Category: Mental Health
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Put Down the Painkiller
What do you use to escape the pain? Alcohol? Video games for distraction? Sex to get lost in pleasure? Food delivery dopamine detour away from your problems? Put it down. Not just because they are bad for you. Not just because of all the cliche reasons for drug and alcohol and food addiction. Put them…
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Struggle Isn’t Failure. It’s the Only Path to Strength.
Think about the best and strongest people you know. What kind of lives did they lead that took them to where they are now? Their lives had suffering, pain, uncertainty, and self-doubt, just like everyone else. They had times they didn’t know how they would get to tomorrow. Times every bit as dark as you…
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Holding a Grudge Is Like Drinking Poison and Waiting for the Other Person to Die
How much time do you spend twisted up in hateful thoughts? Imagining all the vicious comebacks you could say or vengeful things you could do to someone? And be honest…how much time do you think that person spends thinking about you? Is this the life you want? To spend all your time thinking about someone…
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You’re Overthinking Again
There is a time and place for thought, but it’s not all the time and everywhere. For example, the main problems in my life currently are: Need to end a dysfunctional relationship Need to apply to a bunch of projects at work Finish certification study, take the test Those are pretty direct activities. Well structured,…
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Adding Effort to Your Comfort Zone Doesn’t Fix Stagnation. New Challenges Do.
Walk to the highest hill you can see. Climb until you get to the top. Sweat, crawl, scramble, and drag yourself until you can go no higher. It felt good at first, didn’t it? Succeeding in challenging goals often feels like conquering Mt Everest. Good job, you earned it! But what then? You can’t climb…
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Tension Doesn’t Always Mean Failure. Sometimes It Means Balance.
Have you ever seen a cell phone tower? The really tall ones secured using tension wires? All the wires pull hard in different directions so that the tower stays perfectly centered. If you want to build something really tall, that’s one of the best ways to keep it balanced. I don’t know about you, but…
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Which “Life Chart” Are You Using?
I woke up feeling like shit again today. I think I was upset that I’m turning 30 and my love life looks like Michael Bay directed it. Maybe I was fussy because I live on tacos and curry and for some reason, it hasn’t given me a six-pack yet. The exact cause is uncertain, but…
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Serenity Comes From the Growth Zone
Serenity is not the absence of problems. It’s not like you finally have enough money or find a partner or get promoted and all your problems are gone – our brains don’t work like that. For your ancestors to survive they had to constantly scan their environment for predators, prey, and shelter. I’m sorry, but…
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How I Learned Self Acceptance
Are you one of those lucky bastards? Born accepting yourself? Never struggled with inadequacy, never worried if you were good enough? Maybe no one ever gave you a reason to doubt your self-worth. I’m jealous, to be honest. Very jealous. Well, this post isn’t for you. Move along. Maybe you don’t accept yourself, and you…
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Gratitude Is the Cure for Envy
To everyone that doesn’t live in a big city: do me a favor. Look up at the stars tonight. Look up at a sky without light pollution, and appreciate all of the beautiful salutations of stars from millions of light-years away. Cherish it, marvel at it. Honestly, I feel a little bit cheated because you…
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Take More Miniature Vacations
There’s a beautiful lake close to my apartment, with nice chairs on the east side. I like to go there at sunset with a Topochico and sip my fizzy drink while I watch the light shimmer on the water and colors migrate across the sky. I don’t know why, but this miniature vacation does a…
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Three Reasons To Start Putting Yourself First
Filter Out People Who Use You Putting yourself first means saying no sometimes. It means taking time for yourself is allowed and you don’t always have to be available for someone else. It means finding out who is okay with you having needs and who is not. These aren’t bad people, but they aren’t really…
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Where Is Your Happy Place? When Are You Going Back?
There’s a beautiful lake close to my apartment, with nice chairs on the East side. I like to go there for sunset with a Topochico and sip my fizzy drink while I watch the light shimmer on the water and colors migrate across the sky. I don’t know why, but this little self-contained experience is…
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Three Reasons To Hold on When You’re Going Through Hell
It won’t last forever. You’ve had bad days followed by good days before. Think about another time when you were going through hell. How it seemed like the end of the world, how you didn’t know what to do, and yet you still got through it. You know life is like this from time to…
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Advice for Breaking Out of Mental Ruts
There are some painful feelings that don’t fade over time. It’s like you’re in a cave, and no matter what you do the dark thoughts just keep echoing and following you. Trite advice like “stop focusing on the negative” is unhelpful. Dark thoughts keep echoing in that cave even after you fall silent. I spent…
Millennial Anxiety 