Category: Mental Health
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What Kind of Broken Do You Want To Be?
Do you wish you were doing better at work? Maybe you wish you were making time to workout regularly? Or more calls back home to Mom, or more walks with your dog at the park? More time reading that book you keep wanting to get to? Tell me what parts of you that you wish…
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Finding the Strength Behind Your Weakness
I overthink every social interaction, but that also makes me a considerate friend who people appreciate for being thoughtful. I get anxious when I don’t feel productive, but that also helps me accomplish more in 24 hours than a lot of people I know. Most of my weaknesses are the dark side of a two-sided…
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Irrational Core Beliefs: Your Old Crutches Make It Harder To Walk, Not Easier
Irrational core beliefs are conclusions about life that keep us from growing emotionally, usually projecting a few experiences far beyond their original context. A few examples are listed below: I should never burden others with my problems or fears. I do not deserve positive attention from others. I have so many problems, I might as…
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Think of Your Mind Like an Old City
Cities are rarely designed with every detail of the future known and accounted for. Roads are built, utilities are set up, and stores laid out using the best that is known at the time, with the purposes and goals known at the time. Of course, requirements change. Larger roads are needed, buildings fall out of…
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Give Your Pain a Job
Feeling depressed when you’re on vacation is incredibly annoying. You’re not at work, you’re eating good food and you feel obligated to be enjoying yourself, since this is the “good part” of life. But anxiety and depression don’t really take days off. So then you’re crying on the beach with a $15 margarita wondering why…
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You Still Have Time To Make Good Decisions Today
It’s okay if today was a shit day. Even if people were rude or inconsiderate. Even if things didn’t go how you wanted. Even if you handled things poorly or treated someone else poorly. You still have time to make good decisions today. What I mean by that is that the game clock never really…
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If you’re stressing yourself out with self improvement, you’re doing it wrong
It’s ridiculous that self-improvement can sometimes make us feel worse about ourselves, but here we are. You’re reading this because you relate, and I wrote it because it happened to me. Let’s talk about a better way. Experiment. Take small bites. Try things. But always use the lens of “is this helping me enjoy life…
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Most of What You Tell Yourself is Wrong – Zooming Out Can Help
Let’s step out of your perspective for a moment. Put down every fear, every insecurity, every ambition of what you might have become, regret of unmet expectation, every worry of how others feel about you, and every good or bad judgment you’ve ever placed on yourself. Throw them away. Now zoom out until the whole…
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The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get
Want to have more luck in life? Don’t get mad but I’m starting to think every time I work really hard, good luck follows. Luck is hard work in disguise I feel incredibly lucky to have great friends. They are wonderful people, we lean on each other and make great memories together. But is “luck”…
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You Don’t Need Motivation. You Just Need Your Stagnation to be Visible
It sounds like you have a lot on your plate, and that kind of accumulation of responsibilities can be super stressful and hard to face. I’ve been there, a lot of people have. I think being really blunt with yourself might be the best path forward. Each day you have things you need to do…
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How Often is Your Anxiety Right About Things?
A funny thought occurred to me the other day. I had been having a lot of anxiety over the week and was just terrified of so many things that I thought might go wrong. As usual, none of them did. The next time my inner Chicken Little started tweeting my immediate reaction was this: “Dude…
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The Mountain and the Mayfly
A strange thought struck me as I was driving through the mountains: what advice would they give me? These ancient giants of earth and stone have watched civilizations rise and fall, species go extinct, and ice ages come and pass. Could my mind even comprehend such advice? A mountain’s age compared to mine would be…
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What Are You Unwilling to Admit to Yourself?
That title is a journal prompt that can bring up some painful but important truths. Not surface level “I still haven’t hit my weight loss goal” or “my bucket list looks the same as it did 5 years ago” stuff. I’m talking about things like: ”Most jobs would be as good or better than the…
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How to Set Boundaries: Teach People How They Can Treat You
Each friendship or relationship is like two people steering a ship, but each can only see out the window on their side of the ship. They are trying to avoid an iceberg on their side and steer hard towards your side, but you have an iceberg on your side too. The ship can safely sail…
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How to Get Started in Self Improvement
I see a lot of people here not knowing where to start with self improvement. Everyone has to find their own formula and ditch all the advice that doesn’t work for them, but there are some guidelines that can make that journey easier. Let’s talk about it. Use a spreadsheet to track habits I like…
Millennial Anxiety 