Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “mental health”
This week, I had both a psychiatry and therapy appointment. In both of my appointments, I had to admit that I’ve been shutting down my feelings for a while and not facing the emotional truths I need to face. As an act of contrition, I’m writing an open letter to my heart to apologize for how I’ve wronged it. You’re …
In 1992 I was diagnosed with bipolar 1. I struggled mostly untreated for almost two decades. Countless hospital stays. Electroshock therapy. Never being able to hold a job. I lived in New York City for the first 10 years of this time and moved back to Iowa during a manic episode in 2003. In September 2008 I became very “sick” again …
It’s okay if the holidays are hard for you. I was always someone who associated the holidays with joy. The holidays always were a joyous time for me and my family. As I got older, it became less about material items or the food and more about the time spent with some of my favorite people. My therapist has told …
The past few days, I’ve been in a little bit of a funk. I hadn’t been working out, I’d been overworking myself, and I was just exhausted. This morning, I slept through the original workout class I had scheduled, and I really didn’t want to schedule another one. I debated for over an hour whether I should go but finally …
Change makes us stronger. As scary as it may be, try not to run away from change. I’ve recently gone through a lot of change in my personal life. As I’m maturing and becoming the person I want to be, I’ve been experiencing change. I started therapy again, as we know, but I’ve also been letting go of people and …
I’m starting to feel joy again. What an amazing feeling. I remember telling my therapist shortly before my mom passed that one of my goals was to be able to truly feel laughter and joy again. I spoke about how life felt less joyful, and moments of laughter felt almost out of body, and that I wasn’t actually experiencing them …
Lately, I’ve been doing really well. With therapy and medication, I’ve been able to cope with my mental illness and properly take care of myself. This week, though, my therapist reminded me to be prepared for when things might take a turn. When we’re in a good headspace, it can be difficult to think about how we’ll continue to take …
This week in therapy, my therapist said something that really stuck with me. She told me, “You have dominion over your own thoughts and actions.” We were talking about negative thinking and intrusive thoughts, specifically in reference to one particular incident that happened a few months ago. In the past, I’ve talked about separating what your mental illness is saying …
This week was one big practice of self-care and self-love. I spent a good amount of time doing things exclusively for me, and I practiced turning things down that didn’t fit in my schedule. For the first time in a long time, I feel productive for the right reasons. First, I participated in OrangeTheory Fitness’s Hell Week. Hell Week is …
A positive mindset is a powerful thing. Our thoughts shape our feelings, and our feelings influence our actions. Lately, I’ve been realizing how much my mindset plays into my attitude and my behaviors. I’ve also been working on changing my negative thoughts before they turn into negative attitudes or behaviors. For example, I know I’m someone who needs to feel …
