Being a vegan when you have anxiety can be hard. Sometimes, the anxieties that come with a vegan lifestyle just won't go away.
Posted inAnxiety Personal Growth Relationships

Why Being a Vegan Gives Me More Anxiety

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

Being a vegan is so much easier than it was when I started my journey when I was just 11 years old. I only knew one other vegetarian in middle school, and now I get to see things labeled “vegan” on packages at the grocery store. It’s beautiful how much more accepted it is now.

However, I am still constantly judged for my decisions. 

And even though I haven’t eaten meat for over half my life, the anxieties that come with this lifestyle just won’t go away.

Early Signs of Childhood Anxiety
Posted inAnxiety Mental Health

Early Signs of Childhood Anxiety

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

I felt like no one could understand my tears. I couldn’t justify my fears, and I felt like I was a big burden. But I was just a kid.

Before I began to understand what I was going through, I had no idea what anxiety was. Everyone just thought I was a big cry baby. Everyone thought that I had anger problems. No one knew how to handle me, and all that did was make situations worse.

My anxiety kept growing more and more, and by the time I hit middle school, I felt like a prisoner in my own body.

I’m 22 now, and I’ve experienced nearly every type of anxiety disorder in the books. Let’s not even mention my struggles with depression and self-harm.

But I decided to get rid of all my shame, and I’m marking this year as the year for change. Self-improvement. Self-acceptance. Self-love.

In order to heal, I had to dissect every part of myself to fully understand who I was and who I came to be. And I discovered a lot about childhood anxiety.

Video games have helped my depression and anxiety over the years. There are so many benefits of playing them on a regular basis for our mental health.
Posted inAnxiety Depression Mental Health

Why Video Games are Good for Our Mental Health

People who play video games are often coined irresponsible, lazy, and childish. And, ya know, us gamers are most likely to be more violent than those who don’t play video games. But have y’all even checked the media lately?

Guns. Racism. Violence. Nearly every movie has some type of violence in it. Nearly every music video is sexualized. We can only be sheltered from the world so much.

I’m a firm believer of love not war, and I’ve been playing video games since before I could write simple sentences.

Some of my first memories were playing RollerCoaster Tycoon, Worms Armageddon, and Heroes of Might and Magic at my grandma’s house. It’s how I bonded with my family.

Flashforward all these years, and I still believe that playing video games is one of the best ways to entertain ourselves. Plus, there’s something ultra sexy about watching my boyfriend be competitive. Even though he is a little know-it-all.

If that’s not enough, video games have helped out my anxiety and depression tremendously over the years.

35 Everyday Accomplishments of Those Living with Depression
Posted inDepression Mental Health

35 Everyday Accomplishments of Those with Depression

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

When we’re depressed, it’s hard to accomplish anything.

It’s hard to get out of bed. It’s hard to make ourselves breakfast. It’s the hardest thing constantly fall back into the comfort of our own bed.

But listen. That’s a problem we think we have. The chemicals in our brains tell us to think this negative way. We think that because we have no energy that we didn’t accomplish anything. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Every single day that we survive is an accomplishment. We must remember that we make accomplishments every single day that we’re alive.

Instead of focusing on all the things you didn’t do, try focusing on all you that you did do. Your list doesn’t have to be long and extravagant. It doesn’t have to take a lot of effort. It just has to be positive.

Here’s my list of 35 everyday accomplishments of living with severe depression:

Ultimate Morning Routine to Fight Your Depression
Posted inDepression Mental Health Self Harm

Ultimate Morning Routine to Fight Your Depression

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

Routines. Either you love them or you hate them. I generally hate them. 

Routines can make life seem boring and dull. Stagnate. And yes, sometimes routines can even give me really bad anxiety symptoms.

At the same time, routines can help you get your life together. Most times, whether it’s falling asleep or staying asleep, I have trouble sleeping. That was until I made a helpful routine to have a good night’s sleep free from anxiety. (I wrote about it.)

Finding a morning routine that worked for me was a whole different struggle. Before I left my job, my mornings mainly consisted of very high anxiety symptoms before rushing out the door to go to work. My days off work were spent laying in bed, wishing I didn’t exist.

It took me a long time to find this morning routine. But keeping up with it, I’ve seen the biggest change in myself with this one. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve felt my energy lift. I’ve felt more calm, and I’ve definitely been a little more like myself.

Try out the ultimate morning routine and see if it helps fight your depression:

101 Everyday Anxiety Triggers
Posted inAnxiety Mental Health

101 Everyday Triggers of Anxiety

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

Anxiety is induced by triggers. 

From anxiety-induced tantrums as a child to being triggered by my boyfriend, there has never been a day of my life where I wasn’t faced with some type of anxiety. And you know what? Shit gets hard.

But I know I’m not alone.

Many of us are faced with triggers every single day of our lives. So what else do I do but compile a list of all my personal battles?

Most of these triggers I like to avoid like the plague. But some of these triggers are actually things I really enjoy, so it’s a constant battle for me. I know many people I’m close to also struggle with a lot of these triggers as well.

Here are 101 everyday triggers of anxiety: