Helpful Hints
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Creating a Value Tree
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about values. As we learn more about ourselves, it’s important to outline what attributes mean the most to us. For me, when I am hurt or offended I want to better understand why. It’s easy to say that something hurt us but it can be difficult to see why it hurt so badly. I decided to create a value tree to better understand my interactions. You may be thinking, what is a values tree? I don’t even know if this is a real thing but we’re doing it anyway. Here’s how I made mine: Establish Important Attributes To me, I chose to outline…
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Five Reasons Everyone Should Get Therapy
I love therapy. I’ve been going on and off for about eight years. Therapy is an important tool for me to stay on top of my mental health. When I was younger, I struggled with anxiety quite a bit. Therapy allowed me a safe space to divulge my fears and face them. I learned coping skills and anxiety no longer felt like a burden. It was something I had and after time, I didn’t even think about it anymore. Now, for the past year, my OCD has been popping up and bothering me once again. So, I’m back in therapy. Truthfully, if I wasn’t moving around so much I don’t…
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The Spoon Theory Explained and Why It's Important
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have seen #spoonie or #spooniesister. So what does that mean? The spoon theory is used to explain our energy throughout the day. When you have a chronic illness, you may start with spoon depletion. Say you have 20 spoons at the start of the day. You choose to shower (5 spoons). You cook lunch or dinner from scratch (5 spoons). Then you go to work (10 spoons), by the end of the day, you’re completely out of spoons. All your energy is gone. This may impact the number of spoons you start with tomorrow. You may choose to borrow…
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My Favorite Meditations from Insight Timer
I love Insight Timer, I have it as an app on my phone. It’s got thousands of meditations of different lengths and content. Lots of different creators with different approaches. All around, I haven’t found any issues with this app. In fact, I recommend it to everyone. That being said, I thought I’d give a list of my favorite meditations so if you’re starting out you have a place to begin! There are links below to the app store and google play. Apple App Store or Google Play Store For Stress and Anxiety: Allowing Your Thoughts to Flow by Lama Yeshe Rabgye (12 minutes) Radical Acceptance by Chad Foreman (21…
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What to do When You Feel Out of Control
There’s been a lot going on lately. The world seems to have flipped upside down, at least in the United States. I’m not going to get into the politics of it. Right now, you might feel out of control. We’re all experiencing a little bit of feel helpless. So how do we deal with that? Here are some ideas to help you regain a sense of control! Turn Off the TV This is important. We all need to stay informed and up to date but it doesn’t have to be our primary focus. You need to take a step back. What is happening is not going to change if you…
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STOP INTERACTING WITH SERVICE DOGS
The general public rarely has the opportunity to interact with service dogs. There are thousands of service dogs working throughout the United States. Most people don’t know how to interact with them. I’m going to explain why Crush and I need space in public. In addition, I will talk about why in general you shouldn’t interact with service dogs when they are working.Crush is with me in public to do a job. He is my lifeline. When my blood pressure or heart rate gets too low, he alerts me. When I’m starting to itch the precursor to a life-threatening allergy attack, he alerts me. His job in public to help…
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Creating a Vision Board
This week I was discussing with my therapist goals and self-care. Both are important in achieving what you want out of life. Finding self-care has been difficult for me lately. I’ve been in and out of appointments, along with school and other obligations self-care falls away. I always keep up my healthy patterns but during the day, I do very little to let myself take a breath. My therapist brought up a lot of various ideas but one that stuck with me was a vision board. Since I’m creating a new one, I figured I would outline what I’m doing. If you need a boost, I’d suggest you build one…
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Creating a Productive Workspace
Working from home is challenging for a lot of people. The population has been surviving under the Covid-19 circumstances but not thriving. Creating a space that is productive, especially when anxiety is so high, is important. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of different spaces I’ve called home. They were decorated differently but they all felt comfortable. We’re not all able to feel at home in our space, especially if we haven’t made it our own. Here is how to create a productive workspace! Identify What Inhibits You There are elements of any space that stand in our way from feeling productive. It may be the look or the…
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How to Prepare for a Tonsillectomy
I got my tonsils out almost six months ago. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Everyone told me ahead of time that it would be the most painful surgery ever, as an adult. They were right, it was painful. I would say it was on par with my other surgeries but it did take a longer recovery time. There are a lot of different things you can do to prepare for this type of surgery so I thought I’d lay them out in a list. Calories That Count In general, after your surgery, you won’t be up for anything more than liquids. It’s important to stay hydrated…
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Spoonie Essentials I Carry With Me
I have always been a planner. I am usually prepared for almost every situation I’m in or at least I try to be. Having a chronic illness changed what I carry with me. My bag is now packed full of “just in case” items. Since we’re in quarantine, it’s the perfect time to stock up and fill your bag. That way, when quarantine is over, you won’t have to give it another thought. Here are the essentials I carry with me… My Medications This is a no brainer but believe it or not, this was not always on my list. I used to carry only the amount of medications I…
