Anxiety can play a big role in your overall wellness when it comes to health-restricted diets. That being said, there are ways to manage both anxiety and health-restricted diets. Check out my Huffington Post piece on the topic to read more about strategies to cope with anxiety and restricted diets:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johanna-bond/nervous-in-the-kitchen-9-_b_7707976.html
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Filed under Health, Social issues
I tell my clients that you can only challenge someone as much as you support him or her. It’s a key part of my approach to counseling as I strive to keep challenge and support in balance in my work with clients.
I find more and more that this is something I should be keeping in mind for myself, too.
I can only challenge myself as much as I support myself.
We get supports and challenges from other people too, but it’s important to keep these things in balance for ourselves as well. With food allergies, I’m realizing lately how much I have retreated from the world to protect myself. I have not (knock on wood) had a bad reaction in months, but I also have not been challenging myself. Perhaps I have given myself too much support in some areas, and not enough challenge. I’ve retreated from trying new restaurants, travel, new social interactions, even happy hours after work.
Sometimes this is a good thing, and I feel justified in saying that going to a happy hour after a long work day when I know I can’t eat anything and would be having a drink on an empty stomach would not be fun or happy. That being said, turning into a hermit is also not a good balance.
It’s time for me to put myself back out there in the world a little bit more. No, I’m not hopping on a transatlantic flight to backpack around Europe, but I can go out to eat at a new restaurant this weekend. In fact, that is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to call ahead, like a good food-allergic individual, make a reservation for 5pm (not the busy hour), and invite a friend to join me. And teach her how to use my Epipen, just in case.
Support, meet challenge. Challenge, meet support.
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Filed under Personal
What is emotional self-care?
To follow up on last week’s Post-It post…
Emotional self-care is taking care of and having compassion for yourself. When you are having a difficult time, or if you’ve had a recent allergic reaction or a bad dining experience, or if you’ve had some other emotionally and physically challenging experience, it can be helpful to figure out the best way to take care of yourself. Some people take a moment to be in nature or work in a garden. Some people need alone time, others need to talk it through with a friend. Some people might take a warm bubble bath, others will go for a run. Thinking about past experiences, and how you have gotten through difficult times before, may give you ideas of how to best tap into your strength.
Tips for self-care:
-Accept help when you need
-Focus on what you are able to do or eat, rather than what you cannot do
-Set personal health goals
-Consider the ways you re-charge emotionally – and do them!
-Get connected! with each other, and with outside resources, if you need them.
Personal questions:
-What has helped you to deal with difficult situations in the past?
-Where are your “safe” places? What are your “safe” foods? Who are your “safe” people to be around when you’ve had an allergic reaction or a bad dining experience?
-How do you treat yourself with compassion when you are feeling drained or overwhelmed?
-How do you re-charge? Do you need personal time, or social time? What activities help you to process through emotions after a tough day?
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Filed under Health
Starting From Scratch 