I’m going to be starting #realtalktuesday on the blog. A place where we can talk about real issues and connect more. I love sharing beauty, health and wellness tips with you guys. You know this by now. The thing is, being healthy isn’t just about a healthy body and what you eat. It really all starts with your mental state. Mental health is something that more and more people are talking openly about and I think that is really important. So often we experience things and feel as though we are alone and that nobody else has to deal with these things but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Years ago I was dealing with something traumatic in my life and started experiencing anxiety and panic attacks. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t control this crazy level of fear in my life. If you’ve ever experienced a panic attack before then you know that you literally feel like you’re gonna die. I started fearing the panic attack itself. I needed to get a hold of it. I needed to have power over it. I read books, went to therapists but I still couldn’t really get a handle on it. Then one day I decided to go to this amazing sports psychologist. I needed someone to give me the right tools and I wasn’t getting it through conventional therapy. I sat in his office and the first thing he asked was how often do you put your feet in the grass? I thought about it and it had been forever. How often do you workout? My answer was 3 days a week. What is the first thing you do when you wake up? Check my phone. He said you need to workout every single day, walk barefoot in the grass and get out in nature as often as you can and start meditating every morning. While anxiety and depression is serious, there are different levels. Some people require medication and some can use tools and positive thinking to overcome it. Wherever you may fall on that spectrum, these 3 tools can’t hurt. They have changed my life and I am forever grateful. Some people say I just don’t have time. Make time, you can’t give from an empty cup so please take the time for yourself so that you can give more for others. Even if you don’t suffer from anxiety or depression, adding these 3 things to your daily routine can enhance your life in so many ways.
So now I ask you – when was the last time you put you walked barefoot in the grass? Nature can be so incredibly healing. It can ground you and make you feel connected to something so much greater than yourself. Do you do some form of exercise every day to get those feel good endorphins going? If not, how can you start? And when was the last time you woke up in the morning and before checking your phone, took time to be grateful for what you have in your life? Maybe took 5- 10 minutes to check in with yourself instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing or comparing your life to someone else’s? Comparison is the thief of all joy and lets be honest, 90% of what you see on social media isn’t even real. You are looking at overly filtered highlights of peoples lives. Use social media as a place to be inspired or get your mind of things once in a while but please don’t ever compare yourself to what you see.
I would love to hear your experiences. Do you or have you ever suffered from anxiety, panic attacks or depression? Do you have any tools you use to cope with daily stress? Comment below or on this post on Instagram
