It’s Mental Health May, hunnies. That’s just what I like to call it (you know me – any excuse to talk about mental health, I’m there). Mental health issues can have a profound impact on both the mind and body, so it’s important to understand that mental and physical health are closely intertwined, and that symptoms of mental illness can manifest in a variety of physical ways throughout the body as well as in the traditional sense. In this post, we’ll explore some common ways that mental health issues may manifest in the body. Your body may be warning you that something is off before your brain does, so make sure to listen!

Before we close out April (national stress awareness month) I wanted to talk about stress one more time. Stress is often seen as something that is harmful to our health and wellbeing (and it certainly can be!). However, not all stress is bad. In fact, sometimes stress can be good! There are different kinds of stress, and they affect us in different ways. Lets get into it!

Happy half Christmas! Okay, my math isn’t perfect. We’re a little over halfway to Christmas. Anyway, whether you celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukka or something else, this time of year is packed with holidays. We call this the most wonderful time of the year, and yet (as with everything) there’s a flip side to that coin. According to this NY post article, 35% percent of Americans experience “holiday burnout” before Christmas even comes. Aka you may be feeling it right about now.
And rightfully so! On average shopping, planning, preparing food,and generally preparing for the holidays takes a whopping 38 hours of time.Who do you know that has an extra 38 hours in their month? Not me, that’s for sure.

So if you are feeling any sort of holiday stress/fatigue/burnout, know that you’re not alone, and that it doesn’t have to be this way. With that said, lets get into the practical stuff. Here are some tips to prevent (or at least reduce) the holiday stress:

September is a month that is near and dear to my heart for more reasons than just the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte (though I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a factor). September is National Recovery Month. National Recovery Month is “a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the nation’s strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and communities who make recovery in all its forms possible. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Recovery Month 2022)”

Hello again, my dears! Today I’m popping in to follow up on something we began discussing in June and then realized it was such an important (and lengthy) topic it deserved a two-part series; unhealthy coping mechanisms, their causes, and their alternatives.
As you probably know, June is LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, and Queer) Pride Month! Here in Miami we have a great LGBTQ community full of influencers, activists, and just overall a vibrant and welcoming group of people.

To recap, in June we discussed unhealthy coping mechanisms and their potential causes. Some of the unhealthy mechanisms we covered were over/undereating, excessive alcohol consumption, impulse shopping, and watching too much tv. We explored how these habits had several potential causes in common. Often things like boredom, stress, depression, distress intolerance (feeling incapable of handling distressing feelings and looking to numb them),or lacking a sense of accomplishment/purpose can be responsible for some or all of your unhealthy habits rendering them unhealthy coping mechanisms.
As you probably know, June is LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, and Queer) Pride Month! Here in Miami we have a great LGBTQ community full of influencers, activists, and just overall a vibrant and welcoming group of people.

However, new month, new you, right? So today we want to discuss the alternatives. The light side, so to say.

And we’re back with more Mental Health Awareness content, just in time to close out the month. Today, I wanted to talk about something that doesn’t get talked about enough; struggling with mental health does NOT always look the same. It isn’t always obvious, and it doesn’t always look like someone crying and struggling to get out of bed. In reality, sometimes you don’t even know you’re struggling until you’re too far in.

So how can you catch yourself struggling before it gets bad? And what can you do about it? Take a look at your coping mechanisms. Be critical of the ways in which you seek joy, and spend your time, ask yourself if there’s anything you’re avoiding, ask yourself if you’re proud of your current habits. You may find that you’re utilizing unhealthy coping mechanisms, in which case it would be beneficial to dig deeper. Here are just some ways this can show up in your daily life: