How Get Rid Of Anxiety? Part Five

HOW DO I GET RID OF ANXIETY? PART FIVE:

Here we are already at Part Five folks with another set of anxiety skills!

Are you ready?

Today I am sharing three more helpful skills that can help you with managing anxiety, the last of which is one of my ultimate favourite anxiety skills that can honestly be life changing for some folks. 

Let me know what you think!

Move your body

This one is incredibly helpful for folks of all ages and stages. Stand up, walk, dance, wiggle, stretch, workout, flex your muscles, wiggle your toes, whatever it is you can do – do it. Move the energy in your body, let the tension have a place to go, and enjoy the pause in your mind if you can.

Moving your body is a great way to assess where and why you might be feeling anxious. Sometimes it moves, and sometimes it doesn’t. If it does- great! You are already helping change your experience. If it doesn’t- also great! You get to get curious about it a little bit more and perhaps try out other skills!

Change your focus

Change your activity. Do a puzzle, play a game, do some crafts, practice your hobby. Give your mind a break from focusing on what has been troubling you. By changing your focus, you get a break from the exhaustion, and you might even get a bit of pleasure of joy out of the activity that you choose!

Make sure not to stay here or use this option regularly however. If we constantly engage in changing our focus when we feel anxiety, it doesn’t help us to change our experience of anxiety, but instead just helps it to grow. When we are constantly distracting ourselves from how we are feeling, instead of address our needs, we are unfortunately prolonging our healing and wellness, and the anxiety will just grow and grow and grow.

Thoughts Are Not Facts

WOW WOW WOW! Truly one of the most helpful skills to learn in life!

This one comes with a quick set of four questions that you can use anywhere, anytime. They are quick, to the point, and incredibly helpful in shifting our focus from unnecessary anxiety to what is really happening (and then you can focus on what you do about it as your next step!).

So here are the brilliant questions to ask yourself:

  1. Is this thought true?

Yes or No?

  1. Is it 100% true?

Think about your whole life… and only if there are ZERO exceptions to this thought being true, your answer must be No.

  1. How does this thought make me feel?

Be honest with yourself. How do you feel about this thought? How is it serving you in your life?

  1. What would life be like if I didn’t have this thought?

You can ask yourself what thoughts might you have instead if you didn’t hold this one? Or what thoughts might you consider or believe about yourself if it wasn’t this one?

That’s it! Simple and easy. Try this skill the next time you have a thought that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself, and of course, anytime you have anxiety!

 

That’s it!

What do you think about these skills? How are they working for you? Reach out and let me know!

 

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming online Course in Mental Health!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

 

photo cred: Silviu Zidaru

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety: Part Four

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety: Part Four

Welcome back to the set of anxiety skills section of this blog series! 

This week is one of my most favourite skills to share, and there are a few ways to try it out! 

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Now this is one of my favourite skills because you can do it anywhere, and there are a couple of variations on how to do it – so you get to choose which one you like best and go with it!

Some important things to note:

*When you are focusing on what you feel in terms of touch, it is important to not focus on how you feel inside your body as this exercise is mean to bring your awareness away from your internal experience and into your external experience. Here you want to focus on what your skin feels from the outside world. For example, if you are sitting down, you may feel the pressure of your bum on the chair, your back on the backrest, your clothing touching your arm, the pressure of your feet on the floor, etc

*To find things to smell, you can smell object around you, either palm of your hand (they will most likely smell different because of things you have touched), your clothing, and you always have your armpits to smell- they are a great source of scent to focus on.

*For taste, see if you can taste the last thing you ate or drank. If you can’t notice anything, have a sip of water or other beverage and notice the flavours.

*When trying to names different sounds you hear, allow your mind to get a bit quiet and see if you can pick up background noises. First you can focus on any noises you are making (can you hear yourself breathe?), what is happening in the room or area around you (can you hear the humming of the lights? The furnace/air conditioner? The clicking of a clock?  Or the wind in your ears?), and even what is happening a further distance away? (can you hear people talking in another room, vehicles driving by outside the building nearby? Can you hear any aircrafts? Etc).

The Original

One way to do it is to go through your five senses, one with each number. I suggest pairing them up this way, as it can get a bit tricky trying to find 5 smells if you aren’t somewhere where there is a lot of scents to focus on.

5- Notice 5 things you see

4- Notice 4 things you feel/touch

3- Notice 3things you hear

2- Notice 2 things you smell

1- Notice 1 thing you taste

The Condensed

Another way to use this activity is to go through the easiest 3 senses for each number:

5- Notice 5 things you see, hear, and feel/touch

4- Notice 4 things you see, hear, and feel/touch

3- Notice 3 things you see, hear, and feel/touch

2- Notice 2 things you see, hear, and feel/touch

1- Notice 1 thing you see, hear, and feel/touch

Now with this version, it’s’ totally ok to repeat the things you see, hear and feel/touch as you count down. After all, it could be really hard to try and find 15 different things you hear if you are in a quiet space!

 

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming online Course in Mental Health!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

 

Photo cred: Nicholas Ng

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety? Part Three

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety? Part Three:

Welcome back to Part Three of How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety series!

This week’s post is getting into the good stuff- SKILLS!

The last four posts in this six-part series is all about skills. Skills you can use and practice in this moment; right here, right now!

So, naturally, let’s start with the simplest, easiest, and quickest skill first: Breathing.

Breathing

Breathing with intention is the easiest and most available skill to use. It can be hard for a lot of folks with anxiety to use breathing as their first skill however. This is because it gets you to focus on your breath and it most likely will feel very similar to the onset of anxiety or panic attacks. THIS IS NORMAL. And it does not mean you are bringing on anxiety. It just means that when you are experiencing anxiety, you are aware of your breathe and body – which is great! This won’t be as hard for you to learn to focus on. What might seem hard about it is to do it on purpose instead of avoiding it, or trying to get rid of it.

To breathe with intention, I invite you to practice each of these options once, to see if there is one in particular you prefer, then practice that one (or more) at least once per day.

Slow, deep breath:

Start by breathing slowly and deeply. You can count to four as you inhale and as you exhale, pausing for a moment in between each inhale and exhale (can be described as pausing at the top and the bottom of the breath). Continue for at least three breaths. Then allow yourself to breath as you normally would.

Belly breathing:

Focusing your breath into your belly. As you breathe in, focus on breathing to the bottom of your belly, or expanding your belly. As you breathe out, imagine letting all of the air out from your belly. Continue for at least three breaths. Then allow yourself to breath as you normally would.

Box breathing:

Box breathing is the idea of mentally breathing the shape of a box. As you inhale, imagine drawing up the side of a box. As you exhale imagine drawing across the top of the box. Inhale drawing down the other side of the box, and exhale drawing across the bottom of the box, coming back to where you started. Continue drawing the box until you feel settled.

And that’s it! These are three simple ways to start using your breath to help you with your anxiety. I hope at least one of them is helpful for you as you build your skills to help!

Stay tuned for for the next set of skills in next week’s post: How To Get Rid of Anxiety: Part Four!

 

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming online Course in Mental Health!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

 

Photo cred: rosario janza 

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety? Part Two

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety?: Part two- Anxiety explained.

Welcome back to the six part series on ‘How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety?’

I hope that the overview information provided last week was helpful and hopeful for you. 

Jumping right to it, I want to help provide information about the differences of anxiety, worry and panic, because that comes up often and sometimes used interchangeably when they are in fact different.

I hope that in explaining the differences between them, you can understand what has been troubling you. In particular, I hope you can utilize that information to help determine which skills will be helpful for you as we go through some of the skills in the coming weeks!

Anxiety

Anxiety is characterized as feeling restless, keyed up or on edge; easily tired, having difficulty concentrating, or feeling as though their mind has ‘gone blank’. You might also feel irritable, maybe you notice tension in your muscles, and your sleep is disrupted (difficulty falling or staying asleep, restless, poor sleep).

Anxiety is a physiological response we have as human beings, developed to protect us from harm. It helps increase our awareness and senses to perceive danger before it presents itself. For example, anxiety is really helpful when we are walking home by ourselves. It increases our senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) to notice what is going on around us. We can be more aware of the sounds of footsteps of someone walking nearby, or a door opening up at the house we are walking past, or even a car driving past us that is coming up from behind. It is really helpful for us as it makes us aware of our surroundings, and has our body ready to protect itself for safety.

Anxiety helps to protect us by activating our fight, flight or freeze response in our bodies. It increases our shallow breathing to try and bring more oxygen into out body. Our heart rate also increases to send blood and oxygen to our muscles to move. Anxiety tightens our muscles to prepare to run (flight), fight or keep still(freeze). It makes us sweaty so that we can cool ourselves off quickly. Even our vision becomes focused so we aren’t distracted by unnecessary objects. Anxiety also quiets the mind from focusing on things outside of the immediate future (to ensure survival), and it stops or slows down our digestion so that all of our energy can be spent on protecting ourselves.

Your body is responding to protect you, and anxiety is telling it to prepare, which is helpful when there is an actual threat happening, right?

The downside however, is that this response is really unhelpful when there are no threats around us or it keeps going. And that can be the trouble with anxiety – if we don’t know how to turn it down, it can really feel like it has taken over!

 

Worry

Now worry on the other hand is a bit different. While it can bring our attention to possible future concerns, it doesn’t really help is to do anything about it.  It doesn’t offer solutions or help; it just turns on the alarms (for things that haven’t happened) and keeps us focused on them. The analogy I like to use is thinking about worry as a rocking chair in a car race. You want to get to the finish line, but you can only rocking back and forth in the same spot.

So if you notice that worry is present, we need to actively do things to stop the rocking, and help us get back moving.

 

Panic

Panic (also frequently noted in panic attacks) is an abrupt, unexpected surge of intense fear or discomfort, that only lasts a few minutes. You might also notice a pounding or accelerated heart rate, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath or feeling as though you can’t breathe or are being choked, chest pain, nausea, feel dizzy, unsteady, light-headed or faint, feel cold or hot, experience numbness or tingling, feel as though you are not in reality or that you are not in your own body. You might fear that you are going crazy, losing control, or even fear you are dying.

After experiencing one of these episodes, you might also have consistent worry about having one again, or what might happen to you if it happens again. This is also why folks might feel that panic can ‘last for hours’ or even ‘all day’. It’s the high level of anxiety that follows a panic attack that makes it seem as though you are having one long experience of panic. You might notice that you have changed how you behave to try and avoid a panic attack from happening again.

 

Other Presentations

There are other presentations of anxiety as well. Some folks struggle with social anxiety, phobias, or agoraphobia. To keep it short, social anxiety is when you have fear or anxiety about social settings because you feel others might judge you. Phobias are where you have anxiety or fear about a specific object or situation (like being in an elevator). And agoraphobia is where have fear or anxiety about being in spaces (for example: parking lots, stores, crowds, or outside of your home). All of these situations is a response our bodies have to what our minds think is a real threat.

 

So what can we do about any of it if anxiety is hardwired in us, and our minds are perceiving threats that aren’t there?

We can practice some really easy, quick skills that can help keep our anxiety in check and reduce the impact of future anxiety when it arises. And by reducing the anxiety we experience regularly, we then reteach our body what a real threat is. Plus, the more we work at calming the mind and body, the better equipped we will be at managing anxiety when it pops up.

Stay tuned and check out next week’s article as we start diving into some very helpful skills!

 

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming online Course in Mental Health!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

 

Photo cred: Jayy Torres 

Anxiety Series Interruption

Anxiety Series Interruption

 

My deepest apologies for the series interruption in the scheduled 6-part series on anxiety.

However, I felt it important to provide support and guidance on how to navigate the heaviness in the world right now… Which might indeed be bringing on more anxiety for many of us.

While anxiety is a very natural and helpful response (used to keep us safe), it easily becomes overwhelming when the fears we are aware of don’t pause, stop or go away quickly.

And we have been living in a world with constant updates of the imminent fears for a full two years now.

As of today, not only have we been dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the convoy protests of the pandemic restrictions. We are now inundated with news about what is happening with the war in Ukraine.

IT’S A LOT.

With the blessings of the internet and social media, allowing everyone to share their real-life experiences, unfiltered by media or time, it is also a curse. There is not off button, no option to pause and come back, or to wait for the news segment the next day for the update.

We don’t have the opportunity to step away from what is going on in the world anymore as we once did.

Yes of course, we can purposely step away by not using our social media accounts (one of the helpful tips coming up!). But how addicted to you feel to your phone and those programs? How much of using them is necessary for your work, or in staying connected with your friends and family?

While turning off your electronic devices can be very helpful, there is a bit more purpose and energy that needs to be put forward in order to really feel the break and pause from the inundation and overwhelm.

So, what can you do to get this break? To take a pause? And to lower your stress and anxiety levels?

Here are a few quick and easy things to consider:

  1. Like I mentioned before, take a break from social media and the internet. Turn off notifications from the apps, and put your device out of arm’s reach.

  2. Monitor what you are using your devices for. Is it for work, or to connect with people you care about? Focus on doing just that. Search the people’s content you want to view and avoid scrolling.

  3. If you notice that you have begun scrolling, stop, lift your eyes from the screen and take a deep breath. Decide which direction you want to go next.

  4. Limit your time on social media or the internet. Put a timer on, and when it goes off, time to put the device away and move your attention to something else (watch your favourite show, call a friend, go outside, complete a chore, have a shower, etc).

  5. Fact check your sources. Check in to where the information you are reading is coming from? Is it from that random person you met once at that place, and became Facebook friend with? Or is it from a reputable source? Having factual information can be helpful in your search for information.

  6. Increase the activities you engage in that help you feel better and balanced. This might be spending some time focusing on your breathing or practicing mindfulness a few times a day, it might be engaging with your new or favourite hobby or interest a little more, it might be spending a few more moments in the warm shower or bath. Whatever it is, allow yourself to have more time engaging in those activities (aka use the time you would have spent on the internet towards these present moment activities).

  7. Donate to the cause. Feeling helpless in times of distress is very common and can increase our levels of anxiety and fear. If you feel like you need to help to settle yourself, find reputable organizations that are looking for supplies, money*, or services to aid those who are struggling.

*Please note, when giving money, please ensure that you have checked the source you are wanting to donate to (such as a charity or organization) to ensure your money indeed goes to where you are wanting it to go, and you are not a victim of fraud.

 

As the days and weeks continue, I hope this information is helpful in your pursuit of mental wellness and balance.

If you would like support during these times, please visit the Contact Me page on my website to schedule an appointment. *New Saturday morning appointments have opened to welcome new clients!

If you have any tactics that you use to keep yourself balanced in tough times, I would love to hear it! Hit reply and let me know what you do, or share your tips with me on social media! You can reach me on instagram @devanceciliacounselling and on Facebook @devanceciliacounselling

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

Until next week…

Take good care,

Devan

How Do I Get Rid of Anxiety? Part One

How do I get rid of anxiety? Part One: Overview

How do I get rid of anxiety? Have you been asking yourself this question?

It’s a very common one to ask! And I have some tips I’d like to offer you.

Now sometimes to help understand how to help ourselves with anxiety, we need to understand a few things first.

Understanding Anxiety

It is important to understand what anxiety is, how anxiety expresses itself, and why it is an important emotion to have. Why might you ask? Because knowledge is power. When you have more awareness and understanding of why something is happening, it takes the fear and power away from it.

For example, if you don’t know why your heart is racing, you are sweating and you can’t see straight, of course it is going to be scary and fearful! Anyone in that same position would feel what you are feeling.

But if you know why your heart is racing, why you are getting sweaty and why can’t see straight- that’s where you have power.

How Knowledge helps

Having knowledge helps because maybe because you have noticed these sensations before, so they are familiar. Maybe you have learned about anxiety so you have an idea of what is happening to you. Perhaps you even know a bit about what you can do about it! When you know what it is, you can acknowledge that it may be unpleasant, but it won’t be so terrifying.

And when it isn’t so terrifying, your body can calm itself just enough so that you can remember what skills to you that help you. Then, after you use one, two, or as many as you need, your body will come back to your normal. The anxiety will quiet, and you can go back to living life again.

Now doesn’t that sound helpful?

It’s really important to learn about anxiety and the helpful skills to use. Because then you can help yourself find our own balance and overcome the intensity of the anxiety.

Does that mean you can be free from all anxiety forever? Unfortunately, no. Anxiety is a really important emotion to have and you will always have it. The hope here is that overtime it just doesn’t have to be so overwhelming and debilitating.

So what do you think? Are you ready to learn more about anxiety?

Stay tuned for the articles in the coming weeks! Part two is a great educational piece on different kinds of anxiety people struggle with. Parts three to six will review 4 types of skills that are helpful to use with anxiety, with more than 10 different skills to try out and practice!

 

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming online Course in Mental Health!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

 

Photo cred: Jeff James

How Do I Deal with Depression? Part Two

How Do I Deal with Depression: Part Two the ‘How to’ skills 

Welcome back to part two of How Do I Deal with Depression!

