Anxiety is a BIG feeling with so many others wrapped up inside! This video is intended to help normalize anxiety and explain where it comes from!Credits:Crea...
7 Key Differences Between Everyday Anxiety & an Anxiety Disorder Anxiety is a normal part of everyday life. Fear and anxiety and even panic have evolved as useful survival tools. If there’s a threat to our survival, it behooves us to be able to activate our fight or flight system and GTFO. Know what I mean? But fear and anxiety and panic that bleed into our everyday lives can sometimes push beyond what’s normal and become a disorder. How do you know whether what you’re experiencing is anxiety or an anxiety disorder? I’ve got 7 key differences for you. 1. What triggers the anxiety Everyday anxiety is often triggered by stress. Things like an upcoming move, a job change, financial pressure, relationship difficulties, etc. can trigger anxiety. The anxiety will typically go away once those problems are resolved. But in an anxiety disorder, the anxiety, fear, or panic can come out of nowhere. It doesn’t necessarily need a specific trigger to pop up. 2. When the anxiety occurs Everyday anxiety often occurs in situations when there is an actual threat or danger. So if you’re walking at night and someone runs up to you really quickly from behind, your brain will flag this as an actual threat to your safety, so your anxiety (actually, fear) response will be activated. But in anxiety disorders, anxiety can occur even if there isn’t actually anything threatening or dangerous happening. Not only can anxiety come out of absolutely nowhere (see difference #1), but it can also occur when your brain wrongly flags something as threatening or dangerous when it’s not actually. So, when things like a relatively minor mistake, a blemish on your face, or a change in plans generate anxiety, that’s a sign that your brain is interpreting these small mistakes or perceived flaws as literally dangerous to your reputation, relationships, finances, health, etc. 3. How long the anxiety lasts Everyday anxiety typically lasts as long as the stressor, threat, or danger lasts. As soon as you’ve resolved the stress or gotten out of danger, the anxiety will dissipate pretty quickly. But anxiety disorders are much more persistent. The anxiety can be constant, lasting days, weeks, months, or even years at a time . 4. How extreme or excessive the anxiety is When everyday anxiety is triggered, it’s usually based on a fairly accurate estimation of how dangerous or threatening a situation really is. That means we’ll get more anxious about bigger things and less anxious about smaller things. Anxiety disorders don’t tend to care how big the danger actually is. In anxiety disorders, our brains get in the habit of overestimating how risky or dangerous something is, which means the anxiety becomes excessive or out of proportion to the actual situation. So things like a typo in an email feel just as dangerous as someone breaking into your house...even if you know they’re not the same thing, your brain can’t tell the difference and you have a very similar emotional response. 5. How much the anxiety interferes with your everyday activities Everyday anxiety doesn’t usually interfere with your daily activities or your ability to get ordinary things done. Even if you’re stressed about a project at work, you still want to do all the things you’d normally do -- your chores, hobbies, sleep and appetite, social engagements, etc. But anxiety is much more disruptive in anxiety disorders. At that level, the anxiety is disrupting your ability to engage in normal activities. You don’t sleep as well, you stress eat or don’t eat enough, and you have to really work yourself up to do all the things you’d do if you weren’t anxious. Be careful here, though: People with the perfectionistic form of anxiety often keep doing all the things they’d normally do even though they have pretty significant anxiety (even an anxiety disorder). But they do the activities in a special way to accommodate the anxiety or they just push through and end up not enjoying their lives....which brings me to ......... 6. How much the anxiety interferes with how much you enjoy life Everyday anxiety doesn’t disrupt how enjoyable your life is. It’s noticeable during the isolated times it shows up, but your health, comfort, and happiness aren’t compromised by it. But in anxiety disorders, the anxiety is severe and persistent enough that your health suffers (GI problems, headaches, etc.), you feel uncomfortable all day long, and you don’t feel happy. With an anxiety disorder, life feels much more difficult than it should. 7. How controllable the anxiety is Finally, everyday anxiety is perceived as manageable. It’s mild enough and transient enough that you believe you can stay ahead of it. But anxiety disorders feel uncontrollable. It’s intense and constant enough that you worry about going crazy, losing your cool, or being unable to keep it together. A Chart Showing the Difference Between Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders If you’re a visual person, grab this chart where I put it in a table so you can see side-by-side what the difference is between everyday anxiety and anxiety disorders. Just like the difference between anxiety, fear, and panic, the line between everyday anxiety and anxiety disorders is ultimately arbitrary. There’s no one thing that defines whether a person has ordinary anxiety or is dealing with an anxiety disorder. Instead, it’s a combination of these 7 essential differences and a gut-check on how severe, persistent, and intrusive the anxiety is in a person’s life. DOWNLOAD A CHART SHOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANXIETY AND ANXIETY DISORDERS Ever wondered why you have an anxiety disorder while someone else just has everyday anxiety? Next week, we’re keeping this conversation about anxiety alive as we talk about the three main things that cause anxiety disorders. If you’ve ever wondered where anxiety comes from or why you have anxiety, I’ll tell you all about it next week. Don’t miss it. Talk to you soon,Dr. Finch P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details. Hayden C. Finch, PhD, is a practicing psychologist in Des Moines, Iowa, dedicated to helping you master your mental health.
Social Anxiety Explained!
Become a site member to see all our latest content uncensored!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC076hYj43girxSFFFTq_jvA/joinSabrina has been working with addi...
Why You Feel Anxious When Someone Asks What You Did This Weekend “What’d you do this weekend?” That’s what your coworkers innocently ask you every Monday morning. They’re just making conversation, of course, but do you feel a pang of anxiety when you’re asked that question? Do you feel a need to justify your weekend? To prove that you spent it in a worthwhile way? What Would Happen If You Told the Truth? I mean, what would happen if you told the truth? I took my makeup and my bra off 35 seconds after I got home Friday night and spent Saturday working on my Pinterest dream house. Then suddenly it was Sunday night and I panicked because we have no groceries and no clean clothes for the week. So I berated myself for that and made myself feel better with an evening of Netflix. This shirt I’m wearing today is dirty and I haven’t shaved my legs in 8 days. Would your coworker laugh and high-five you because that’s exactly how they spent the weekend? Would they glare at you and silently walk away? Would they whisper about you to the rest of the company and spread rumors about how *gasp* lazy you are? And How Would You Feel If You Told the Truth? Would you feel empowered to share that you spent the weekend exactly how you wanted? Would you feel ashamed that you didn’t do what you think you should have done? Would you feel scared that they wouldn’t approve? Maybe you’ve never really thought about what would happen if you let yourself spend the weekend exactly how you wanted and then told the truth about it. But I’d bet that if you really think about it, you’d be anxious...maybe even ashamed...to do that. You Believe You’re Worthwhile When You’re Stressed See, our culture has led us to believe that our worthiness is attached to our hustle. It’s the hustle, the stress, the busy-ness that tell us that we’re worthwhile, that we’re on track. We feel better about ourselves when our plate is full. Our self-esteem gets a boost when we’ve checked certain things off our to-do list. We think we’re doing something right when we’re constantly busy. You Believe You’re Not Worthwhile When You’re Relaxed And, unfortunately, the opposite also seems to be true. When we’re relaxed or calm, we tell ourselves we’re lazy...we should be doing more. You get to the end of a weekend and think about all the things you should have done...all the extra chores you could have done if you hadn’t “wasted” so much time. And you tell yourself you’re a bad wife, a lazy mom, a useless person. But “Vacation You” Gets to Relax Without Guilt The only time we really allow ourselves to relax guilt free is when we’re on vacation. On vacation, we tell ourselves it’s perfectly fine to lie by the ocean, sip cute drinks all day, and soak up the sun. But as soon as we walk back in our own homes, it’s miraculously inexcusable. But, why should it make a difference? Why do we pretend like there are different rules for the 5 days we’re in Mexico than the 360 regular days we’re at home? Sure, not every day of our lives can be spent on the beach, but why should my definition of my own worthiness change depending on my beach status? Where Does Your Worthiness Come From? What makes your children worthwhile? Is it whether they get their chores done? How good their grades are? Or are they inherently worthwhile just because they’re alive? What about your siblings? Are they valuable as human beings because of how much they get done on the weekends? Or how productive they are at work? Or your friends? Are they deserving of respect because of how many things are on their to-do list? How much money they make? What kind of job they have? Or do they deserve respect simply because they’re decent humans? What makes you worthwhile? Is it how stressed you are? How much you’re hustling? How much you’re grinding? Or is it your presence on this planet? Your compassion, your kindness, your spirit? How to Stop Attaching Your Worthiness to Your Stress Level If you have noticed that you judge yourself for taking a day off or a weekend off, start with my free 5-part course. In that course, I’ll teach you the three things that make us feel anxious when someone asks what we did on the weekend and how to reverse that pattern. Now that you know why this happens, that course will teach you how it happens and how to reverse it. Get started here. Stop Attaching Your Worthiness To Your Stress Level FREE