My year anniversary of beginning my anxiety healing journey is coming up, and I have been reflecting on it a lot lately. When I compare my life to a year ago, health wise, it is hardly the same. My life centered around how to get around how to get away from situations that triggered my panic attacks. It has been almost a year since I have had one, and I never thought it would be possible! I love how far I have come!
The past few weeks have been difficult for me, and today I finally was able to push my negative thoughts to the side and make room positivity! I had a a great time with my students, and my co-workers and it felt nice to be back on the bright side of life! I realized that I was exhausted by the end of the day and had hardly done anything. I realized that being negative takes a lot of energy! If I am going to be exhausted I want it to be because I was laughing until it hurt and playing like a kid! No more time being mopey and sad! Time to focus on the positive things in life!
Stress is always going to be apart of our life. Stress is a natural reaction our body undergoes to help encourage us to complete tasks and it, in some ways, acts as a natural motivator. Now, for those of us who suffer from anxiety disorders, small amounts of stress can send us into a tailspin in a quick hurry!
We have to learn how to effectively combat stress so that it won’t take a physical or emotional toll on our bodies. Think positively when you find yourself in stressful situations and remember that it will get better.
I am learning how to handle my stress while continuing to remain positive. I have to admit it is incredibly difficult and I have found myself leaning towards the side of self pity, and that is NOT where I want to be. I am going to continue push myself to push onward inspite of the stressful decisions and situations I face.
For the next few days I am going to be in a technology training that discusses ways to use technology in the classroom. I am very excited to learn about the new ways I can use technology in my life. I feel grateful that I have been able to find passion in my career and I love my job! Being a teacher can be utterly exhausting, but it is so incredibly rewarding. It is just so much to be spending time with kids and helping them learn things they have never been exposed to before.
I think it is important to find an outlet to express your passion, especially when you have anxiety or depression. When we are fighting a mental disorder it is important to get lost in an activity that we love! When we do something we love, we begin to feel better about ourselves. I know that whenever I am able to use my creativity, I feel accomplished and energized! Our passions drive our motivation!
What is your passion and how do you use it in your daily life?
What I have learned this year is that life is beautiful, even with the ups and downs. Everyday is a gift. I know we don’t always see that because…well…that is life. Remember in the times that you do not see the beauty, when you are lost in the darkness, it is only temporary. There is always hope for a brighter day. Never give up hope.
In the schedule of our hectic and crazy lives, we often forget to keep ourselves on our own priority list. There always seems to be someone else who needs to be taken care of, a task that can’t be completed by anyone else, or a sick child who needs loving care. In the rush of daily existence, don’t forget about yourself. If you are not well, then how are you going to effectively help those around you.
What are some ways you can begin to take a little time for yourself to just refresh and start over? What things to do you enjoy but have to push aside in the name of “helping others”? Think about these questions and find a slot of time in your calendar to pencil in “Date Night with Me”
What does ADHD feel like? Are we sufferers just lazy? Unmotivated? Absent-minded? These are questions I constantly encounter as a special education teacher as well as an ADHD-er. I have had ADHD as long as I can remember, therefore I know nothing different. My mind has always worked 1 billion miles and hour and I have always lost EVERYTHING I own. However, people who do not have ADHD often wonder why we can’t follow simple directions such as putting away laundry, cleaning our rooms, doing our homework, paying the bills. Well, let me give you a little glimpse into our mind.
The best analogy of ADHD that I have ever encountered explains it as have your internet browser open and having 50 tabs open at one time. The more tabs that are open, the smaller the tab. The size of the tab relates to the attention span we are able to give to each task. If you want someone with ADHD to make their bed, yet they have many other “tabs” open their memory may be slow or perhaps a “pop-up” will show up and take away their attention. Those of us with ADHD are not purposefully trying to avoid work (for the most part). We just have so many “tabs” open at one time that it is nearly impossible to function at a normal rate. We often have to click over to different tabs and check things and switch back, and so on and so on. While our minds are busy sorting through the tabs we are missing out on what is happening in the present. It’s not because we are ignoring you. We just are sorting through our tabs and trying to make sense of it all.
I have days where I feel as if I have 300 tabs open and others where I only have 10 or 15. There are highs and lows. I have noticed that when I am on a high, the longer it is the bigger the crash will be. It takes an incredible amount of energy to keep functioning at 100 miles per hour. Just last week I had a two and a half week high and over the weekend my crash finally hit, and it was huge! I felt as if I had just finished a marathon, which in a sense I had. My mind has been running at warp speed for so long that my body could no longer keep up.
Overall, I love having ADHD. It gives me endless creativity and energy to do all the wonderful things I want to do. However, it is frustrating when I forget things, miss out on the present, and can’t follow multi-step instructions. But I wouldn’t trade my mind for anyone else’s! 🙂
I hope that this analogy has allowed you to understand ADHD a little more. There is so much about it that is misunderstood because of the attention it has gotten in the media. So many people get diagnosed with it who don’t actually it, and that is frustrating to those of us who actually have the real disorder. We are more than just day dreamers and lazy people. We are just trying to sort out all our tabs!
With so many negative things floating around in this world, today I wanted to pose a challenge that would help us focus on the beauty of life. Today I challenge you to find something beautiful, and just take it in. Reflect on it for what it is and reflect on how it makes this world a better place. It can be ANYTHING! A child playing with their mom. A flower growing between sidewalk cracks. The sun lighting up the sky in brilliant pinks and oranges as it sinks down beyond the horizon.
Beauty can be found in anything!
Today was an incredible teaching day! My students were wonderful, which is not always the case. I mean, they are in middle school, so their emotions vary from moment to moment. I felt like all of my classes absorbed the lesson and responded well to what was being taught. It is times like today when I am reminded why I love what I do. Even on the hardest days, I wouldn’t trade my job for any other job. It is because teaching in my dream. It is what I was created to do. Whether or not I stay in the classroom or not, I know that my life will be centered around teaching others.
I believe that whatever your passion is, you should find a way to incorporate it into your daily life. It may be writing, reading, talking, or socializing. All of these characteristics can be incorporated into various jobs or hobbies. If you cannot find it with full time employment, then after work or school, try to fit it into your routine. It feels good to be engaging in an activity that you enjoy, and in turn you feel more positive and alive. Don’t let your days become mundane. Fill time with passion and your dreams. Life it too short to spend it doing things you hate.
Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Taken by the horns and challenged. We cannot let it pass us by as we watch contently from the safety of our couches. We must rise up and take back the adventure. We need to put down our phones, computers, tablets, or whatever else distracts us from living passionately.
Does anyone else find it heart wrenching that there have to be commercials to tell children to go outside and play? My mother made my brother and and I stay outside until the twinkling of the first star could be seen in the sky. We weren’t allowed to play video games for more than a couple hours, so we had to use our imagination to entertain ourselves. I thank my mother and father for making us have to find ways to be entertained. I owe my creativity to them.
Since my husband and I are considering starting a family soon, I worry about what kind of life my children will lead if technology continues to be the main form of entertainment. Yes, I admit that I am addicted to my phone and laptop, hence writing a blog about putting down technology from the comfort of my own technology. But honestly, I don’t want my child to have to have a screen in front of them to be able to have fun. I desire for them to experience life in real time. To touch things. See wonders. Smell the fresh scent of clean air. These are not things they can experiences virtually. They must be lived.
I am going to try to be more conscious about how much time I am devoting to my technology. I do not want to watch videos of others living their adventures. I want to be out living my own.
The Persistent Platypus 