Affirmations For Streamers: to ease Imposter Syndrome, Depression, Jealousy and more
Research shows that repeating positive self-affirmations over time, along with other treatments, can help with developing a more positive attitude towards yourself and the world around you.
Here are the ones that I use daily for the conditions I live with: ADHD, Anxiety and Depression
The Mental Health Concerns of Online Content Creators on Social Media
“The mental health risks people take in being an online personality become more prominent as their popularity grows. There is a lot of pressure to be “on,” be “perfect,” and be everything your audience wants you to be. You feel pressure to give them what you know they want - more content - and the hunger for that content never ends.”
3 Things You Can Do Right Now If You're Anxious
Although I’ve made posts in the past about what’s helped me get through anxiety, I still find “any advice about what I can do for anxiety,” to be the question I am asked the most on and off stream. So I created a set of quick tips that I have learned.
Why Does Social Media Upset Us And What Can We Do?
If I am feeling ok, I don’t mind seeing prettier-than-life things, in fact, I often feel they inspire me. However, if I am a bit down on myself, the fire gets worse from the added coal of upward comparison. Is that anyone else’s fault? Not exactly. I compare myself enough to people in real life, that confronting more things I am bad at online becomes downright exhausting.
How To Travel To Tokyo When You Have Panic Disorder
Eventually, we realized the only place that two nerds like us would spend a long time traveling to would be Japan. We always assumed it was an impossible trip due to our chronic illnesses. Between the two of us we share a basket full, and Panic Disorder is included in my husband’s portion.
A Morning With Mental Illness: An Open Letter
Already, in order to wake up and have a chance at a productive, I need to think of every inch of my body. If I don’t do this my brain will run haywire and might suddenly decide I don’t have enough air to breathe. But hey, I could just smile, right.
Being A Good Friend To Someone With Depression and Anxiety
While I do not define myself by my diagnoses, I have found that I do better when the people surrounding me are understanding, forgiving and generally those who assume the best in others. I hope to reflect such kind traits in my own behavior too. It took a lot of thinking before I was able to identify what truly matters when it comes to building friendships.
Am I Afraid of the Dark?
I don’t know what I am afraid of more: darkness, loneliness, or the silence they both can bring with them. Once the lights go off, my brain churns in overtime. The shadows shift into something that isn’t there, and all my biggest fears seem to be real. For me, the dark is the time for each memory to play out anew.
Anxiety Relief Kit Part IV
We've reached the end of 2017 the Anxiety Relief series (for now). Anxiety sucks when I am trying to walk outside and enjoy a nice, summer day. Or when I am in the checkout lane trying to leave a store. But it’s more frustrating when I’m in a crowded subway or about to enter a job interview. On days when my brain chemistry is all out of whack, anxiety doesn’t care what I’m doing. It just sucks.
Image by: VIKTOR HANACEK for picjumbo
Anxiety Relief Kit Part III
Alright, I’ve made a few posts (See Part One and Two ) about my Anti-Anxiety Kit at this point. It’s a summarized list of things (physical and emotional) I have used over the years to help cope with my symptoms as they happened. When I started running, I would lose breath after a 100 yards and fall to my knees, dizzy without oxygen. I got upset and cried because I just wanted to jog. Running was supposed to help me learn how to breathe and make my anxiety better, but instead, it felt like it broke me.
Cover Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash
Anxiety Relief Kit Part II
All it takes is being around too many people and, in the words of the wise Jack Sparrow, “we have our heading.” And it’s direction is down.
To cope, I have subconsciously been collecting an Anti-Anxiety Kit: a combination of things and ideas that help soothe the bad moments and distract my mind from itself. In case it helps someone else, I wanted to share it here. Considering we have Christmas just around the corner, it seems timely!
Anxiety Relief Kit Part I
To manage, somewhere in the back of brain, I have been putting together an Anxiety Kit. It’s a combination of things that I have used to help soothe the bad moments, to distract my mind from itself and avoid the grand finale—a panic attack. It’s a combination of coping mechanisms I have found in workbooks, heard from my therapist, or brought to me by friends. In hopes that it will help you too, I wrote them all down.
What It Costs To Have Anxiety
Most people can never truly understand the currency of anxiety. Each letter typed is worth about 3 negative thoughts. Now before you get worried about the negative-thought-to-word conversion rate, perhaps wait for me to lay it out below. And if you’re that concerned, maybe it’s because you would like to know what the conversation will leave you with in your own struggle?
--Photo by Tristan Gassert on Unsplash