COURSE SIGN UP HERE! We make a lot of decisions in our lives based on our feelings. We shop when we feel bored, we drink when we feel stressed, we sleep when we feel sad. Next week, I’ve got a message for you about how the emotional compass that guides your life is out of whack and how to recalibrate it. Don’t miss it. Talk to you soon, Dr. Finch P.S. Summary: A lot of people feel anxious when their coworkers innocently ask them what they did over the weekend. We feel that anxiety because we have inherent judgments about what we should have done and we feel inadequate when we didn’t meet those expectations. Get started with my free 5-part course to reverse this pattern. P.P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details. Hayden C. Finch, PhD, is a practicing psychologist in Des Moines, Iowa, dedicated to helping you master your mental health.
Learn about social anxiety, its causes, common triggers, and key symptoms. Understand how it impacts daily life and discovers ways to manage it effectively
Discover how red light therapy naturally improves sleep, reduces anxiety, and promotes holistic well-being. Shine a new light on your health!
Can you have an extended panic attack that lasts for days? Explore the causes, risk factors and how to cope. Check this expert guide and tips.
It is vital to understand why nail-biting can negatively impact a person’s life. It can be shameful for a nail-biter to recognize this and admit it to their loved ones or friends. But it is important to understand that there is no need to feel any shame whatsoever because by talking to someone about it, you can heal and move on in life.
The 4-Part Spiral That Creates Panic Recently, we’ve been chatting a lot about anxiety. I brought you 9 of my personal favorite ways to manage anxiety without medication and told you about 6 things that trigger anxiety. Today, we’re chatting about the 4-part spiral that creates panic. Panic attacks are super scary and bothersome, but knowing what creates them can help us stop the spiral and learn to master our panic. The spiral is kickstarted with a trigger. True panic attacks often seem to occur out of the blue, but they’re frequently actually triggered by some sort of unusual physical sensation. Once the attack has been triggered, a four-part spiral creates panic. PART 1 OF THE PANIC SPIRAL: BIOLOGICAL First up: biological things happen. This includes the obvious physical symptoms of panic, like racing or pounding heart, sweating, clammy hands, numbness and tingling, etc. But it also includes things like differences in the way your brain is built or the way it works...some of those differences are things you inherit, while others have just developed over your lifetime. Speaking of heritability, inheriting an anxious temperament or anxiety-related personality traits can contribute to panic. There are also all sorts of brain systems that might be related to panic, ranging from neurotransmitter systems to hormone systems. Plus, once a person has had a panic attack, the body seems to compensate by lowering the biological threshold for triggering another panic attack. Then, it can actually trigger panic attacks without any sort of outside trigger...that’s where panic attacks start to happen out of the blue. PART 2 OF THE PANIC SPIRAL: BEHAVIORAL At the same time that all kinds of biological things are happening in a panic attack, there are behavioral things happening. One is that our brains take an inventory of everything that was happening around us at the time of the first panic attack and flagging all of those little things as things that could potentially produce the same reaction in the future...I was wearing a yellow shirt when it happened, I just ate a taco, and I was at my grandma’s house, etc. Your brain won’t know which of those things actually triggered the panic attack, so it’ll guess or just assume all of them might have been involved. Then, in the future, your brain is extra cautious in similar situations and can be more susceptible to a panic attack. Also, once you’ve had a panic attack, you never want to have another one. So you might start avoiding situations involving yellow shirts, tacos, and your grandma’s house. Unfortunately, if you do that, your brain never learns that your grandma’s house doesn’t actually have anything to do with panic, so you just remain afraid of her house. Plus, we might escape new or similar situations if we start to feel “off.” So I avoid going to grandma’s house because something about it just makes me afraid of having a panic attack...but now I’m at my