that, but they’re easy to do and you can do them anywhere…while waiting in your car, at the office, or standing in line anywhere. The basic idea is to take a few minutes to sit (or stand) quietly, with your eyes closed (if practical) focusing your mind only on your breath. Feel the air flowing in and out of your nose and try not to think of about anything else.

It’s very effective breathing technique once you get the hang of it. It does take practice, but do give it a try.

Deep Abdominal Breathing

Get in a quiet place, place your hands on your abdomen. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Try to completely expel the air.

Alternate nostril breathing

While sitting on the floor is optimal, you can also do this in the car.

Place the thumb of your right hand on your right nostril and press firmly. Take in a breathe through your left nostril.
Place the ring finger of your right hand on your left nostril and press firmly. Remove your right thumb from your right nostril and slowly breathe out.

Equal breathing

Sit in a comfortable position, either at your desk or on the floor with your spine straight. Breathe in and out for equal counts, ranging from 1-4. Once you’re comfortable, you might try it for a bit longer.

Daily Breath Awareness

Schedule a 5 minute breath awareness during a quiet time of the day. Turn everything off, tune out and just focus on your natural breathing pattern. You can even do this in 1 minute breaks if that’s all you’ve got. Being conscious of your breathing will reduce anxiety, soothe emotions and even boost your energy.

Breathing exercises of any time will help to sooth frazzled nervous symptoms. I hope you’ll give these techniques a try!

SaveSave

5 Tips to Overcome Negative Thinking

Low self-esteem is the major cause of negative thinking. Negative thinking can lower your self esteem even further creating a vicious cycle where you’re constantly feeling bad about yourself.

But the good news is that you don’t have to stay in this rut. You can overcome the vicious cycle of negative thinking and low self esteem. When you’re able to overcome negative thinking, your self esteem will naturally improve. You’ll boost your self confidence and feel far more optimistic about your life, no matter what you might be going through.

If you’re ready to break the cycle of negativity, you need to understand these essential truths.

Recognize Negative Thinking Patterns

Your actions always begin with your thoughts. If you think you’re hopelessly overweight and destined to stay that way, then it doesn’t matter how many diet books you buy or blogs you read, you’re still going to struggle. The fact is that you’ll stay overweight because you haven’t changed your mindset.

If you want to change something in your life, you’ll have to change your thoughts first. Instead of thinking that you’re destined to be overweight, work on changing your thinking. Try saying to yourself that you’re in control of what you eat and how much. Doing this changes the story you’re telling yourself. You just went from the victim in this story to the victor.

Change Your Mental Outlook

You are the only one with the power to change your mental soundtrack. Just because you have some negative thoughts doesn’t mean you have to listen to them. You alone have the power to change your focus.

Instead of concentrating on the terrible day you had, start thinking about a simple pleasure – a serendipity – that you’ve been anticipating like getting to change into your yoga pants or flannel pants tonight or hearing your son’s laughter during a silly bedtime game. By focusing on what’s positive, you’re teaching yourself to let go of negative thoughts.

Remember Garbage In, Garbage Out

It’s hard to stay positive if you’re constantly consuming negative information. Watch your social media consumption. If you really want to change your negative self-talk, then you have to focus on consuming good stuff. You want to read and watch content that lifts you up. Not only will you feel better, you’ll notice that your self-talk is more optimistic when you focus on the good.

Practice Mindfulness

Stay aware of your present environment and what’s going on around you, whether you’re at home, at work or out running errands. It can be very easy to get sidetracked by negative thoughts if you don’t stay present. If you’ve found your mind going off on auto pilot, take a minute to focus on your breath and refocus. No judgment, just regroup.

Practice Positive Affirmations

What you say about yourself will become your truth. That’s why it’s really helpful to practice positive affirmations every day. Begin by looking in the mirror and telling yourself something like “I’m in charge of how I feel today and I choose happiness.” When you speak these positive affirmations out loud, they’ll begin to affect how you talk to yourself and how you live out your life.

Everyone struggles with negative thinking at some point in their life. The important thing to remember is not to beat yourself up when you’re in a mental rut. Accept that you had a negative thought, then just push it away and replace it with a positive one.

No matter how ingrained your negative thinking patterns might be, you can overcome it. Think of it as building new mental muscles. It will be hard at first but just like any other good habit or intention, it will become ingrained if you stay with it.

