Constantly Comparing Yourself? Why You Struggle to Feel Good Enough
Everyone compares themselves to others sometimes. Our brains naturally have a tendency to make comparisons. We are often preoccupied with ourselves. Therefore, our brains try to weigh our own traits against those of others. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of...
Poor Relationship with Food? 5 Clear Cut Indicators It’s Time to Seek Help
Every person has a unique relationship with food. For some, the relationship is positive and healthy, using food for fuel and enjoyment. Others tend to struggle, allowing mealtimes to cause stress and anxiety. Additionally, there’s often an ebb and flow in the...
PTSD and Avoidance: What It Looks Like & Why It Doesn’t Work
It’s only natural to avoid those things that could potentially cause you pain. Those with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may understand this notion more than most. For a simple example, think about the shoe-hungry dog a few blocks from your house. You’ll...
Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Sex Life and What to Do About It
Most couples want to have a passion-filled sex life where adventure meets fulfillment. Unsurprisingly, it’s not uncommon for couples to fall short of this ultimate dream. In fact, you may be sabotaging your own sex life and not even know it. Sex can be complicated....
6 Crucial Steps to Increase Self-Understanding
Changing your life in any way, large or small, requires a journey of self-understanding. However, when we start down the road of self-understanding, most of us take a slight detour to explore our self-concept and the “who am I” question rather than fully grasping what...
Focus on Process Goals (NOT Outcomes) to Overcome Anxiety!
Both your thoughts and actions influence your response to stress and anxiety. With that said, developing helpful thought habits is a vital key to overcoming anxiety. After all, it’s the mind that tends to run away with itself, dragging you along behind it in a...
How to Recognize and Recover From a Trauma Bond
Loving or remaining loyal to a person who continuously hurts you may seem backward. Yet, this dynamic plays a large part in why many people stay with abusive partners. In fact, abusers depend on this kind of connection to keep you under their control. It’s called a...
7 Ways to Establish Your Relationships as Top Priorities This Year
We all have to-do lists. Where do our relationships land on such lists? Sure, most folks would get indignant at this question. But, realistically speaking, this isn’t about image or wishful thinking. It’s about real life. In reality, we often take our relationships...
It’s a New Year! Emotionally Review, Release and Reset with EMDR
The end of a year, and subsequently the beginning of a new one, can feel a lot like a cumulative test of your emotions. All the experiences and information that you absorbed over the past twelve months has a way of rushing back to your memory. Often, this collective...
High Anxiety? How to Use Distraction to Your Advantage
Some degree of worry or anxiety is normal. It’s what keeps us safe, activating the fight-or-flight part of our nervous systems to protect us. Yet anxiety has a stealthy way of sneaking into our daily lives, even when there seems to be no immediate threat. Wreaking...
5 Tough Things About Eating Disorders During the Holidays & How to Cope
Eating disorders are uniquely complex, creating inner turmoil that manifests externally. Joyful and exhilarating emotions typically surround the holiday season. Yet, it often becomes an incredibly difficult time for those struggling with an eating disorder. For this...
Trauma and Fatigue: Why You’re So Tired and What to Do About It
Trauma impacts so much of society that the statistics are astounding. Yet, numbers mean absolutely nothing when you’re the one dealing with trauma. Feeling weighed down and unable to “keep doing this,” you may begin to wonder if you’ll ever return to normal. The...
7 Ways to Manage Holiday Loneliness & Isolation
With comparisons running rampant and expectations through the roof, the holidays can be a difficult time for all. But especially if you feel emotionally cut off from society or loved ones. After all, lonely people aren’t always alone. Rather, loneliness is a...
5 Signs Your Expectations are Interfering with Closeness & Intimacy
We each have our own ideas about relationship expectations. From attachment styles formed in childhood to media influence to former relationships, we create our own standards. Keep in mind that relationship expectations aren’t problematic in and of themselves. Rather,...
Unhappy Holidays? How EMDR Can Help You Prepare
No hard and fast rule exists stating you must enjoy the holiday season 150 percent. Yet, that’s the message society, the media, many co-workers, and/or extended family members may be sending you. The issue just may be that you don’t enjoy the holidays. For one reason...
Why Multitasking Makes Anxiety Worse
Multitasking is an illusion. Most of us claim to be excellent multitaskers. Yet, what we’re really doing is completing two individual actions in speedy succession. Really, not even three percent of the population can effectively do two things at once. “Effectively” is...
The Relationship Between Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Eating Disorders
When you struggle with an eating disorder, your emotions play a large role in your relationship with food. Conversely, your relationship with food has a significant impact on your emotions as well. This unique dynamic can have a ripple effect, impacting other areas of...
You Survived, Now Grow & Thrive! Embrace These Resilience Strategies
Sporting the “Been There Done That” t-shirt, you may be wondering what the next step in life is. After all, surviving a difficult and possibly traumatic experience is no small feat. When you’ve embraced healing and are steady on your recovery path, what’s your next...
Feel Like a Fraud? Strategies for Overcoming Impostor Syndrome
Although both knowledge and experience may back up your professional endeavors, you may still feel like “the world is going to find you out,” at some point. Don't let impostor syndrome get the best of you! After all, there are still so many things you don’t know....
Keep Disagreements from Becoming Destructive
Disagreements aren’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s more about how we disagree rather than the actual topic. When you keep disagreements from becoming destructive, they can even be productive. We all experience conflict in our relationships. However, fighting fair can...