Feeling anxious? Here's why

Anxiety is a normal human emotion, but excess anxiety can disrupt everyday life.

Not all anxiety is the same both in how it presents (i.e., the symptoms people have) and the factors that contribute to it. When someone comes to a professional with an issue, they are looking for a solution. When it comes to many health issues, there is not one single fix. Saying that you have depression, anxiety, fatigue, or pain really tells us nothing about the solution because the causal and contributing factors are complex and overlapping.

Health, Personal DevelopmentKelly Forys DonahueApril 18, 2023anxiety, mental health

Is an "It depends..." answer from your health care provider a cop-out or a clinical pearl?

You ask your health care provider a question about your health.

They answer, “It depends.”

Is it time to find a new provider or thank this one for their honesty?

The answer…”It depends.”

Health, Self-CareKelly Forys DonahueApril 5, 2023therapy, questions, health

Emotional Eating Dulls The Knowing

Emotional eating most often occurs to escape a negative feeling OR to create a less negative or more positive feeling. And it works. Which is why we continue to do it.

We can “emotional eat” to avoid feeling angst. “Emotional eating” distracts us from the angst that arises in a pause. During a pause like the COVID-19 situation, we may remember that our life is meant to be lived more fully, more freely than we are living it. However, when we feel that uncomfortable angst bubbling to the surface, instead of asking the angst why it has appeared, we focus on “controlling” the eating. That seems less scary.

Self-Care, HealthKelly Forys DonahueMay 17, 2020emotional eating, stress, self-care

Managing the Anxiety Around COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

We are all surrounded by an inundated with information about COVID-19 also known as the coronavirus. There is a collective anxiety about what to do and what will happen.

Anxiety develops from fear and a perceived lack of control. Anxiety is designed to get our body and mind to pay attention when a threat is perceived. One way to handle the anxiety when it comes up is to thank it for doing its job, because indeed you are paying attention! And then, tell the anxiety that you are choosing to perceive the situation differently.

Health, Self-CareKelly Forys DonahueMarch 13, 2020coronavirus, covid-19, anxiety

Three Small Steps to Get Your New Year's Goals on Track

By mid-January, the shiny newness of your New Year’s Resolutions have worn off. You had the best of intentions. You did the goal-setting. You have a vision board. This was YOUR year…until suddenly, you find yourself off or falling off the New Year/New Goals wagon.

The workout gear you got for Christmas doesn’t seem as cute.
The allure of getting up early to go to the gym to start your new morning routine has been replaced by staying snuggled warm in bed under the covers because you stayed up late last night.

Personal Development, Goals, HealthKelly Forys DonahueJanuary 20, 2020resolution, goals, small change

Beating the Winter Blues

The holidays and the winter weather can bring low mood. The disease model of health says that this low mood is called “Seasonal Affective Disorder.” I think of it as our body and mind’s response to the conditions. Let’s think about the qualities of this time of year:

Cold weather
Dark mornings
Dark evenings
Short days
Less Vitamin D
Access to fresh produce might be less available (i.e.. farmers markets are non-existent or limited)

Health, Self-CareKelly Forys DonahueDecember 11, 2019seasonal affective disorder, self-care

My left eye, nutrition, and mind-body healing

I woke up at 3:30 Tuesday morning with a pain in my eye. It felt as if sand had drifted in under my contact, but I wasn’t wearing my contacts and I was in bed, not at the beach. I assumed I must have an eyelash or random piece of hair in my eye, so I rinsed it with water and then with saline but it still didn’t feel better. I had a feeling that this was something that might not go away on its own.

Health, Self-CareKelly Forys DonahueOctober 24, 2019mind-body, nutrition

Practice Makes Progress

It's easy not to start something when we feel that the outcome has to be perfect. It prevents us from starting. It deflates our self-esteem.

If we change our mindset to focus on progress and not perfection as the outcome, it changes our willingness to practice. Our willingness to begin. And my friends, beginning is more than half the battle.

The magic of just beginning is based on a principle called behavioral activation. The idea is that even if you aren’t feeling like doing something, you start it in a small way, knowing that once you start the behavior, you will feel activated to continue.

Personal Development, Health, Self-CareKelly Forys DonahueSeptember 15, 2019practice, self-talk

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