aunt’s house and I’m kind of getting a funny feeling, so I better just go home so I don’t have a panic attack. Seems reasonable, but escaping means your brain can’t learn that you’re actually safe, and it just becomes more and more sensitive to future panic attacks. PART 3 OF THE PANIC SPIRAL: EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE Once you’ve had a panic attack, your body pays extra attention to any sign you might have another attack. So it becomes super sensitive to changes in your body -- your heart flutters, you start breathing kinda funny, your toes get cold. When you notice those changes, emotional responses will be triggered, often fear and anxiety. Feelings often come with thoughts. I’ve alluded to some of the cognitive things that happen once this spiral kicks off...you start thinking about everything you can do to avoid future panic attacks. You start reasoning with yourself about why it’s best to give up yellow shirts and tacos. You talk yourself into thinking you never really liked going to your grandma’s house anyway. You notice those weird body sensations and have thoughts like “Oh no! My feet are tingly! This is so weird. It’s never happened before. I better get to a doctor ASAP!”“Ah! I totally messed up at that meeting. I need to go home now before people start asking me what went wrong!”“Whoa! My heart feels weird. I might be having a heart attack!”“If I go on this date, I’m definitely gonna have a panic attack!”“No! I can’t have a panic attack now! I’ll look like a total idiot!” PART 4 OF THE PANIC SPIRAL: SOCIAL The final part of the 4-part spiral that creates panic is what it does to your life more broadly. Panic attacks cause ripples at home, at work, and in relationships. When you start to panic, your friends and family might rush over to console you or help you through it. When your friends and family know you’re anxious about something or worried about having a panic attack, they might let you skip social events or change the event to something you think would be less likely to trigger a panic attack (sounds like a good thing but actually just keeps the panic alive in the future 👎🏻). At work, panic can make it harder to concentrate or keep track of projects and deadlines, so you might end up working extra hours or doing work that doesn’t meet your own expectations. Some people end up overcommitting to make up for the limitations they think their anxiety is causing, while others allow their coworkers to step in and take on bigger projects….which can limit their own opportunities for challenge and growth. But even if you are offered a promotion or an exciting opportunity, your fear of how it will impact your panic symptoms could make you turn it down. And a lot of people with panic find themselves isolating from the social aspects of work due to fear of having a panic attack in front of people. They can really start missing out. People with panic often spend a lot of time face-to-face with doctors getting weird, random symptoms evaluated. This is part of the spiral that creates panic. Often, doctors will provide a “no diagnosis” diagnosis and say there is nothing physically wrong causing the weird symptoms. “But can they really be trusted?” your panic asks. “Did they really investigate everything? Maybe they missed something!” These interactions with physicians and the thoughts and feelings they generate (part 3 of the panic spiral) feed into the overall 4-part spiral. Need To See These 4 Components Interacting In a Diagram? These four components of the spiral feed into each other and create a nasty dynamic that causes individual panic attacks and maintains fear of future panic attacks, which ultimately makes future panic attacks more likely. I put all this together in a handy diagram to show you how they work together, so if you’re a visual learner, grab that here. DIAGRAM OF THE FOUR-PART PANIC SPIRAL In this article, I mentioned that a lot of our behavioral choices that make sense actually keep us stuck. For panic, this is things like avoiding yellow shirts and not going to your grandma’s house. In fact, for every mental health condition, we make certain choices that seem rational and helpful but are actually keeping the problem alive. Next week, I’ll share with you 15 coping mechanisms that are keeping you stuck. Are you making any of these mistakes? Don’t miss it. Talk to you soon,Dr. Finch P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details. Hayden C. Finch, PhD, is a practicing psychologist in Des Moines, Iowa, dedicated to helping you master your mental health.
