High-Functioning Anxiety is a complex and often misunderstood experience. The iceberg metaphor serves as a visual representation of the layers of emotions and pressures that people with HFA typically navigate beneath the surface.
Most of us have heard of the body positivity movement, and while its intentions are good, unconditionally loving one’s body and appearance can seem unrealistic to a lot of people, especially when we consider that 80% of women and 34% of men reported being dissatisfied with their bodies That’s why we want to share a middle ground with you, body neutrality, a place where liking your body isn’t a prerequisite for feeling good about yourself.
July is BIPOC Mental Health Month. We recognize the many layers of barriers that prevent people of color from receiving the support they need. We believe that all people deserve access to health care, especially in a world where Black, Indigenous, and people of color are systemically discriminated against. In an effort to continue advocating for the Black community and other underrepresented communities, we put together this brief guide on BIPOC Mental Health Month.
Being a parent is much more than just providing clothing, a roof over your head, and food on the table. For children to develop into healthy adults, they need to feel safe and supported to grow, be known, and express themselves.
Most emotionally immature parents have no awareness of how they’ve affected their children. To be clear, we aren’t placing blame on these parents, we are seeking to understand why they are the way they are. The goal here is to help you gain new insights about your parent(s) in order to increase your own self-awareness and emotional freedom.
For many people, religion and spirituality are sources of support, guidance, and community, providing a sense of belonging in the world. But sometimes, spiritual beliefs can be used as weapons of power and control that can cause significant trauma. This is religious trauma; the experience of coping with the damage of indoctrination. This might look like contemplating an engraved belief system or lifestyle, breaking away from a controlling community, chronic abuse, or dealing with the impact of ending one’s connection to a church or religion.
While some people experience direct, or shock trauma; something specific that happened that resulted in trauma, other people experience complex trauma; this means that over time, things have happened where one’s nervous system has consistently and constantly perceived threat, (purity culture messaging, messages about hell, what it means to be a woman, etc.) When put simply, religious trauma is trauma, and no two people experience trauma in the exact same way.
What happens to emotions that have been suppressed? Maybe you’ve heard the saying, what you resist, persists. When we avoid or reject emotions, the energy of those emotions gets stuck in the body. This is why we continue certain cycles and unhealthy patterns. The energy is never released and stays with us until we fully allow ourselves to feel. What we resist, persists.
Whether you don’t know how to feel your feelings, you don’t want to feel your feelings, or you’re struggling with feeling your feelings, we hope that this guide serves you in some way.
What happens when we intentionally and consistently use affirmations? Big things start to shift! Affirmations help to deprogram harmful thought patterns. You know the ones. The ones that tell you you aren’t worthy, you aren’t enough, you don’t belong. It’s time for those thoughts to go! They aren’t yours.
When we practice using affirmations a shift in our emotions, habits, and thought patterns begin to happen, leading us to live in closer alignment to our true, compassionate selves.
You deserve to feel empowered, worthy, and authentic, and you don’t have to wait around for someone to give it to you! Empower yourself today by using these affirmations. As always, take what you need, leave the rest.
