Today’s guest post is written by freelance mental health writer Taylor Blanchard, who talks about toxic shame, what it looks like in our lives and how we can manage it.
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How To Start the New Year Off Right
I’ve said it too many times on this blog, but it’s another new year (and another new year during a pandemic!) and I thought it would be good to share this message again: I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions. It’s not that I think they’re foolish or misguided – to be honest I don’t have many opinions on them as a concept – but I know that they are not a realistic way for me to achieve my goals. Crafting New Year’s Resolutions and telling myself “this year I’ll start…” never created an impactful change on my life or how I do things. A few years ago, I finally owned up to the fact that ‘New Year, New Me’ just wasn’t for me, and that it would be better to focus on other things. So here’s how I start off my new year right.
Continue readingThis Year, You Did Enough
I don’t have a particularly long post today, but it’s a message I wish would be shared more this week. This year has been hard. At times, this year felt impossible. Even as we near the end of it, parts of this year still feel impossible. But I hope you take heart in the fact that, despite how you may feel about the state of your world and what you’ve done, this year, you did enough.
Continue readingRemembering The Connection Between Physical and Mental Wellness
As someone who celebrates Christmas, this past week was a busy one. The holiday season can take its toll on us in many ways, and while I tend to shine a spotlight on mental wellness during the holidays, there are other areas of wellness that are important to remember. Sometimes I forget about the connection between my physical health and my mental health, but when I forget to take care of my wellness, my body reminds me in a major way.
Continue readingFive Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health During the Holiday Season
It’s not easy to take care of your mental health during the holiday season. Whether it’s handling family dynamics, dealing with unpleasant memories or grieving during an especially sentimental time of year, the holidays can bring challenges for our mental health. Here are some reminders and ways you can check in on your mental health and wellness during this time of year.
Continue readingThe Holidays Aren’t Easy for Everyone
As I’ve written before, I tend to get sad during the wintertime. At this point, it’s become something to expect and prepare for more than anything else, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when it happens. But it’s not just the wintertime – it’s the holidays, too. Last year, I wrote that it’s okay not to be okay during this festive period, and while the sentiment remains true for this year, I also wanted to issue a gentle reminder that many people struggle with their mental health during the holiday season, and what we can do about it.
Continue readingTaking a Look at Youth Mental Health: A Statistical Breakdown
Mental health matters for people of every age, race and demographic, but an area that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves is in young people. It might not be news to some, but the numbers are rising year after year when it comes to young people dealing with mental health disorders and mental illness. After an insightful Q&A earlier this week with Tilly’s Life Center, I decided I wanted to spotlight some of the important statistics about young people and mental health that are important to know.
Continue readingTeenagers and Mental Health: A Q&A with Tilly’s Life Center
Mental health is important for everyone, but it’s especially important to spotlight teenagers and mental health. For today’s post, I was able to talk with Monica Utley, the Executive Director of Tilly’s Life Center. Located in Irvine, California, Tilly’s Life Center teaches life skills to teenagers that build confidence, inspire compassion, and encourages adolescents to pursue their dreams. Thank you to Monica for taking the time to answer my questions!
Continue readingFive Ways to Manage Perfectionism
This week on My Brain’s Not Broken, we’re talking about perfectionism. While it’s something that comes up in everyday life, perfectionism can be hard to spot, and even harder to deal with. When I was looking up how to manage and deal with perfectionism, I saw the same results as when I looked up how to manage self-doubt, which was that every article I found used terms like overcoming and get rid of when talking about perfectionism (which seems like an example of perfectionism itself). So, rather than provide tips on how to get over perfectionism, I wanted to share five ways that I try to manage my perfectionist tendencies, with the long-term goal of changing my attitude toward perfectionism.
Continue readingHow Perfectionism Impacts Mental Health
When I wrote last week’s post about why I feel like I’m always playing catch up, I thought a lot about perfectionism. It’s not something that crosses my mind often, but when I have time to reflect on how I treat myself, that word comes up. When I was growing up, no one ever made a connection between perfectionism and mental health. Perfectionism was a personality trait, and some people had it and others didn’t. But the more I learn about mental health, the more I’ve learned that it’s not so black and white. It’s always existed, but perfectionism effects our mental health in very unique ways in 2021 – and that’s what I want to talk about today.
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