I’m sure you either know someone personally or are related to someone who just seems to keep making the wrong decisions, no matter how much you try to help. I know how frustrating it can be when they just don’t want to listen, and I know annoying it can be when you feel like you are wasting your time! I’ve been there—sometimes you just want to give up! 

This week I will continue discussing five more simple and practical mental self-care techniques to keep your brain healthy and reduce anxiety. This is part 2; last week we did part 1 (if you missed last week, you can read the blog and listen to the podcast to catch up).

There are so many things to worry about in life: being a good friend or partner, making time for family, having a meaningful job, raising your children well, making enough money to live comfortably…the list goes on and on. And, of course, all these concerns and fears impact our mental health, which impacts our physical health, which just gives us more things to worry about! 

Expectations are a normal part of life. We expect certain things from ourselves and others, and we also have to deal with the expectations of others in our lives, whether at school, home or work. However, too often these expectations become so burdensome that they lead to anxiety, panic attacks, burnout, and mental fatigue. It is therefore so critical that we understand why this happens, and how we can prevent performance anxiety from destroying our mental health. 

Making mistakes means we are human—we all have our bad moments! But what about making the same mistakes over and over again? Why do we keep slipping up, even though we know what we are doing is wrong?

It is not unusual to feel nervous around strangers, or uneasiness in large groups of people. However, sometimes this nervousness can be downright panic-inducing and debilitating, causing you to avoid social situations, and miss out on opportunities and special moments. Social anxiety is painfully real, but there is a solution!

As I discuss in this week’s podcast, it is natural to want people to like us—no one wakes up wanting to be shunned or hated. But when does this natural longing turn us into people pleasers? When does our desire to be loved turn toxic, and make us do and say things that are not true to who we are, or who we want to be? 

Do you find yourself overthinking and overanalyzing every situation or something someone said? Perhaps you find yourself getting more and more angry and upset the more you think about it….You just keep replaying scenarios over and over again, whether you are thinking about something that just happened, about to happen or something that happened in the past.You think about all possible outcomes and scenarios, constantly ask yourself “what if…”, and ruminate on what should have happened, what could have happened or what will happen. 

We have all been there: we start a new diet, we are super excited to get our health back on track, and then, several days later, we find that one cheat meal has turned into a cheat week, and the diet has failed miserably.  Even if we do manage to stick with a diet for a while, and get those results that we have been looking for, it can be incredibly hard to keep the weight off, especially when life gets super busy. 

It seems like almost every day there is another wellness fad, whether it is a new diet that claims this is this “only” way to eat, a “natural” supplement that will help you lose 10 pounds in 5 days, or a new type of machine that will get rid of all your cellulite. Wellness fads may be extremely popular, but they can also be ineffective and extremely dangerous.

How many times have you heard someone say “I have an addictive personality”? What does this mean? Is it even scientific? Many people today believe that addiction is disease, something that you either inherit and are just unlucky enough to have hidden somewhere deep in the wiring of your brain. Yet addiction is not some biological illness that you have to live with for the rest of your life. It is not a label you have to carry with you till you leave this world. 

Life can be very challenging. We are constantly facing stressful situations at work, home, school, in the car...you name it. In many cases, our reactions to these situations can make things worse. If we let our thoughts and emotions get the best of us, we can negatively impact both our mental and physical wellbeing. As I discuss in my book Think, Learn, Succeed, uncontrolled thoughts and emotions run rampant through the brain, creating neurochemical chaos that can make us anxious, affecting our ability to think clearly and process information. This is one of the major roadblocks to success, and can allow other toxic thinking habits and mental health issues to take root.