10 Symptoms of Stress You Should Know

Stress really isn’t a bad thing. It’s actually a natural process designed to protect or at the very least prepare us for imminent danger. Stress is what helps us run from threats or push through chaotic situations. But it’s important to recognize the symptoms of stress because they can sneak up on you without your being awareness of it. We get used to that feeling of constantly being over worked and over stimulated.

In small doses and for a short time, stress is a good thing. It becomes a problem when we are totally stressed out and it’s constant. Chronic stress is what causes things like adrenal fatigue, high blood pressure, belly fat and heart disease.

If you have a constant wired, tense feeling, more than likely you are stressed out.

Many times we don’t even realize just how stressed out we are until something major happens and our body then forces us to slow down. Don’t let it get that far. Learn to recognize the early signs you are stressed out. Learn to control the stress, work on reducing the stressful situation, and most importantly make time to rest and relax so you can recover from the unavoidable stress and pressure life throws at you.

Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” – Khalil Gibran

10 Symptoms of Stress

A general feeling of anxiety and feeling unwell.
Trouble sleeping.
Lack of concentration and focus.
Mindless eating and snacking throughout the day. (Sweet and salty foods are particularly appealing!)
Needing a nightly glass of wine or beer to unwind.
Feeling overwhelmed.
Hair loss
Compromised immunity.
Depression and loneliness.
GI symptoms including nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea.

The problem is that these symptoms of being stressed can stress us out even more. We may respond by pushing harder, which makes us feel even worse.

What Happens To Your Body When You’re Stressed?

Stress may cause emotional distress such as depression and anxiety. Not only that, but you may start having physical issues in your body. You may even notice certain issues that are more long-term problems from ongoing stress in your life. Here are some ways that stress affects your entire body and a few relaxation techniques to help you manage stress more effectively.

Ongoing Tension and Pain

One of the most common ways that stress can affect your entire body is by causing tension. This tension may show up in your muscles, neck, and other mysterious aches and pains. The tension can lead to chronic pain as well. This pain can be in the form of severe headaches or body aches that require medication to heal. If you have ongoing stress and tension, you may find yourself experiencing issues related to inflammation and even serious body issues like Fibromyalgia.

Eating Disorders

When some people are stressed they may experience eating issues that lead to severe eating disorders. You may find yourself binge eating. Or you might even find yourself experiencing so much stress that you can’t keep food down. This can lead to an emotional and mental connection that drives you towards anorexia or other related issues. Learning to live more mindfully and and developing strategies to reduce anxiety is one of the best ways to manage disordered eatings. (If disordered eating is making your life unmanageable, please seek professional help.)

Heart Issues

Another thing to consider is stress can affect your heart over time. Unchecked stress can lead to high blood pressure. When this happens you can experience shortness of breath and possibly even stroke or heart attack if it is ongoing and happens often. If your blood pressure or stress are out of control, it’s essential that you seek professional help right away in addition to stress management techniques.

You will find that as you remove stress from your daily life, you will start to find the long term effects will reduce. To remove them completely, you will need to focus on each aspect and work to make sure that your stress does not get to a level that the long term issues rise again. Regular exercise routine, meditation, and healthy eating can all help with this.

Stress Management Techniques

The only way to break the cycle of being stressed out all the time is to address THE problem… the stress.

We can do this by making a conscious effort to cut (or reduce) stress, learning simple relaxation techniques, and learning to give ourselves the time and rest that we need to recover.

Limit caffeine.
Don’t drink to relieve stress. Alcohol will likely make things worse.
Increase physical activity
Try meditation
Talk to a friend
Keep a journal or try adult coloring
Improve your time management
Know when to say no.
Take a day trip out in nature.
Join my 30 day stress reduction challenge for easy to implement, actionable tips to reduce stress in your life!

In this life, we’re all going to experience stress. Unchecked it can contribute to poor health.We can’t always control everything. But we can control how we respond to it.

You can’t always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.” – Wayne Dyer

Do You Need a Social Media Detox?

With so much going on in the world, many of us feel we have a responsibility to stay up to date on world events that can potentially impact our families. But consuming a steady stream of sensationalized headlines and political conflicts can leave us feeling overwhelmed with social media overload.

Sometimes I find myself missing the “old days” when we read the newspaper in the morning and just watched the evening news later in the day. Now there’s a 24 hour news cycle of news stories, headlines and images that are carefully designed to make us react!

The next time you’re consuming media content, whether you’re scrolling through your Facebook feed or watching the news, be aware of how each story is impacting you. What kinds of stories are you drawn to? Now think about what impact they’re having on you.

Do you feel discouraged or depressed after you close the browser tab? Mark Manson states the following in his excellent article In the Future, Our Attention Will Be Sold:

Social networks are the business model of the attention economy. They are wholly dependent on eyeballs and clicks to make all of their revenue. To do this, they design algorithms that show you the most interesting and attention-grabbing information available in your social network. If your newsfeed was full of the boring and drab day-to-day stuff, you’d stop looking at it. So instead, Facebook shows you the most extreme occurrences in your social network for the simple reason that the extreme events draw the most attention.

This has drastic effects not only on our perceptions of society as a whole, but also on how we perceive our personal lives.

Why Is Information Overload a Problem?

Have you ever started a new project and tried to learn ALL the information to the point that it feels like your brain might explode? That’s what information overload feels like, and it’s a daily reality for most people due to fast access to information from social media. Information overload be the cause of a number of stress related symptoms such as: * Headache * Stress * Moodiness * Overweight * Cardiovascular issues Not only that, but it often causes problems in relationships with family, friends and colleagues. When you post something that stirs up contention, that’s what will come back to you. If you struggle with information overload, remember that it’s an intentional choice you make to be connected all day. You don’t have to watch all the news and all the talk shows to stay current.

Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Trail

Anytime you want to learn something new, it’s incredibly tempting to start gathering tons of information. And with multiple platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and all the rest, it’s easy to get sucked into the due to the social media mob mentality and wander down the rabbit trail of never ending information. After awhile you don’t even recognize what’s good information and what’s bad.

Overload Leads to Poor Information Filtering

When you are bombarded with nonstop information and news headlines,, your brain can’t filter and process it all properly.. Your brain starts to generalize all information as being the same, instead of filtering information in terms of importance. This is makes wise decision making a real problem.

It Also Leads to Black and White Thinking

The older I get, the more I realize that the world is not black and white. The world is colorful, black, white, gray and everything in between and more. The same can be said for a lot of issues. There are very few issues that are either right or wrong, black or white. There are always many perspectives to consider.

If you have too much information at your fingertips and are rating everything the same, it’s easy to see things as black and white, which can make it hard to negotiate a happy life and successful business. And if you filter your newsfeed to read only the stories and opinions that you agree with, that only worsens black and white thinking.

Does Social Media Affect Your Health?

Social media addiction can lead some people to experience mental problems such as short-term memory issues and even depression. If you find that you’re just feeling mixed up a lot, forget appointments and aren’t doing your best in real life such as home or work, you probably want to consider information overload as a potential culprit.

The impact of social media addiction affects all of us. Families have forgotten how to talk to each other. People are wrecking their cars due to not being able to turn away from looking at their text messages. Many people are overwhelmed, unfocused and stressed out from the 24/7 news cycle and endless notifications.

But Can Social Media Help You?

For me, social media used positively can be a good thing but I’m learning how to implement boundaries. As a special needs mom with chronic illness and a woman in recovery, it’s easy for me to feel depressed and isolated at times and social media offers a great place to connect with old friends and those who share my interests.

Not only that, but it helps me to stay current with disability advocacy issues. But when I find myself using it to procrastinate about other things that I really should be doing, numb out or if I feel depressed after getting online, it’s time to reevaluate how I’m using it.

Learning how to practice mindfulness in my social media consumption has been really helpful. I’ve learned how to implement boundaries. For example, in 2008 when I first got my Facebook account, I got into a few stupid arguments that placed a strain on real life relationships.

I don’t always want to know my friends’ political leanings but I’ve had to learn to live and let live. I very rarely comment on public threads or memes that I know are designed to provoke. I hide people from the news feed who constantly post stories that are triggering. I do try to stay informed on what’s important but don’t get sucked into everything.

How to Stop Wasting Time on Social Media

If you’re not ready for a detox, learning to use social media mindfully can help reduce the screen time that may be stressing you out. Here’s a few suggestions:

Check in twice a day at set times. It’s a good idea to avoid it completely before lunchtime. Checking into your accounts with your morning coffee will cloud your productivity and getting caught up in the day’s drama will cause you to lose focus.

