Our inner voice is powerful. The dialogue that we tell ourselves can affirm, encourage, and boost confidence towards positive outcomes. On the other hand, our inner voice can be our own worst enemy.
Emotions can be uncomfortable.
What choices do I have to deal with uncomfortable emotions?
When bad days start to feel like bad weeks, know that you are not alone. In fact, the CDC reports that 3 out of 4 young adults are already struggling with at least one mental health concern. This includes anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment to stressors, and substance use.
We are so excited to announce a new January Initiative—30 Days of Self-CARE! We will be partnering with local businesses and CARE Clinicians to bring you unique and helpful content each day. We hope that this will help you start 2021 in the healthiest way possible and help you to become the best version of yourself.
As we look toward 2021, many of us may take time to reflect on resolutions and intentions to carry into the upcoming new year. For those who struggle with disordered eating and poor body image, this time of year may be especially challenging due to the constant rhetoric and messages around programs designed for weight loss. If you are in recovery from an eating disorder, diet culture’s strong presence during this time may activate parts of you to feel ambivalent around your recovery goals. This is normal and this does not mean you are failing for having those thoughts. You are not alone!
Violence within intimate relationships is on the rise. Increased stress + staying at home + social isolation has help create a “perfect storm” for violence within the home. Being familiar with the types of abuse that can occur within relationships is an important step to recognize “red flags” to help yourself and/ or others who are experiencing or have experienced abuse during quarantine.
The holidays can be a tough time of year, especially for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, queer, intersexed, agender, asexual, and ally community who experience homophobia during holiday gatherings. We all need to feel physically and emotionally safe, to feel connected within relationship. If these elements are not present or lacking in family gatherings, individuals within the LGBTQIA+ community can feel especially vulnerable to rejection which can exacerbate underlying mental health symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
For a moment, I want to take you back to the start of the First World War, during the Christmas Truce of 1914 along the Western front when German and British soldiers fighting in the trenches declared their own official truce. For a moment, enemies came together for a moment to share in the Christmas spirit. Gunfire fell silent. The tune to the popular Christmas carol “Silent Night” could be heard from a distance on the battlefield, known in German words as “Stille Nacht” during the Christmas truce over 100-years-ago. It was a beautiful moment of peace during a time that was known as one of the bloodiest wars in history.
What CAN parents do:
Keep in mind, during COVID we need to be gentle with ourselves and perhaps allow for more screen time for our kids as that is often the way they are connecting with friends. This, more than ever, is a time where screens allow us to stay connected.
Feeling the pressure to fit in with what one’s friends or family are doing this holiday season can be stressful! After all, it seems easier to “give in” [and conform] than to “rock the boat” and go against others’ expectations.
What may have started out as tradition may begin to feel like an overwhelming obligation. It might begin to feel as though others have control of your schedule and choices. I “have” to visit this person, then I “have” to visit that person. I “have” to make this, then I “have” to make that. I have to buy…I have to go…I have to do… !!
