When Valentine’s Day comes around, it isn’t unusual for people to feel stressed, overwhelmed, sad, or lonely. Single or taken, despite whichever “category” you may fall into, loving yourself is most important, as you can only truly love others to the fullest extent if you first care and look after yourself. Often those in relationships are so busy worrying about caring for and spoiling their loved ones, that they forget about how important it is that they show themselves love too. Often those who are single, feel unwanted, lonely, or are dreading being pitied by their friends who are in relationships. Maybe you are mourning over a relationship that ended, or maybe you are worried about selecting the right present, spending too much money, etc. Regardless of if you are single or in a relationship, it is easy to stress around this holiday. Whatever you are feeling, set your worries and expectations aside this Valentine’s Day and take steps in the direction of loving yourself. Have some “Me Time” Take some time out to appreciate yourself. Whether this means booking yourself a day at the spa or throwing on your favorite and most comfy sweats, ordering Chinese, grabbing a bottle…
When your child is experiencing anxiety, stress, or depression, it can be extremely difficult for you as a parent. Many parents are surprised in finding out just how young children can begin experiencing bouts of anxiety. Knowing how to address your child’s mental stress and pain can seem foreign, and of course, as a parent, all you want to do is help. Although it can be tolling, trying to understand your child’s mental health is of utmost importance, as well as knowing how you should address it. While you cannot shield your child from experiencing anxiety, you can take steps to help them learn how to manage it. #1 Keep Calm It is important to not display anxiousness and worry yourself when your child is feeling bouts of anxiety or stress. This will only encourage and increase the negative and scary thoughts your child is feeling. Children learn how to behave and how to react from observing how their parents behave and react. Make sure to always do your best to set a good example in front of your child in terms of reacting to certain situations as they will learn to cope partly from watching how you cope. #2…
Every December we take the time to contemplate what we are going to set as our New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, many of us have troubles sticking to those New Year’s resolutions for longer than a few weeks to a few months. The most popular resolutions are that of living a healthier lifestyle. It all begins with the desire to want to be healthier, so just by deciding on a healthy resolution you are off to a great start, however you may just need a little help following through. What is important for success is how you go about achieving and maintaining your New Year’s resolutions. 1. Be realistic It’s extremely important to set resolutions that are realistic for you, your lifestyle, and your schedule. You need to be honest with yourself about your goals and what you will be able to achieve in light of your career, your family, and your social life. If you aren’t realistic about your goals then you will likely just end up frustrated or quitting. 2. Set short-term progress goals along the way If you take it step-by-step, you are much more likely to achieve your goal. If you have smaller goals along the way,…
Anxiety and depression are some of the most common mental disorders; not just in the United States, but all over the world. It is likely that you or someone that you are close to suffers from a mental health issue. Luckily, we live in a day in age where people are doing their best to raise awareness for mental health. However, regardless of the awareness, the issue remains that if you don’t experience the mental disorder yourself it can be very difficult for you to know the right things to say to that person much less understand what they are going through. Unless you are a professional therapist in Carrolton, the best thing you can do is remember that their pain is real, simply listen and tell the person that you will try to understand. “It’s all in your head” When you tell someone that it is all in their head, there is not a productive outcome. This only implies that you find their circumstances made up or easily resolved, when this is actually not the case for a person suffering from the mental health disorder. Instead of telling someone that it is all in their head, know that…
The debate of nature vs. nurture has been ongoing for quite some time. The case of nature vs. nurture concerns that of the level of influence that genetics have a child’s personality and their behaviors in comparison to the level of influence that parenting has on a child’s personality and their behaviors. It is largely argued that both are recognizably responsible in the contribution of a child’s development and both should be considered. However, with nature and nurture both considered, your child therapist in Carrolton will insist that the only one in which we as humans have control over when raising a child is the nurturing factor. Parenting has a vital influence on the development of your child and their behavior, and it is important to understand how your parenting style is affecting your child’s behavior. Keep reading to learn about the styles of parenting and how they may be affecting your child. Styles of parenting can typically be categorized into 4 different types, which include the following: Authoritarian Parenting This type of parenting is categorized as a dominating style of parenting that has an adherence to rules and a large control factor by the parents over the child. This…
As December winds down, we find ourselves in the final throws of 2018. With 2019 around the corner, many of us will engage in the common tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. From weight loss to career goals everyone will have their resolutions ready and their “New year, new me” mantras ready to back them up. However, many people find out it takes more than a mantra to commit to their goals and a whopping 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February. This may sound daunting but don’t let a fear of failing stop you from making new year’s resolutions. Here are 5 tips to ensure you stay on track and achieve your new year’s resolutions. Set Small Goals A common mistake with many New Year’s resolutions is often times they’re too big or too broad. Wanting to make a new career change, for example, has a lot of involved details that might leave you overwhelmed and afraid. Instead of wanting to make a career change, learn a new skill with the intent to make a career change. By committing to learning a new skill as opposed to making a drastic leap, you’re more able to see…
While the holidays are often a very joyous time, they can also be a very stressful time. All the planning, organizing, spending, and group events can become very overwhelming very quickly. It isn’t uncommon for the stress of the holidays to trigger feelings of sadness and depression even. While it is the holiday season, people are often expected to uphold a certain cheerful exterior. This pressure to be happy can often cause the feelings that are quite the opposite. There are multiple contributing factors to holiday depression, but luckily there are also ways to cope with these feelings. Be aware of underlying expectations Often holidays can lead to disappointment. Why is that? Many times, we get our hopes up about how things will play out over the holidays, whether it is expectations of other people or of ourselves. Try to keep your expectations in a balanced state to avoid getting let down or letting others down. Remember that things going wrong is a part of life, don’t expect everything to be perfect or you are bound to end up disappointed. Stay positive, but don’t build up your expectations. Don’t overdo it Many people tend to overdo it during the holidays….
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You have an important meeting or a school project that is due tomorrow. As you’re checking through everything and putting on the final touches you realize you’ve done something wrong. This something being redone will take you forever to fix and it’s already late. You start thinking about how ridiculous this whole situation is until finally, it happens. Those criticisms of the situation become criticisms about you. “You’re such an idiot! Why didn’t you check this before you started?” or comments like this are lambasted at you. It’s like a punishment you feel you deserve for not doing it right the first time. While it might seem warranted, you soon realize the effects. You feel like nothing you do is good enough and begin to doubt your own ability to correct the issue. Familiar, isn’t it? Destructive self-criticism is a dangerous tool. It robs you of your self-confidence and can affect your ability to set healthy and attainable goals. It’s a vicious cycle too. To overcompensate for failing the last time you set a higher and even more difficult goal to achieve only to let yourself down again. But life doesn’t have to be…
The holidays are upon us. The holiday season is simultaneously the happiest and most stressful season of the year. Between grocery shopping, cooking, and having family over it’s easy to see how stressful the holidays can be. You may believe there is just too much to plan and so many people to keep happy. If you are worried about this holiday season as Thanksgiving approaches, here are some tips to help you manage your stress this November. #1 Make a plan The most effective way to avoid surprises and stressors is to get organized and make a plan. Come up with a menu for Thanksgiving dinner. To make it fun you can even have your kids and partner help you plan it out. Having a plan reduces your stress because you aren’t scrambling around at the last minute to make something. Once you have planned your menu, make a list of what you need. Plan a day to knock out getting all the items on your list. Once you have your supplies, plan your cooking schedule. Cooking some Thanksgiving food ahead of time can greatly reduce the amount of preparation you have to do come Thanksgiving Day. #2 Ask for…
With elections wrapping up and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, there is bound to be political banter at the table. Political banner can get intense, but in a time like today, where the political divide is stronger than ever, talking politics at the table can corrupt relationships with family and friends. Here are four ways to stop politics from ruining your friendships. Don’t Let Politics Rule Your Life This isn’t to say don’t care about the policies or bills that are being discussed or soon to be carried out. This simply means don’t let those policies or bills be a factor in how you run your life. You have probably seen the following in a similar scenario on social media: Person A takes a declarative stance regarding a policy or Politian. Person B from their friends list disagrees in a respectful way to maintain the relationship. Person A completely loses it and calls Person B all kinds of slurs before threatening to end their contact on social media. Person B tries to apologize for the misstep, but Person A has their mind made up. Person A is allowing politics to conduct their lives and determine the conditions of their personal happiness. While…