I hope that last week’s article was helpful for you in understanding what to look for, and what depression does to us. 

It can be really heavy and hard to manage with the symptoms of depression, and still want to do something to change it.

I applaud you for coming back to learn what you can do to support yourself. 

I hope that this week’s article on skills you can do to deal with depression are helpful, easy, and manageable for you to start with and do.

The skills shared here are three of my favourite skills to use when starting to work with depression. I encourage to to read them over, think about which one would be THE EASIEST for you to do. Start there. Easy is good when working with depression. It increases the likelihood that we will do it. When we complete it, it increases our positive sense of self, motivation and confidence to do it again. All things that are really helpful in moving out of the deep dark place depression likes us to live. 

 

Skills you can do to deal with depression:

Do one thing.

               This can be moving from laying down in your bed for the day, to sitting up in your bed for the day. It might be opening up the covers on the window, or standing in the shower with the water on. It could also be responding to one message you’ve received from someone in your life that you have been putting off. Whatever it is, do one thing.

Make a plan

               This can be done by yourself or with someone. Ideally, it is done by yourself for an increased likelihood that it happens. For example, if your goal this week is to have coffee with your friend, and they can’t make it, you wont’ get to achieve your goal. If your goal is to ask them to coffee however, you can still achieve your goal if you ask, and going for coffee is just a happy bonus!

Whatever you choose, choose one day and time in the coming week and schedule yourself to do something specific. It could be to walk outside of your house, having a cup of coffee out, or spend time doing one of your hobbies. Whatever you decide to do, set a reminder or an alarm for it, on a specific day, and spend a moment or more with that activity.

*Disclaimer here: You don’t have to like it when you are doing it, or even after- it’s not the point. The point is to do something. You can notice your depressive thoughts, but focus on the fact that despite how you were feeling and what you were thinking, you still were able to do that one thing. The trick here is- the more you do that, the stronger that new voice will be, and the easier it becomes to do things for yourself.

**Pro tip: do fun things first. Chores can wait. Plus, they are harder to motivate yourself to do.

Practice Gratitude

               Practicing gratitude is a great way to help shift your mind’s focus from the things that are crappy and not working right now, to things that you can appreciate. They don’t need to be big things; small things are actually very important and helpful! How to practice gratitude is quite simple: write down three things you appreciate every day. That’s it.  If you can, try to find different things to be grateful for, but know that you can notice that you are appreciative of somethings repeatedly too. The important part of writing them down is to show yourself as the days go, how many things you have un your life that you appreciate, which shifts the focus of your mind again. Think about it this way, if you expressed gratitude for 3 things in your life every day, you would have 21 things to be grateful for by the end of the week, roughly 90 things by the end of the month, and 1695 things by the end of the year!

 

Helpful Tips

Now I will say that doing these suggestions once is not going to make a difference in your life. I’d like to hope that for a moment you’ve had a break from all that has been weighing you down, but it won’t last if you only do it one time.

To see really know if these skills are helpful for you, you are going to have to practice them regularly.

I invite you to do one of them once a day, and see how you feel in a week. You won’t be depression free in a week, but maybe, just maybe, you won’t hate practicing that one skill every day. Then there is room to add another skill to try, or practicing the same skill twice a day.

As you build these practices into your day or routine, they will help to decrease the level of intensity that you are experiencing, little by little, and then big by big. They will help because you will be able to notice that you don’t have to put in so much effort anymore to get it done; it feels a bit easier. And maybe if that got easier, maybe trying something new will have a similar experience, and so on and so forth.

It really becomes a snowball effect, where one day, just maybe, you might be back living the life that you want to be living, or at least well on your way.

 

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming Crash Course in Mental Health online course!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

Photo cred: @Marc-Olivier Jodoin

How Do I Deal with Depression?

How do I deal with depression? Part One – Symptoms of Depression

So how do I deal with depression?

This is a very common question many folks ask themselves at various times in their lives.

Depression is heavy and hard; it keeps us feeling poorly about ourselves or the world, and really zaps our motivation and joy.

Naturally then, Googling ‘How do I deal with depression?’ is common. No one wants to keep feeling this way.

As you are reading this, or wondering if this is something that you have, let me highlight some key and important components of depression.

Please note, that due to the length and amount of information available to share with you, this blog post is a two-part series. This post is part one; the ‘What is depression’ overview. Stay tuned for part two next week; the ‘How to manage depression’ overview, with skills provided.

