Month: January 2015

Thoughts of a Sick Person

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I don’t do sick well. I don’t particularly like going to the doctor and even when it is clear that I need to go to the emergency room I still always try to convince people that a trip to the ER is completely unnecessary.  That being said I have had some sort of cold, sinus., cough type thing going on for a little while now, but I just took over the counter meds and didn’t think much about it. It seemed to come and go, but other than a runny nose and occasional cough it didn’t really warrant much need for concern. That was until Saturday night…

This past week I went to the boyfriend’s house for the weekend and I always have allergy issues when I go there because there are two cats at his house and I am really allergic to cats. So a stuffy nose and itchy eyes were not uncommon. However, after being unable to breath and having to use an inhaler on Saturday I accepted that it was probably time I should go to the doctor.

Unfortunately I was unable to get into my regular doctor until next week so I had to go to one of those minute clinics at Walgreen’s. While I am normally skeptical of anyone that isn’t my doctor I have to say this lady wasn’t messing around. She was all about the full on attack mode approach; busting out all the heavy artillery to get this shit dealt with. Clearly this lady new how to take care of business, which is exactly my style. Within 30 minutes I walked out with 5 different medications, soup, a vaporizer, sparkling water, and a basket full or organic burritos. Because obviously when you’re sick and in need of soup and plenty of rest it’s the perfect time to sock up on organic veggie burritos....

I spent the rest of the evening laying on my couch in a medication induced haze wondering if it was possible to overdose on cough drops. (Can you?) Around 8 pm I feel asleep and I believe lapsed into a slight coma only waking briefly to blow my nose. It is amazing how many tissues can accumulate in one’s bed during the night when you are sick. I was still digging them out of my covers early this morning. 

Thankfully I felt much better today and should be back to 100 % soon. I’m just going to keep eating my soup, taking my medicine, and getting plenty of sleep. Hope everyone’s week is going well. Side note: Why do antibiotics have to be so big, I mean we should have the ability to make smaller pills by now.

 

 

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Here’s to Better Mental Health

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Most of you have already been going strong with your New Year’s resolutions and while we are already halfway into January, it’s never to late to come up with some additional goals for the new year. After all, there are always ways in which we can improve ourselves.

It has been a little while since I have posted anything mental health related so, with the start of a new year,  I thought it was the perfect time to take a minute and talk about improving our mental health. More specifically, what can you do this year to improve your overall mental health? Well, I’m going to tell you…

With the commencement of 2014, it is a good time to step back and take a look at the past year and identify some areas of your life that you would like to improve over the next year. No matter if you are suffering from a pre-existing mental health condition or not, everyone can benefit from a resolution to improve one’s overall mental health. Many individuals think that New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time because most people will end up failing to keep them anyway. However, even if you were unable to keep them for the whole year you still made some sort of progress toward bettering yourself and that in itself should be praise worthy. Transition and reaching new goals isn’t going to happen overnight, but when you put your mind to it and keep a positive attitude it can be done.

Examples of resolutions for mental health

When you actually sit down to write your new year’s resolutions identify some specific goals you have about improving your overall mental health. This can be anything that is important to you, there are no resolutions that are better than others. In order to get you started here are some ideas that you could include in your 2015 New Year’s Resolutions:

  • Make a commitment to develop better sleeping patterns: When you don’t get enough sleep it can exacerbate many health problems, which includes mental health issues. Getting higher quality sleep will have a more positive effect on your mood.
  • Consider eliminating toxic people from your life: Surround yourself with good friends who are going to be supportive and not bring you down. Identify those who are beneficial to your happiness and are not going to bring about constant negativity or any type of physical or emotional harm.
  • Don’t sabotage yourself: We are the strongest cause for our own unhappiness due to our own thoughts and beliefs that we have about ourselves and the world around us. Changing the way in which you think about yourself and view the world can do wonders for your overall emotional well-being.
  • Identify ways to reduce stress: Daily life can bring about a lot of stress, which can exacerbate the symptoms of a mental health condition. Write down some ways that can help you relax and when you find yourself becoming overwhelmed take a break from the day to relieve some of that stress.
  • Make peace with the past: Many individuals have things in their past that are keeping them from living the happy life that you want to live. Make it a priority to move past those old issues so that they are not able to hold you back anymore. In some instances it may be a good idea to go see a therapist, if you don’t already, to help you work through any issues that may be getting in the way of achieve overall good mental health. A therapist can help you develop a plan that to work through all of these issues and to allow you to take on 2015 as a happier and healthier individual.

Remember that a new year is a chance to start over and to reach personal goals that we have set for ourselves. It is a time for personal growth where we can independently work on our overall well-being, it should not be a stressful time filled with guilt.

Ringing in the New Year

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Happy 7th day of 2015! I hope that everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. I had a great date night out with the bf at RPM Italian and then spent the rest of the evening on the couch with some bubbly. I have to say I enjoyed that much more than New Years past, most of which were spent at a crowded bar where you paid over 100 dollars to basically get one drink, a piece of food (if you were lucky), and a half glass of champagne at midnight. No thank you!

After writing my last post I  spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with the perfect New Years resolutions. Then the more I thought about it I decided that I didn’t want to pick one specific thing such as: get in better shape or don’t eat as much junk food. While those are good goals to have I decided to look at the bigger picture and make 2015 all about being happy.

What do I mean by this you may ask? 

For 2015 I have decide that my overall goal is to just be happy. I am going to let what happened in 2014 stay in 2014 and start over fresh.

  • I am going to try to be more mindful, thinking about the here and now instead of worrying about something that has already happened that I have no control over.
  • I am also going to get rid of all the negativity in my life, which also includes leaving behind those individuals who only bring me down.
  • I want to take more time for myself, ensuring that I get some more me time. Whether this is a nice bubble bath or a whole day spent lounging around reading or watching TV I am going to allow myself the time to relax and recharge my body.
  • Have a more positive attitude throughout the day instead of focusing on the negative.

Those are just a few of the things that came to mind, but you get the idea. I hope everyone else is well on their way to a great 2015!

-L