You don’t control the guy shouting random things in the street, but you do control how you react to what you hear. Understanding that thoughts (something you experience) are different from thinking (a reaction you engage in) can expose a way out of struggling with your mental health.
When we’re struggling with anxiety or mental illnesses like OCD, reacting to fears can take over our lives. From all around us and inside of our heads, there’s a never ending stream of uncertainties to react to and catastrophes to prevent. As we get started on recovery, we learn to not react to that stuff with compulsions. […]
First off, why does this happen? Basically, your sympathetic nervous system kicks your body into fight-or-flight mode. That releases a cascade of chemicals all over your body, one consequence of which is the blood vessels in your face dilating (amongst other heart-pounding, eye-opening, stomach-churning effects). There are typically two ways this gets triggered: You’re scared of the situation you’re in […]
Mark: What has helped the most with taking care of your mental health? Josie: I find this question difficult to answer because I can’t think of a singular entity that has helped my mental health the most overall, I think different issues are helped by different things. I suppose if I had to narrow it […]