To celebrate Self Improvement Month (which was last month, by the way...kinda missed it 😬), I wrote a few posts on burnout because I’ve been noticing my clients really struggling with burnout, and it’s been a focus of their self-improvement projects. To start, I wrote an article about how workplace burnout is oozing into my clients’ entire lives and creating a phenomenon I’m calling “lifestyle burnout.” Check it out to discover more about what “lifestyle burnout” is. Then grab the PDF to figure out what might be contributing to your lifestyle burnout and to get a link to a test that shows your susceptibility to a stress-induced health breakdown.
How to Break Bad Habits That Perpetuate Your Stress & Anxiety Last week, I shared with you a simple 4-part strategy for building good habits. Not only will this reverse and prevent lifestyle burnout, but it’s also a powerful approach for creating that elusive work-life balance everyone’s always preaching about. And it actually can lead to happiness. But finding happiness isn’t just about doing more of the good stuff. It’s also about doing less of the bad stuff. So I’m here today to share with you how to break bad habits. Again, credit to James Clear (and this podcast) for distilling it into four easy-to-understand criteria. You Know What You Need to Do to Improve Your Stress Level Most of us know what we need to stop doing -- we need to stop scrolling Instagram, stop drinking wine every single night, and stop criticizing ourselves. And we have periods where we set better boundaries and try to improve our lives, but it’s hard to really get those unhealthy choices gone for good. Something always comes up that gets us off our game - a stressful day, a lazy coworker, an embarrassing mistake. And then we’re back where we started with zoning out on memes. So what’s the secret to actually making ourselves follow through with ditching the unhealthy behaviors? Habits. And what’s the secret to kicking bad habits? 4 things. The 4 Criteria You Need to Ditch Bad Habits Just like with establishing healthy happiness habits, breaking bad habits involves four simple criteria. These criteria simplify the process of breaking bad habits and are much more effective than what we usually do with changing our habits...which is wing it, make a major overhaul in our lives, and basically just hope for the best. As we go through these criteria, let’s use an example. Let’s say the habit you want to break is to stop hitting snooze. 1. Your Bad Habit Needs to be Invisible First, your bad habit needs to be invisible. You know how your box of wine is prominently in the front of your fridge? It’s visible, and that’s why you pour yourself a glass each night. You know how your potato chips are at eye level in the pantry but the celery sticks are in the back of a drawer in your fridge? The chips are visible, the celery is invisible….so guess which you grab? To break the habit of hitting the snooze button, the button needs to be invisible. So maybe you get yourself an alarm clock without a snooze button. Yep, those exist (at least for people who still use actual alarm clocks…). No actual clock? You bet they make apps that have alarm clocks with no snooze button. Make it invisible. 2. Your Bad Habit Needs to be Unattractive Now that you’ve made your bad habit invisible, it’s time to make it unattractive. There’s gotta be something you’d RATHER do than your bad habit so that the choice of the bad habit is less attractive. To break the habit of snoozing, it needs to be less attractive and less valuable than the other things you could be doing at that time. Consider scheduling something for early in the morning that you absolutely love doing...like watching your favorite show on Netflix. Only allow yourself to watch the show first thing in the morning so that if you snooze through it you lose your show time. Or consider surrounding yourself with people who don’t have this bad habit. We emulate the people around us, so consider spending more time around people who don’t snooze. Maybe schedule breakfast with them or join their morning workout. 3. Your Bad Habit Needs to be Hard If there’s one thing the revolution of convenience has done to us, it’s made us demand even more convenience. I mean...we used to actually wait several minutes for every single page of a website to download. Can.you.imagine???? Man, that was inconvenient. So these days, if it’s not easy, it ain’t gettin done. Period. To end the snoozing habit, it needs to be inconvenient to hit the snooze button. Put your phone across the room instead of on your nightstand. Install an app that makes you solve a puzzle or go to some other extreme length to hit the snooze button. 