Anxiety has the capacity to be both incredibly helpful and harmful. In the event of finding yourself face to face with a cougar, down to the wire on a final project, or gearing up for a big race, anxiety gives us the "juice" to dig deep, focus, and function at a high level. There are consequences of course to these bouts with anxiety, including adrenaline and its counterpart cortisol - which, studies have shown, can be very harmful in high doses. Similarly prolonged states of anxiety can lead to fatigue, GI issues, heart problems, and memory problems. For brief periods of time, this anxiety can be functional and help us overcome challenges.
Tips to Survive Working from Home During a Quarantine
You finally receive the anticipated email from your boss, “we will all be working remotely until further notice.” You take off your dress clothes, get back into bed, and set up a “work station” consisting of a laptop, some freshly brewed coffee and an endless amount of snacks. Your dog looks at you and beams with joy. This is the day he has been waiting for his whole life.
Types of Grief
As if grief weren’t complicated enough to deal with, there are a few different types of grief to be aware of. The importance of knowing these different types of grief is that you or a loved one can understand what you or they are going through to better process the grief and manage the emotions that go along with it. If you would like to get a recap on symptoms of grief, head over to the previous blog here!
Understanding Grief: Symptoms and Ways to Cope
Everyone experiences grief at some point in their lives. This can be through the death of a close loved one, or through other losses such as the loss of a job, the loss of a pet, or even the loss of a lifelong dream or goal. When a loss occurs, there are many different emotions someone can experience. Reactions can range from crying and sadness, to anger and disbelief. The difficult part about experiencing a loss is that there is not a one-stop-shop solution. Grief is not linear. There is not a specific set of things you can do to make it better, and what works for one person may not work for another.
Becoming a Therapist- My Personal and Professional Journey
I’ve often been asked by others, how did I become a therapist? What motivated or attracted me to embark on this long and intensely challenging professional journey? Throughout my lifetime, both personal and professional experiences contributed to my choice of practicing psychotherapy and specializing in complex trauma.
I was born in Poland during the 70s, the era of the communists' regime. As a child, it came naturally to me to be a caring, empathetic and compassionate person. I often tuned into my feelings and expressed myself well. I would spend time alone to attune to these passing feelings and the state of my body trying to figure out why I felt this way, often expressing them through art and writing poems. This growing self-reflection in me lead to my curiosity towards what other people think and feel as well as why they behave in certain ways