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It’s been a while..

What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite? It’s been a while since I answered one of these prompts. I’ve missed it! I struggle with consistency when it comes to stuff like this so I won’t make any promises that Ill keep it up so enjoy it while you can 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ My favorite holiday is probably Christmas. I love all holidays for many different but my family really did Christmas…

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How To Make Sure Your Self-Care Is Not Selfish

Spoiler alert: Self-care isn’t actually selfish at all. But I know that a lot of us still feel that way even when we tell ourselves that. As a therapist, this comes up in so many of my sessions. People are constantly telling me that they know they need to do more “self-care” but that they also feel that it is very selfish. In fact, this has been such a big theme in my counseling practice that I…

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7 Mind Blowing Facts About Self-Care

As a therapist, I talk to a lot of people about this idea of “self-care”. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of misinformation out there about the act of self-care, and sometimes it can make the whole process feel stressful and overwhelming. Well, here are some things I’ve learned about self-care that may help to ease that discomfort. 1. It’s Not Always About Pampering Contrary to what society…

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Self-Care Ideas To Try Today

There so many self-care ideas out there, it can be hard to determine which ones we want to try. A good way to navigate this is to break it down into categories so you can target your most specific needs. Then you can decide how far you want to go with it. Remember, self-care doesn’t have to be super expensive or elaborate. The are plenty of simple self-care ideas out there that you can try…

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How To Completely Change Your Self-Care Mindset

When you think of the word “self-care” what comes to mind? What images, sounds, ideas, or thoughts do you experience? In my professional practice as a therapist, I ask people this question a lot. And most people have very similar self-care mindsets. They often report thinking of self-care as being wildy indulgent, acts of luxury, or the pinacle of physical fitness. When I ask how they feel about…

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Is Your Physical Self-Care All-Or-None?

In our journey towards holistic well-being, cognitive distortions can significantly impact our physical self-care. These distorted thought patterns cloud our judgment, leading to negative self-perceptions and barriers to nurturing our bodies. In this blog post, we delve into the connection between cognitive distortions and physical self-care. The goal is to help you to break free from their grip…

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How To Succeed Without Being Perfect

The relationship between success and perfection has always baffled me. Growing up in a US American public school system in the 90s, it was instilled in me from an early age that getting a good grade was the most important aspect of education. The higher the grade, the more success, right? Well, if that wasn’t the intention they really missed the mark because for a majority of my formative years…

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How To Become A Self-Care Expert

As a therapist, I firmly believe that you are the expert in yourself and in your healing. It doesn’t make much sense that anyone else would be more of an expert in your life than you are, right? Okay, so if you are like 13 or under, you still may have a thing or two to learn about yourself, but for the most part we understand ourselves better than anyone else ever could. So if we are the experts…

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Types Of Boundaries

When it comes to boundaries, there are many different things that we can put in place to protect ourselves becoming overwhelmed or taken advantage of. But before we just jump in and start setting boundaries, we need assess our actual needs. Setting a boundary is an act of self-care that helps us feel safe and comfortable. In order to effectively establish boundaries, its important for us to…

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Self-Care Journal 33

What would you do if you won the lottery? Is it weird that I don’t have a well thought out answer to this question? I feel like so many people have dreamt up a thought of what their life would be like if they won the lottery, but I’ve never really thought about it. Not that I don’t have lavish things I’d like to be able to afford, I guess it just seems so far stretched that I haven’t given it…

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Anticipatory Anxiety

When I first heard the term, “anticipatory anxiety,” it changed my life. And not just as a therapist. I had never known a way to describe the feeling of awaiting impending anxiety. In fact, I didn’t even know that was a thing. But as soon I had a word for it, I knew exactly what that meant. Anticipatory anxiety it exactly what it sounds like- the act of anticipating anxiety. Basically, its…

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Self-Care Journal 32

If you could un-invent something, what would it be? Oooh un-invent! What an interesting prompt! Probably high fructose corn syrup. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about nutritional health and, specifically, improving our health span and it’s clear that we eat entirely too much sugar. I don’t think eliminating sugar itself is the answer but high fructose corn syrup just seems a bit extra and…

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3 Rules For Challenging Cognitive Distortions

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I am a big fan of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I use CBT in almost all of my clinical psychotherapy sessions and have found it to be very effective. I also find a lot of personal value and growth in incorporating CBT techniques and strategies in my own day to day living. The main work of CBT deals with our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The way we…

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Self-Care Journal 31

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4 Types Of Perfectionists

In my work in mental health I’ve come to realize that we often box people into one category or label without getting to understand the details. While there are certainly similarities in specific groups of people, there are also unique outliers. We all have our own DNA so it’s impossible to really say that any two people are the same. So when we think of broad categories and labels, such as…

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5 Guaranteed Ways To Make Your Self-Care Easier

In my work as a therapist I have made it my mission to deconstruct the negative narratives that we tell ourselves about self-care. It’s become quite a soapbox for me. I can’t tell you the number of times that people come into my counseling office frustrated because they feel like they are too overwhelmed and don’t have enough time to practice self-care. They are literally coming into therapy…

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JOY IS: that first glass of Dr. Pepper in the morning

I teach a few classes on self care each week and one of the things that I do in every class is ask people to name three things that bring them joy. People from all over world share some of their favorite things that tend to bring them joy in the midst of whatever mess they’re going through. So without further ado… here are a few of today’s bits of joy: Dogs, warm weather, and this class Having…

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