4. Your Bad Habit Needs to be Unsatisfying Finally, your bad habit needs to be unsatisfying. There’s a reason you developed and maintained this bad habit...it probably feels good and is rewarding somehow. But you also know it has some drawbacks, otherwise you wouldn’t consider it a bad habit. If you’re gonna ditch the snooze button, it needs to be unsatisfying and unrewarding to snooze. So maybe you set Alexa or an app to play really loud, aggressive music or sounds you hate as soon as your alarm goes off. I’m not sure anyone can sleep through heavy metal or Gilbert Gottfried. Reduce Your Anxiety, Stress, & Overwhelm By Ditching a Bad Habit Did you notice these four components of breaking a bad habit are actually just the reverse of building a good habit? Yep. Build a good habit by making it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. Break a bad habit by making it invisible, unattractive, hard, and unsatisfying. I walked you through an example, but it’s important for you to take the time to actually think through how YOU would make these changes with the specific habits YOU need to break. So go ahead and grab this PDF download where I give you space to dive deep into the habits you want to break. Break Bad Habits That Perpetuate Your Stress & Anxiety FREE PDF DOWNLOAD Ever noticed that you get anxious when someone asks you what you did on the weekend? Next week, I’ll tell you why that happens. Don’t miss it. Talk to you soon, Dr. Finch P.S. If you skipped to the end, I outlined 4 criteria that help us break bad habits. Grab the PDF to work through the criteria for your own habits. P.P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details. Hayden C. Finch, PhD, is a practicing psychologist in Des Moines, Iowa, dedicated to helping you master your mental health.
To celebrate Self Improvement Month (which was last month, by the way...kinda missed it 😬), I wrote a few posts on burnout because I’ve been noticing my clients really struggling with burnout, and it’s been a focus of their self-improvement projects. To start, I wrote an article about how workplace burnout is oozing into my clients’ entire lives and creating a phenomenon I’m calling “lifestyle burnout.” Check it out to discover more about what “lifestyle burnout” is. Then grab the PDF to figure out what might be contributing to your lifestyle burnout and to get a link to a test that shows your susceptibility to a stress-induced health breakdown.
HOW I AVOID LIFESTYLE BURNOUT WITH 3 UNREGRETTABLE THINGS Recently, I’ve been writing to you about burnout. We talked about this concept I invented called “lifestyle burnout” and last week I gave you 44 indicators you might be experiencing lifestyle burnout. Today, I’m sharing with you how I personally avoid lifestyle burnout...with 3 unregrettable things. And I put together a PDF of things people tend to regret in life so you can figure out what your regrets might be and then focus on replacing them with your own unregrettable things. Where Burnout Comes From A couple of weeks ago, we chatted about how burnout comes from chronic stress that isn’t managed well and results in emotional exhaustion, pessismism, and a decrease in efficiency and productivity. So combating burnout comes down to managing stress well and protecting ourselves emotionally. Over the years, I’ve recognized there are 3 things I’ve never regretted. And these 3 things reduce stress and anxiety, keep me well emotionally, and prevent burnout. Bonus: They take zero expertise! BONUS Bonus: They’re free! Let’s do it. The 3 Unregrettable Things I Do To Avoid Lifestyle Burnout 1. Exercise Think about it. How many times have you pounded it out at the gym, sweated your butt off, and then thought, “Man, that was a total waste of my life. I should have vegged with Below Deck instead.” I’m betting zero times. Even though Below Deck is awesome. You already know exercise is proven to reduce stress. Something about exercise affects neurotransmitters and hormones (remember: cortisol is a hormone), and that helps manage our mood and behavior. People report feeling calmer after 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, and that calmness can last for several hours. There’s also some evidence that exercise “works” because it gives us a break from our stressors (Pro tip for students: Studying while you exercise diminishes the calming effect of exercise, so maybe try to split up those activities?). Research recommends 2½ hours of aerobic exercise of moderate intensity (or just 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise!) per week. To do the math for you, that’s about 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or 20 minutes a day, 7 days a week. It can feel like a big investment when you’re already feeling like you’re drowning. But remember -- exercise is unregrettable. 