Focus on what matters most. If you’re a blogger or online business owner, when it comes to doing tasks on social media, money-making tasks should come first, then relationship building, then personal activities. If you focus on just whatever is in front of you when you check your social media, you’ll get sucked in. Develop a plan of attack.

Outsource. Find someone to help you with social media if you’re using it for business. There are many social media managers who are good at helping you do the job properly. If that’s not your main money-making activity, let someone else do it. (Shameless promo: I’m a virtual assistant and can help you lighten your social media load. Learn more here!)

Turn off notifications. If you use Facebook for business, turn off the notifications so that you’re not tempted to respond every time one of your friends posts something. If you’re a member of Facebook groups (which certainly serve their purpose) turn off the notifications and mindfully check in once a day.

Give yourself a set time limit for scrolling. 10 or 15 minutes tops is a good boundary to set.

Unfollow the people who stress you out. Seriously, even if it’s a family member. For me, I don’t need to know people’s politics or what crazy conspiracy theories they’re into. And I don’t have time to watch dozens of videos. You can always check in periodically so that they don’t think you’re completely ignoring them.

Be honest. Many times being busy feels good. It feels like you’re doing something and accomplishing something. But, the truth is, not all activities that make you busy are productive.It’s important that you develop the ability to be honest with yourself about why you’re really on the phone.

Be mindful. Whereever you are and whomever you’re with, be fully present with them. Practice the presence instead of being distracted by your phone. And when you do get online, take note of how you’re feeling first.

Do You Really Need a Social Media Detox?

For those of us who work online, doing a social media detox isn’t terribly practical. But if it’s a non-essential activity for you, you feel like you might be addicted and you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, doing a detox would be a really good thing for your mental health. Take the apps off your phone and tablet. You just might be surprised at how much better you feel!

Remember, if you’re already feeling stressed, anxious or depressed, it’s probably a good idea to do something else for awhile..something physical and tangible like going for a walk, journaling to get out of your head. If you’re looking to numb yourself, remember than social media can be abused just like any other substance like alcohol or food. And when you’re using it for the wrong reasons, chances are you’ll feel even worse afterwards.

The Amazing Health Benefits of Mindful Coloring

You’ve probably noticed that coloring books have been a thing right now, and an extremely popular one at that. Coloring seems like the perfect antidote to our stressed digital lives. It takes us back to a simpler time. There are many health and psychological benefits of coloring.

When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do was hide away in my room and sketch and draw for hours. With no digital distractions, it was easy to get lost in it. But as I grew older, I grew dissatisfied with my work and never felt like it was good enough. To make things worse, I tried to get into an specialized art school but didn’t make it, and I stopped after that. However in my midlife years, I’ve begun to take it up again.

Mindful coloring is really a very simple concept. It is the art of coloring while practicing mindfulness. Being mindful is all about being in the moment, being engaged and involved in what’s going on around you. Unfortunately, mindfulness has become a lost art in our day with the ubiquitous presence of cell phones along with social media and a 24 hour news cycle. We sadly miss out on the basic pleasures and simple joys of life because we’re so busy multitasking.

Have you heard of the amygdala? If not, you’ve certainly heard of a fight or flight response. This is what happens when you’re overwhelmed, overworked, and anxious. It gets worked up and leaves you feeling panicked. Coloring can help to calm the amygdala, which can help you focus on a more positive life experience.

Coloring is a no-stress creative outlet that anyone can do with just a few inexpensive supplies.

How is Coloring Mindful?

Mindful coloring is great for stress reduction. Think about it..when you’re busy coloring, you’re just doing one thing. More than likely, you just want to focus on coloring and not check your phone, do housework or watch TV. As you focus on one thing, you’ll clear your mind of everything as you pick colors and focus on what you’re doing.

Mindful Coloring Can Be A Teaching Tool

Coloring is a form of mindfulness meditation. The simple act of coloring can teach you to create better habits in other parts of your life. Mindful coloring allows you to learn to clear the junk out of your mind and focus on the task at hand, the act of coloring. And as you learn to focus and be mindful while coloring, you’ll learn beneficial tool to practice mindfulness in every area of your life.

Mindful Coloring Relieves Stress

One of the biggest benefits of mindful coloring is the way it relaxes you. You’re no longer focused on all the things that overwhelm and worry you. You’re focusing on something simple and childlike and it greatly reduces whatever’s troubling you. One of the big reasons for the popularity of coloring books is that it’s a great way to calm down and find focus.

