3 Ways to Reduce Stress When Parenting in a Pandemic
Let’s face it: parenting during the current COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges with it.
Parents have needed to educate their children from home. Activities, celebrations, and outings have been canceled. One or both parents may be working from home, or childcare might be an issue if remote work is not an option.
These struggles are even harder if you’re a single parent. Life has changed for everyone; adults and kids alike are experiencing stress as a result. Unfortunately, increased stress levels bring tension and irritability to the home.
If you’re overwhelmed by these changes, consider some of the following ideas.
Read More
Feeling Trapped in a Forced Life Pause? – 5 Tips
Does it seem like the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced you into a standstill?
Like so many Americans right now, you may be feeling like your life has been put on a forced life pause, through no choice of your own. You’ve likely been at home, unable to participate in your long-familiar activities and routines.
You could be laid off or trying to work at home with distractions and cabin fever. Travel plans have been canceled, and kids’ camps and family reunions are postponed. Time with friends is a thing of the past. Along with millions of others, you’re waiting and wondering when you can get on with your life again.
Despite the frustration, there are some things you can do during this time of limbo.
Read More
Is Social Distancing Making Loneliness Worse? – 3 Ways to Feel Better
Have months of social distancing started to take their emotional toll on you? The chances are that it only took a week or two for you to find that you greatly missed your friends and social interactions and routines.
Social distancing has gone on longer than most of us likely expected it to. This experience brings challenges for even the most introverted personalities. Those who were already struggling with loneliness before the pandemic began may be feeling its effects even more so.
If you find yourself in this situation, take heart. You can take steps to feel better.
Read More
5 Tips to Ensure Your Relationship Will Thrive in Tough Times
When you first fall in love with someone, chances are you hope it’s going to last forever. Even if someone has gone through bad breakups in the past, deep down, they usually hope to find lasting love. Humans have an innate drive to connect. We need intimacy.
If you’re fortunate to be in a long-term, committed relationship, you likely know that you’re still going to struggle at times. Everyday life throws a lot at you. Keeping your relationship a priority can slide to the backburner when this happens. This response is even more accurate during tough times.
Thankfully, though, there are things you can do to ensure that your relationship will thrive.
Read More
How to Overcome Nightmares and Sleep Well During a Crisis
Unfortunately, it can seem challenging to sleep well during a crisis. That said, experiencing nightmares during a crisis is not uncommon, either. Any crisis can cause them, whether it be the ramifications of the current pandemic or other personal circumstances.
Read More
Has Dating Changed Forever? How a World Crisis Impacts Romance
If you’ve been dating and trying to meet people, the chances are strong that the coronavirus pandemic has altered the way you approach it. This situation might cause you to wonder how a world crisis impacts romance altogether, and you’re not alone.
Social distancing makes in-person dating extremely difficult, if not impossible. Perhaps you thought you were hitting it off with someone online but hadn’t yet met in person. Now, that connection has fizzled. Or, you were in a relatively established relationship but still want to maintain physical distance.
Nevertheless, dating apps have seen an upsurge in usage since the pandemic started, so perhaps you’ve noticed more potential matches. The romantic landscape has undoubtedly shifted.
It might help you to know how the pandemic has changed dating thus far and that a world crisis impacts romance in plenty of ways.
Read More
On the Brink? How Discernment Counseling Can Help
All marriages experience struggles and conflicts. Unfortunately, these can build to the point that one or both parties start to contemplate divorce.
Of course, numerous factors can contribute to this situation. The wear and tear of daily stressors such as career, finances, and disagreements over parenting might contribute. Infidelity or porn addiction may play a role. Often, couples are tired of arguing but don’t know how to stop. Once one or both partners begin to think that divorce may be an option, they may benefit from discernment counseling.
Discernment counseling is an option that many couples haven’t heard of. It’s different from regular couples counseling. Discernment counseling is a step that couples take before they decide whether to enter into couples counseling, to move ahead with a divorce, or to put the divorce on the back burner for a set amount of time.
Discernment counseling is a brief process. Many therapists recommend one to five sessions. It typically helps couples by involving the following steps.
Read More
I’m Scared! How to Overcome Anxiety About the Coronavirus
For most Americans, the coronavirus pandemic is something entirely new. While the elderly among us might remember other epidemics, the United States has largely been immune to the types of outbreaks other parts of the world have experienced.
Read More
The Problems That Surface When Depression Goes Untreated
When you’re struggling with depression, even the thought of trying to get help can feel overwhelming. You’re already having a hard time with energy and coping with everyday tasks. Adding more appointments to your schedule can seem like too much. You may have sought treatment in the past but didn’t find the help you wanted.
Unfortunately, as with many illnesses, depression only gets worse if left untreated. In the vast majority of cases, it’s not going to get better on its own.
Read More
3 Ways to Overcome Creative Blocks and Self-Doubt
Depression has many symptoms: fatigue, sadness, unrelenting sadness, withdrawal from friends and family, and sleep issues, to name a few. Add these all together, and it’s easy to see how depression can also create creative blocks and self-doubt in those who suffer from it.
You can also lose interest in things you formerly enjoyed when you’re depressed. Even if you want to keep creating, this unwanted loss of interest can also cause creative blocks. And creativity doesn’t just include visual, musical, and literary arts. All of us use creativity to navigate and enjoy our life and its challenges.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help overcome creative blocks and self-doubt.
Read More
Procrastination and ADHD: What’s the Connection?
