When you are suffering from poor sleep hygiene, the impacts can be felt in every part of your life. It is much harder to manage emotions and think clearly when you are tired all the time.
Most of our poor decisions and behaviors that we wish we could re-do are driven by our feelings. In most cases we are probably reacting from an emotion and not even really thinking!
Many people come to art therapy because they feel stuck in their healing process and journey. Maybe talk therapy didn’t work well for them. They feel like they have talked and reasoned, explained, and told their experiences and yet – they are not finding relief.
The truth is, establishing and enforcing your boundaries is an act of kindness. It prevents you from having the feelings of resentment or annoyance toward people important to you. It also allows you to respect your own needs which in turn create a healthier you.
Holiday Stress is something that is probably impacting a lot of us right now — this year especially. The holidays are presented as a very joyful, warm, and fuzzy time of year. A lot of us want to decorate, give gifts, and bake treats. However, is this stereotypical image of the holidays realistic? What is the reality of bringing this vision to life?
There is no rule book on what we should feel or do during the holidays. Even though there is no holiday rule book, sometimes the demands of the holidays spike our stress levels anyway. Finding ways to cope with the stress of the holidays can help us to find our joy this holiday season.
The American culture seems to reinforce people by valuing productivity and being “stressed out” over mental health. Sometimes it seems as if slowing down is seen as undesirable and linked with being lazy. Is it possible that some stress could be self-inflicted?
I didn’t think of myself as stressed. But when you lined up the pieces next to each other, it seemed obvious that there was a lot on my shoulders. Not to mention the extenuating circumstances of this year — Covid, an inland hurricane in Iowa, election season, and more.
I can remember that day like it was yesterday, it was July 20, 2017 and my son’s doctor said the words no parent ever wants to hear, “Your child has cancer.” Hearing those words brought me to my knees. My 7-year-old baby, Kameron, had been diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
It is known that survivors of natural disasters have a 30 to 40 percent chance of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One thing that can be done to counteract the long-term mental health effects of a disaster is to seek help early and to talk about the experience with professionals that are trained to help.
Feeling Safe
I feel safe at CFS. I know the staff is professional and understanding and that my thoughts and feelings will be heard and are valid.
Building Strength
My treatment at CFS has helped me find the ability to continue on through a horrible time. The office staff always greets me with a smile, that’s great.
Embrace New Ideas
It’s great to have someone to talk through my thoughts and feelings with — to get things out into the universe and have a neutral party help me learn how to process, try new things, embrace different ideas.
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