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Creating a Cope Ahead Plan
Cope ahead plans have been extremely useful for me. It’s a tool I learned in therapy. Essentially, it’s preparing yourself for stress, anxiety, and panic. Preparing for it will help mitigate how difficult the situation is when it arrives. It helps you create a plan of how to deal with triggers when you know that they will be present in your life. It’s exactly what it sounds like. So how do you create one? Here’s how: Identify the trigger This goes beyond identifying the situation that’s causing stress. It aims to discover what about the situation is causing you to panic. This will help you target that specific anxiety and…
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How to Fight Procrastination
I have been stuck in the cycle of procrastination for too long now. I have been procrastinating most of my life. Last year, I got it relatively under control but I’ve fallen back into the trap. Zoom classes and being at home have made it difficult not to procrastinate. The result is constant stress, anxiety, and discomfort. So how do I fix that cycle? How do I change it? These are the five steps I take when I know I’m procrastinating. Write Out Deadlines My first step to get out of this cycle is to write out deadlines. I take my entire semester’s work and write it in one calendar.…
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I’m Starting a Youtube Channel
I’m in the process of trying to start a Youtube channel. After taking a poll on instagram, it’s clear that Youtube is an accessible platform. It can also reach the largest audience. I’d love to be able to grow my advocacy beyond my Instagram and blog. I love both and I am excited at the prospect of expansion. Please be patient with me while I’m in this transition phase. By no means am I accustomed to editing, filming, or technologically savvy in any way. That being said, I am trying my hardest to get it started as quickly as possible. In my ideal world, I’d love to have blog posts…
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Ways To Practice Self Compassion
Self compassion is a journey. I would say I’ve come quite a long way from where I used to be. Sometimes, I need a reminder though. There are great ways to start practicing self compassion in daily life. These are ones that I practice daily, let me know if they help you! Saying No If someone is exhausting you, set boundaries! This is a great way to practice compassion. Often, we feel like we need to be constantly available to people 24/7. We can set our boundaries and respect what our body and mind needs. This is a way to show love, respect, and kindness to yourself. Affirmations Affirmations are…
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Reconnecting With Your Space
I have been completely overwhelmed lately. My classes started. I have had multiple mini allergy attacks, and medical appointments that were challenging. When I feel overwhelmed, my OCD starts to become more intense. I feel lucky and grateful that I have the awareness that these thoughts and feelings are a result of OCD. That being said, it’s still challenging. How do I deal with this? In the short term, I use grounding techniques. In the long term, I find things that I can control. Often, what I can control is the space that I live in. With the pandemic, I have spent an excessive amount of time at home. Not…
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Links To Help You Understand OCD
There are large misconceptions out there about what OCD is. It’s often associated with cleaning, neatness, and organization. That can be true and accurate for some people with OCD. However, there’s a large variance in types of OCD. Here are some links to help you understand OCD and what someone is going through. It’s often best to listen and ask questions. Be patient but most of all don’t pry. If someone doesn’t want to share, that’s their right. If they want help, they’ll ask for it. If you’re going to watch any video, watch this one. Most people with OCD that I know struggle with intrusive thoughts. Even if they…
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How to Establish Priorities
If you’re anything like me, your priorities are everything. Your goals and ambitions are your guiding light. So when it comes to making difficult choices, you evaluate your priorities. How does this align with the values in my life? That makes difficult decisions a little easier. As someone who is extremely indecisive, I like making choices easier. If you don’t know what your priorities are, that’s okay! Not all of us were taught how to prioritize. So let me give you a tutorial on how to establish priorities: Look at Your Behavior When we look at our behavior, we can identify what emotions or experiences led to our decision. If…
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The Future
My plans for the future have been completely uprooted by covid. At the start of 2020, I had every intention of applying to four or five programs in Canada for graduate school. During the fall, I made the extremely difficult decision to take a step back. My life has been turbulent in the past few years. It no longer made sense to challenge myself in that way. I still wanted to go to graduate school. Instead of applying to multiple programs, I decided to apply to only one. This choice came with a lot of heartache and grief. Now, the world is starting to look different once again. I am…
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How to Stay Creative in 2021
It’s a new year! Whoop Whoop! Although it’s a new year, I think we’re all still burnt out from 2020. I realize this week how significant creativity releases tension for me. This led me to the thought, “How do I stay creative in 2021?” After feeling so emotionally exhausted from 2020, how do I keep energy to be creative? Here’s what I am going to do: Utilize Coloring Books I have a few coloring books and I ABSOLUTELY love them. They are great for when I need to be creative but my brain is in overdrive. For me, once I get some of that energy out, I can start writing…
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How To Get Back Into Your Routine
If you read my article on Monday, you know I’m out of my routine. I thought for a while I was doing myself a favor by being loose with my schedule. Now, I see once again why I deserve my schedule. I deserve to sleep well. I deserve to eat well. I deserve to feel ready for my day. My schedule provides me with all of those things. It allows me to be the greatest version of myself. So here’s how I am getting back into my routine: Start Slow We’re running a marathon here, not a sprint. We have to start slow. I started by going to bed an…