2. Spending time with my family Not just watching television together or going to the grocery store together. But actual...face-to-face...heart-to-heart...time. No cell phones. No social media. No Netflix. Like, take it back to the ‘90s and imagine what quality time with family was like then...and do that. Let me give you some examples: floating in the pool, going for walks around the block, playing cards, riding bikes, eating together, playing CDs (I know you’ve still got yours somewhere….pull them out, folks). Real, basic stuff. I mean, how many games of Sorry! have you regretted in your life? I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. Life is really about relationships, not responsibilities. So taking time to nurture those relationships feeds our souls and our lives. It reinvigorates our purpose. You’ll get the other stuff done… in fact, you’ll get it done more quickly and better when you’re not burnt out. It’s kind of like spending $5 today to get $8 back tomorrow...spend time today with your family and you’ll get extra time (in the form of motivation and energy) back tomorrow to do your chores. 3. Taking a day off work If someone put together a petition to have every weekend be a 3-day weekend, I would unhesitatingly sign it. Americans are notoriously bad at taking our vacation days, often because of the competitive culture we live in. We know that mentally detaching from work is important in protecting ourselves from burnout at work. But beyond that, taking a day off work allows us to mentally reengage with our lives. Our actual lives. The stuff that gives us meaning and purpose and fulfillment. When we take a day off work, we don’t have to spend that day doing chores -- those get done on the other days as usual. So that means we can do something special, something fun, something reinvigorating. It gives us time for relaxation and hobbies and helps us feel more energized the next day. Sprinkle a few of those throughout the year and you can help yourself fight lifestyle burnout. Plus, have you ever regretted a 3-day weekend? Nope. Where I Went Wrong in the Past and Created Lifestyle Burnout In the past, I put a bunch of other things in the place of these three things. Specifically, I put things in that space that I regret and things that contribute to lifestyle burnout. Things like taking on too much work, working on the weekends, answering emails during family time, skipping the gym, eating my stress, etc. etc. I’m sure you can relate to regretting those choices. No only are they regrettable, they contribute to burnout. And we do it all.the.time. Take Action: Figure Out What You Regret In the spirit of replacing regrettable things with unregrettable things, I’ve created a PDF that lists common things people regret. Download it, check the ones you regret, and see if you can replace them with things you’ve never regretted. That’s one step toward avoiding lifestyle burnout. Free PDF Download Replace Your Regrets with Unregrettable Things So it’s not all about me...and not everything I do will work for you. So next week, I’m bringing you 7 ways to fix lifestyle burnout now. Don’t miss it. -Dr. Finch P.S. If you skimmed the headlines and skipped to the end, here’s the summary: I outlined 3 things I’ve never regretted and how they help me avoid lifestyle burnout. And I put together a PDF to help you figure out what you do regret so you can replace those things with activities you never regret. Check back next week for 7 ways to fix lifestyle burnout now. P.P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details.
Hey, we’re all doing our absolute best to just get from day to day and from week to week. And over the years, we develop coping mechanisms to help us do just that. Sure, not all of those coping mechanisms are healthy, and we know it. Of course smoking and drinking and spending too much are helping us feel “better,” and we know they’re not actually fixing the problem. But today, we’re diving deep into 15 coping mechanisms that you might not even realize are keeping you stuck. Have you adopted any of these habits?
Photographer Katie Joy Crawford has wrestled with anxiety disorder her entire life, which is why she was especially qualified to create this gripping photo series showing us what it's like to live with this burden.
What triggers Anxiety and how does body reacts explained
Relatable holiday anxiety moments, explained by memes.
Anxiety and related disorders like social anxiety & panic explained here. Learn more about the causes, triggers, and treatment. Plus, anxiety coping tips from experts.
Struggling with anxiety as an empath? Learn about the connection between empaths and anxiety in this eye-opening article. Empaths And Anxiety explained!