Coloring is beneficial for anyone. It isn’t just for kids! Once you realize how beneficial mindful coloring is, you’ll return to it for stress relief, as a creative outlet and simple meditation. Coloring can be a great part of your self care toolbox, but if you live with serious mood disorders, please seek the help of a competent professional.

How to Get Started With Mindful Coloring

There’s so many options available not it can be a little overwhelming. And if you don’t like coloring mandalas, there’s lots of options to choose from that are completely adaptable to your skill and mobility needs. Don’t think you’re limited to just coloring mandalas. There are dozens books on almost every theme imaginable. Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

Coloring Supplies for Adult Coloring Books

There’s no rules for adult coloring. Don’t be afraid to experiment and feel free to color outside of the lines! Two of the most popular options are colored pencils and markers. Each one has its own advantage.

With colored pencils, you can change the intensity of the color by varying the amount of pressure you put on the pencil, which gives you more control over how your coloring page will appear.

Markers can give your picture an intense, vibrant look. They’re also a faster way to color, if you’re low on time or energy. However,they don’t allow you to vary your hue. So if you want to color a flower several different shades of pink, you’ll have some difficulty with that. And you’ll also have to check any new coloring books you buy to ensure your markers aren’t ‘bleeding’ onto the next page.

But don’t be afraid to experiment with coloring tools that are out of the box. Some people really using gel pens to color, while other people might prefer to use a box of crayons. Try out a few options and see what you strikes you as the most fun.

How to Choose a Color Palette for Adult Coloring Books

If you’ve ever become frustrated with how your pages come out, try working with color palettes to give your adult coloring books a more uniform look. You can find inspiration for color palettes in nature or around your home. Any time you’re out, if you see a color pattern that inspires you, just take a quick picture of it. For online inspiration, you can do a Pinterest search of color palettes, this inspirational brand palette guide from Canva, Design Seeds, or Color Collective.

The Best Coloring Books for Adults

There is science to support coloring for adults, and even Crayola is excited about the social trend. The brand now carries markers, colored pencils and their own label of Coloring Escapes for grown-ups.

With the explosion of adult coloring, the subject matter of coloring pages for adults is almost infinite. Look for what motivates you and helps to express what you might be thinking…even your darkest thoughts or edgy humor. Nobody has to see it but you!

Still Coloring Book Picks

This blog uses Amazon affiliate links.

SaveSave

Mental Health

How Does Weather Affect Pain?

The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Stress

Hormones and Chronic Pain

Nutrition and Chronic Pain

How to Cope With a Chronic Pain Flare Up

Take Intentional Action to Reduce Stress

Get Those Endorphins Going to Ease Chronic Pain

The Danger of Using Alcohol for Pain Relief

Join a Support Group for Chronic Pain

The Effects of Chronic Pain on Family

Take Care of Yourself First

Self Care for Caregivers

Self Care Is Not Selfish

Self Care is Having New Experiences

Self Care Is Living Mindfully

How to Practice Self Care

Practical Self Care Ideas

Why Gratitude is Important

More Positive Benefits of Gratitude

How to Create a Gratitude Mindset

5 Positive Mindset Tips to Radically Improve Your life

Is Exercise Good for Stress and Anxiety?

How to Choose the Right Workout For You

How to Stay Motivated to Exercise

4-7-8 Breathing Technique

Try a Breathing Meditation

Deep Abdominal Breathing

Alternate nostril breathing

Equal breathing

Daily Breath Awareness

Recognize Negative Thinking Patterns

Change Your Mental Outlook

Remember Garbage In, Garbage Out

Practice Mindfulness

Practice Positive Affirmations

10 Symptoms of Stress

What Happens To Your Body When You’re Stressed?

Ongoing Tension and Pain

Eating Disorders

Heart Issues

Stress Management Techniques

Why Is Information Overload a Problem?

Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Trail

Overload Leads to Poor Information Filtering

It Also Leads to Black and White Thinking

Does Social Media Affect Your Health?

But Can Social Media Help You?

How to Stop Wasting Time on Social Media

Do You Really Need a Social Media Detox?

How is Coloring Mindful?

Mindful Coloring Can Be A Teaching Tool

Mindful Coloring Relieves Stress

How to Get Started With Mindful Coloring

Coloring Supplies for Adult Coloring Books

How to Choose a Color Palette for Adult Coloring Books

The Best Coloring Books for Adults

Footer