You might’ve already heard that Healthline—which recently acquired Psych Central—will no longer be publishing blogs on the site. Since this will be my last post, I wanted to share how grateful I am to have written this blog for almost 11 years! (I published my first post in November 2009.) I’m incredibly grateful to John Grohol, the founder of Psych Central, for giving me a platform and the creative freedom and complete control to write about whatever is on my heart. When I pitched this blog to John, I’d been a writer for a few years (no books, no viral articles). But he thought my message wa ..read more

If you’re someone who absorbs other people’s emotions and energies, you might find yourself easily exhausted. And, right now, with so much pain all around us, you might feel completely depleted and burnt out after internalizing the anxiety, anger, stress, and sadness.  According to Tanya Carroll Richardson, a professional intuitive who works with empaths, “Empaths have a hyper-perceptive emotional and energetic system, which means they simply pick up on more,” leading them to become overstimulated very quickly.  Thankfully, you don’t have to stay in this overwhelming state; you migh ..read more

Tuning into our feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations is the foundation of caring well for ourselves. We have to know what’s going on in order to take healthy, nourishing action and just better understand ourselves.  But the way we do these check-ins really depends on our personality and preferences. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The key is to incorporate a check-in into your day, regardless of what shape or form it takes. Make it as habitual as brushing your teeth. In fact, one way to check in with yourself is to ask how you’re feeling while you are brushing your teeth in ..read more

Angry. Anxious. Sad. Stressed. Happy. Excited. Whether we’re journaling, talking to someone, or trying to figure out an action to take, we typically use the above words to describe how we’re feeling. Sometimes, we might even be more broad: We feel crappy. Or we’re doing great or awesome! Or we’re upset or feeling down.  But what does crappy really mean? Are you lonely? Or are you irritated, frustrated, or furious? Do you mean that you’re heartbroken or helpless?  Pinpointing precisely how you feel moves you in the right direction to start resolving the situation and make a thoughtf ..read more

As the world has turned upside down, many of us are desperately yearning for a respite from the uncertainty, upheaval, and anxiety. We’re yearning to quiet our stressed-soaked inner chatter and calm our frayed nerves. We’re yearning to release our physical, emotional, and mental tension. We’re yearning for a genuine breather, a break from the litany of responsibilities and the reality that many things have changed. Many of the things we love and have relied on for comfort, soothing, and healing are no longer an option.  In short, every one of us can benefit from a week (or month!) long v ..read more

If you dislike your body, feel shame about it, or downright hate it, you’re not alone. So many of us call our bodies disgusting and don’t look in the mirror (or grimace at our features when we do). So many of us miss special events (like holiday gatherings) or fun activities (like swimming at the beach) because we aren’t what we think we should be. We spend a whole lot of time and effort, and our hard-earned dollars on diets, diet books, meal replacement shakes, and workouts we don’t enjoy.   We do this in the hopes that we will finally be able to embrace our bodies, or at least sto ..read more

Lately, you’ve likely had an assortment of distressing thoughts that you can’t stop thinking. Maybe you’ve tried to come up with solutions for some of these worries, identifying what you can actually control. And that is incredibly important and helpful. But other stressful thoughts—the ones you can’t really do much about, the ones that reek of uncertainty—still linger. And linger, making you feel awful and overwhelmed. What can you do about these anxious thoughts? What can sometimes help is to take a lighthearted approach, to use humor to greet these thoughts and lessen their impact and loos ..read more

The pandemic has brought up many, many questions that we’ve never had to answer before: Do we see our grandparents? Do we attend the larger gathering? Should we just stay home? For a while? Do we avoid certain loved ones for their safety, for our safety, both? Can we hold hands? Can we hug? Are we over-reacting? Under-reacting? Doing all the wrong things? The pandemic has also made many interactions feel awkward and stressful, and relationships more difficult: How do you connect with loved ones when you rarely see them in person? How do you connect when most people are wearing masks? How do y ..read more

Ever since I started this blog (back in 2009!), almost every year around my birthday, I’ve been republishing and revising a version of the below post about the lessons I’m learning about building a positive body image, coping effectively, and living a fulfilling, meaningful life. I hope this post inspires you to reflect on the lessons you’re learning, too, and to extend a bit more kindness your own way, particularly in these uncertain times. 1. Be you. In all your amazing and unique glory. Trying to be like others or pretending you like something you actually don’t doesn’t work ..read more

When you’re used to checking tons of tasks off your list, you can feel like an utter failure for slowing down. Which is likely exactly what you’re feeling and doing right now: Whether due to greater stress, less sleep, fewer work projects, shifting childcare situations, or something else altogether, your schedule is no longer packed or you’re unable to complete as much as you did prior to the pandemic.  And that’s hard. It’s hard on your self-esteem and your sense of self. Before the pandemic, you prided yourself on being super productive. You were highly motivated and excited to start e ..read more