Depression is categorized in the medical field in a few different ways. For clear understanding and support, I highlight the characteristics you might be noticing about yourself if you are struggling with depression.

Symptoms of Depression:

If you are someone struggling with depression, you might notice a loss, diminished interest, or pleasure in doing things you once enjoyed. You might feel sad, empty or hopeless most days. You may have noticed weight changes, sleep changes, and low energy. Maybe even poor concentration, or changes in your physical functioning. It is also very common to have also noticed thoughts of feeling worthless, excessive guilt, and even thoughts of suicide or death.

Any of this sound familiar?

If any of that is hitting close to home, it might be time to talk to someone about, if you haven’t already. I say that, not because there is anything wrong with you, or that there is something you have to change. I note it because if you don’t want to continue feeling this way, there are things that can be done to help you get relief.

Those remedies might be aided by talking with someone you love and trust, it might be talking with a professional therapist, or even your doctor. But if you’ve ever Googled ‘How do I deal with depression’, I’d like to offer you some options to try on your own to see if it helps in part two of this series.

It’s normal if these thoughts come up

One big thing to note is that if you have had thoughts of suicide or death, it makes sense. Depression brings up the ugliest thoughts and feelings about ourselves, others, and the world. It tells us there is no point and that it will never get better. Depression does this because it wants you to stay depressed! It wants you to stay in this space, isolated and alone. But they are just thoughts. They are part of depressive symptoms.

The good news

The good news is, thoughts are not facts (stay tuned for another post on that one!) and we can change a lot before it becomes an action. The important thing is that you share those thoughts with someone you trust and seek support. I hope that the next post is helpful for you while you get connected with someone to help.

Stay tuned for next week’s email: Part Two: How to manage depression.

If this is something that you are struggling with, and would like to work on it with a counsellor, visit the Contact Me link on my website to schedule an appointment today.

 

If you want more information, skills and support with your mental health, make sure to sign up for my email list to hear about my upcoming Crash Course in Mental Health online course!

Know someone who might benefit from reading this information? Feel free to share this with them, and encourage them to sign up for my blog emailed directly to them!

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook @devanceciliacounselling for daily supports and information!

Photo cred: @stormseeker

IT’S FINALLY HERE!

IT’S FINALLY HERE!
 
A counselling-informed book for children!
 
I Am…A-Z
The Many Qualities of Me!
 
 
The book that was inspired by my beautiful baby, the one who made me a mom.
 
I wrote this book because I want her, and every other child, to know that they possess all of these wonderful qualities. To help them remember that they are amazing and wonderful for exactly who they are, in hopes that it might help lead to a strong sense of self into adulthood.
 
I have met and worked with many individuals who forget that they have these qualities within them. I can’t help but think that it’s the forgetting of these qualities that contributes to poor mental health later on in life.
 
My hope is that the current and future generations of children remember their strengths and that it helps to combat struggles with their mental health.
 
Want a copy?!
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I Miss You; Me to My Former Self

Grief comes with every change we experience in life. Sometimes it’s a little and sometimes it’s a lot.
 
Today’s moment of acknowledging grief is for moms, and new moms in particular, because there may be grief in the change of your titles and sense of self as you become a parent. On the days leading up to having your first baby I leave you with this:
 
I hope at some point before the sun sets on the days before your baby is born, you have the opportunity to spend time with the woman you are right now. The beautiful and amazing woman  who brought you to this point in life.
 
I hope you get a chance to just sit with her and appreciate all that she has done and everything she is; because soon she will no longer exist. Soon your rotating, activities, everything about the life you lived will change some way. Soon you will transition to being a parent and a new you will be born. Our lives change for wonderful reasons, and it is forever different after the change.
 
The woman you are today will never exist again because she can’t; and she is amazing.
 
You may miss her in moments in time.
 
The new you is wonderful and beautiful and so incredibly strong. Stronger than you could never imagine. But she is a different than the woman you are today.
 
So if you can, before the sun sets on the day, spend time to appreciate her and thank her for being everything you needed because she is wonderful❤
 
And for those of you who are already parents and still feel this, I invite you to spend time with yourself to grieve the self you used to be. Spend a moment if you can, doing what you loved most as that person. Acknowledge her existence and breathe into the change you have experienced.
 
There is grief and loss in this transition of personhood.