If you struggle with ADHD, you know its chronic symptoms can interfere with all aspects of everyday life. ADHD itself can mean that completing or starting tasks is more difficult for you than for individuals without ADHD.
“But everyone procrastinates!” you may find yourself thinking. “Anyone would rather watch a movie or hang out with friends than bother with tax paperwork or housework!”
And if you don’t have ADHD, you may find the idea of explaining away procrastination due to its symptoms as just an excuse. It may seem like a convenient way to avoid getting things done.
Read More
How Does Being in Nature Affect Your Brain?
Chances are you’ve spent time outdoors and noticed a positive feeling afterward. Maybe it was an afternoon at the lake, a long walk in a nature preserve, or even just an evening sitting outdoors in a shady, green yard.
Feeling better after time in nature is not just your imagination. Spending time outdoors is proven to provide vital mood-boosting and calming effects on the brain.
The way we live in the modern world is a very recent occurrence. For millennia, humans did not live the way most of us live now. Urban settings, with their noise, crowding, pollution, and lack of outdoor time and manual work, are not the brain’s natural habitat.
Read More
How Relationship Counseling Can Help You Develop a Better Vision of Your Future
We tend to associate relationship counseling with those that are on the rocks. In reality, counseling is designed to provide strength and awareness—two things that relationships are often in need of.
Relationship counseling can help you and your partner, even if there are no problems in your relationship. Not only will it provide a clear means of communication, but it can help you and your partner better understand and plan for a future together.
Here’s how.
Read More
Dimming Inner Glow? How to Let Winter Inspire You
When the sun goes to bed early, and the white snow turns grungy gray, your mood may follow suit. As a result, knowing how to let winter inspire you might seem like a massive feat.
As the season goes on (and on and on, depending on where you live), the winter doldrums can set in. Your spirit may feel as heavy as do the weight of bulky coats, boots, and scarves wrapped around your body. Maybe you’d like to hibernate to miss it all and wake up when the grass is green again.
The season can have positives, however. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of them. If you’re feeling dreary and uninspired about life in the winter, consider some of these ideas to reignite your inner glow.
Read More
Looking Toward 2020: How to Set Goals by Learning from the Previous Year
To experience any success in life, you have to fail. You have to make mistakes, and you have to learn. Some of the most successful people in history had significant failures to overcome before they reached the top.
Your “failures” don’t have to be something massive. But to find success in the future, you should regard each setback as a learning experience.
That said, it’s time to start looking toward 2020. The New Year is approaching, and it’s the perfect time to set new goals for yourself.
When you’re thinking about setting goals for the future, you can look back on the previous year. Learn from your mistakes and failures. Or think about what you wanted to accomplish last year that you couldn’t. What were your roadblocks?
Let’s take a look at how you can set goals based on what you’ve learned this year and how you can carry them with you into 2020.
Read More
After an Affair: Can You Make It Through or Will Your Marriage Fall Apart?
Of all the trials and tribulations that your relationship may face, an affair can sure hit the hardest.
Affairs happen under any circumstance, with both men and women, regardless of age, happiness, sexuality, or marital status. If people want to have an affair, they will do it.
If your spouse has had an affair, you may find yourself wondering one major thing: Can we make it through this, or will our marriage fall apart?
The answer depends on you. Despite an affair, your marriage can recover. However, it will take time and effort to repair and replace old boundaries. Are you prepared to do that?
Read More
Getting Out When Your Partner Refuses to Change – Here’s What You Need to Know
It seems that you’ve done everything you can to make your relationship work. You’ve been patient, expressed your concerns, and have tried to work it out with your partner. Maybe you’ve even gone to couples counseling.
If your partner still refuses to change when it comes to showing their true colors, however, it could be time to end the relationship.
That’s often easier said than done. Just because someone doesn’t change their behaviors doesn’t mean you stop loving them instantly. But, if those behaviors have damaged the relationship, it’s essential to get out safely and healthily.
So, what does leaving look like in that situation?
Read More
“Connected” Yet So Lonely – Why Social Media Has Adverse Effects
Ask anyone who has lived in a large metropolitan area, and they’ll tell you it’s possible to feel alone in a crowd. Amplify the crowd into a global online mob scene, and it gives a new perspective on the meaning of “being connected.”
Modern technology has more than its share of benefits. To discuss the downside of these developments is not the same as saying it’s all bad. What matters, for the betterment of human interaction, is a clearer understanding of its impact.
With that said, here’s a post about why social media has adverse effects, and how we can navigate this unique situation.
Read More
Mindful Eating for the Holidays: 5 Practical Tips to Avoid Binging
The holidays. From TV shows to feature films to stand-up punch lines to more memes than we can count—the holidays are exposed for the mixed bag they genuinely are.
One of the many tricky aspects of this time of year revolves around our eating habits. For some reason, we have all swallowed (in more ways than one) the whole overeating thing.
Read More
How Can You Move on After Your Break-Up? – 5 Crucial Steps
Despite countless songwriters weaving the “getting over you” theme into lyrics, there’s more to life after a break-up than merely moving on from a former partner. You must think of your well-being, too.
No matter the duration or quality of the relationship, ending a romance can set you back significantly. Not only are your emotions likely bleeding out, but a break-up can upset your daily routine and usual support system as well.
It’s essential to cover a handful of fundamental steps to move on from a break-up healthily, i
Remember, though; you don’t have to follow these (or any) steps in order. After all, there’s no norm when it comes to recovering from a break-up. Just make sure you take care of yourself by touching on each one.
Read More
