self care

For a healthy mind, body, and soul.

Ponderings
On the cusp of my fiftieth birthday, different friends would ask me how it felt to turn fifty. I gave the same answer to all, it feels the same as 49. Imagine my dismay on the eve of said birthday when I started to reflect back on the last 49 years and realize that indeed it did seem like a milestone had been reached and that I might feel slightly overwhelmed by the scope of those years.
By Anita M.9 years ago in Longevity
Mirror, Mirror
I have a mission for you; a little exercise in self-confidence you might call it. Most women spend a significant portion of their day looking in a mirror and assessing themselves. Usually negatively. I suspect a number of men do as well but not with same venom and fervor that women seem to. We really hate our bodies. Size doesn't even necessarily come into it. I've seen girls that could barely weigh 90 lbs hate on their bodies in front of a mirror.
By Sarah Sparks9 years ago in Longevity
Walking the PMDD Labyrinth
I recently came across a question on a PMDD forum that asked something like, "I just discovered I have PMDD. Please tell me there is something I can do to carry on with my life and responsibilities. And don't tell me to diet and exercise!"
By Cheeky Minx9 years ago in Longevity
Why It Is Essential to Have Happiness in Your Life
One thing I have realized over the last couple years is that I let my happiness slip away. I can't tell you exactly how or when I lost it because it went away piece by piece, without even having any conscious awareness that it had happened. I faded into the darkness of my own mind and it was scary in there. I have suffered from depression for about 9 years now, trying to scratch and claw my way out of the dark hole that was dug for me. So anyways, back to happiness; how do you define happiness? Happiness isn't something you can measure; it's something you feel. Materialistic things aren't going to give you happiness, they will give you temporary excitement and contentment, but not happiness.
By danielle9 years ago in Longevity
Dancing With Death—Frightening and Freaky Facts About Crystal Meth Addiction
EscapeMeth.com reports, “Once stereotyped as a 'biker drug,' meth has a broad new consumer base. It is commonly used by the gay community, blue collar workers, young professionals, college students, mostly white males, the Hispanic population, high school students as young as ninth grade, people in their early thirties, rural bikers, street youth, a growing number of Native Americans, service workers, farm and oil workers, employed and unemployed people in their twenties, Asians, both men and women, and cocaine users who can no longer afford cocaine. All types of people use meth. There are no boundaries. It includes all classes and all professions.
By Marlene Affeld9 years ago in Longevity
Living with Depression and Anxiety
I suffer from several mental health conditions: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, trauma, disordered eating, and neurotic issues. Over the last several years, I fell into a black hole of depression that I thought I would never get out of and am only now clawing my way up the side of.
By Sarah Sparks9 years ago in Longevity
How To Manage Fear When You're Fearing The Worst
Fear is one of the most powerful human emotions we can endure. It's consuming nature can overwhelm our thoughts, dominate our emotions and negatively influence our behavior. It is a mysteriously dark force that can quietly creep into your life and take hostage everything that you hold dear.
By Brandon Krogel9 years ago in Longevity
How I Reignited My Passion
A few years ago, I started a journal. We were about to move to America, and I wanted a way to document my journey to a different country. I remembered being excited, feeling that I would cherish it for the rest of my life.
By Tristan Ramos9 years ago in Longevity
The Greatest Privilege
We live in a universe where our greatest privilege is life itself, death the inescapable reality governed by space and time. But humans are a death-denying species, constantly forgetting the renewal that death offers the universe, the beginning of a new chapter from the end of the old.
By Justin Gignac9 years ago in Longevity
“Get Over It!”
Get over it. Get over it... Get over it! A simple phrase, but a statement that hurts immensely. There is no sharper knife than when you have experienced something physically or emotionally painful and someone tells you to “get over it”. Inadvertently or intentionally, that person has told you that your experience is not significant enough to warrant your sorrow; and while it may appear so to them, it matters to you and that’s what’s important.
By Nicky Bennett9 years ago in Longevity
Don't Touch Me
I do not like being touched, especially by strangers. I don't like strangers trying to hug me. I'm not even keen on handshakes. I hate it when you are on the bus and the thigh of the person next to you rubs against yours. It makes my skin crawl. Crowds give me anxiety. I don't like it when people tap me on the shoulder. I hate it when someone I barely know touches my arm. Touch is not a comfort to me.
By Sarah Sparks9 years ago in Longevity
F*ck Anxiety
Anxiety is one of those things where it invades every seemingly normal part of your life and makes it 100x more complicated. Simple tasks at work turn into emotionally stressful situations, easygoing conversations become laborious and start to agitate you, and climbing a gentle rolling hill becomes a trek over Mount Everest. I've had to deal with my anxiety for a long time, and even when I was dragging myself on all fours up that gentle hill, I refused to ask for help.
By Mikayla Appleby9 years ago in Longevity