Tag: Positive outcomes

stressed-out-woman

Anxiety: A quick tip for my friends with anxiety

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Attacks in Afghanistan are up, Israel and Hamas are fighting, Inflation is rising, Covid is still a thing. Anxiety is still running rampant; it never really ebbs does it? How do you clear the fog of the information wars? How do you escape all this negativity which is fueling your anxiety? The truth? You can’t. I know that’s not what you were expecting was it? I would be lying to you if I told you there was some magic elixir to shut your anxiety off.

Stop looking at screens? Ya sure that will cut it down. Sleep more? You bet you will feel fantastic. There will always be something or someone who is able to contaminate your state of mind with anxiety. They don’t even mean harm most of the time, many of them are anxious too so they talk about some of these issues NON STOP. “Well that wasn’t very helpful Karac, what’s the tip then?”

The tip is to spend more time focusing on your positives. I know that’s broad but let me give you an example. Everyone has something they really enjoy doing, mine is gaming it’s an old hobby that I have loved for nearly 40 years. Do I let it consume all of my time? No but when I focus on it and spend time with it I am able to wall off negativity from other sources.

Glogg
How about learning how to make Glug?

Maybe your thing is golf? Maybe it’s gardening, maybe it’s walking the dog…. Whatever it is accumulate as much energy as you can to identify what it is that you like to do that makes you happy. It can be anything, honestly, staring at fish in a bowl, ANYTHING. Once you identify it you have to commit to making more time for that activity. This begins the long journey of reprograming your mind to start to gravitate toward things you like, instead of absorbing things that make you anxious.

Once you find one thing, look for a second, then a third. Before you know it you will have multiple things you are doing that engender positive thoughts not anxiety. It takes years to accumulate multiple positive activities, maybe a life time. Start working on this today and start fighting back against anxiety with positive actions, deeds, activities and thoughts.

Thank you for coming by and supporting my blog I really appreciate it. Want to see another post like this one? Click here.  

stressed-out-woman

Anxiety: A quick tip for my friends with anxiety

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Attacks in Afghanistan are up, Israel and Hamas are fighting, Inflation is rising, Covid is still a thing. Anxiety is still running rampant; it never really ebbs does it? How do you clear the fog of the information wars? How do you escape all this negativity which is fueling your anxiety? The truth? You can’t. I know that’s not what you were expecting was it? I would be lying to you if I told you there was some magic elixir to shut your anxiety off.

Stop looking at screens? Ya sure that will cut it down. Sleep more? You bet you will feel fantastic. There will always be something or someone who is able to contaminate your state of mind with anxiety. They don’t even mean harm most of the time, many of them are anxious too so they talk about some of these issues NON STOP. “Well that wasn’t very helpful Karac, what’s the tip then?”

The tip is to spend more time focusing on your positives. I know that’s broad but let me give you an example. Everyone has something they really enjoy doing, mine is gaming it’s an old hobby that I have loved for nearly 40 years. Do I let it consume all of my time? No but when I focus on it and spend time with it I am able to wall off negativity from other sources.

Glogg
How about learning how to make Glug?

Maybe your thing is golf? Maybe it’s gardening, maybe it’s walking the dog…. Whatever it is accumulate as much energy as you can to identify what it is that you like to do that makes you happy. It can be anything, honestly, staring at fish in a bowl, ANYTHING. Once you identify it you have to commit to making more time for that activity. This begins the long journey of reprograming your mind to start to gravitate toward things you like, instead of absorbing things that make you anxious.

Once you find one thing, look for a second, then a third. Before you know it you will have multiple things you are doing that engender positive thoughts not anxiety. It takes years to accumulate multiple positive activities, maybe a life time. Start working on this today and start fighting back against anxiety with positive actions, deeds, activities and thoughts.

Thank you for coming by and supporting my blog I really appreciate it. Want to see another post like this one? Click here.  

Oscar Wilde

“2020 Worst year ever” – Now what?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

This will be short and sweet (well maybe a little sour). We can all agree 2020 was a bad year pretty much everywhere. Hopefully you came out of it with minimal scarring but here we are entering the 3rd week of January. When we proclaim “2020 Worst year ever” that leaves us very little wiggle room in 2021. What happens if things don’t go the way you want it? Will it be “2021 worst year ever?”

At some point we have to decide to push back, 2020 was exhausting at every level. IMHO everyone gets a pass for being lethargic, complacent, compliant, apathetic. That’s over now and its time for a good old fashion kick in the ass. We have to get motivated again, we have to push and retake back the things that make our lives have greater value.

I love going to the movies, it’s a simple pleasure really, it’s been tried and tested and a good formula existed. For me that is one of my goals in 2021 is to go back to a movie theatre, get a large popcorn and soda and watch a great movie. I don’t know if it will happen, but even if I have to travel to another state I am doing it.

I have to get out of my home office.

Why? Because that small thing adds value to my life and I miss it and I’m not willing to just let it go. What was it for you? What did you have to let go of in 2020? Get out there and get it back, no more excuses no B.S. I am not going to let people shame me, I’m not going to stay locked inside in fear. Life is to short and time is running out for all of us. I’m not going to be reckless, I will respect other people and their health concerns, I will continue to wear a mask, but I am going to start clawing back the things that made my life more enjoyable.

I know it’s silly, small and stupid “he wants to go see a movie” I know, but I am doing something about it, I am taking back something I once had. I’m not blaming anyone, I am just fighting back against what was “2020 Worst year ever” are you?

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Beyond the Trees

A Silver Lining to the Pandemic ?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Finding positives has been challenging given the environment we are all in currently. Not only that but being a blogger in the Anxiety space makes it doubly so. That said we have a few silver linings here. One of them is that more and more people are talking about anxiety issues. Specifically many outlets have been featuring pieces on Anxiety and Depression as it pertains to the isolation conditions we are in now.

Last post I showed you an example of a negative media portrayal of anxiety. Here is a positive.

From the article: “In fact, that’s exactly what I want to talk about: anxiety and other mental health conditions that untold millions of individuals deal with every day— conditions that can affect their job performance, physical wellbeing and personal happiness. These sometimes-debilitating conditions existed long before COVID-19 enveloped the planet—and they’ll exist long after the virus is tamed and life, to some degree, starts returning to normal.”

This is great news, the narrative is beginning to emerge that mental illness has to be addressed in the present. Yes we have had events occur that have pushed this narrative before to little result but this pandemic is affecting everyone. Sadly, I suspect as this drags on more and more people are going to develop anxiety disorders, or reveal ones they already had.

The silver lining here is the more light that is shone on the issue the broader acceptance it receives and under normal conditions positive outcomes occur. I often come back to economics when I give examples but this is similar to a demand side issue. When things get back to normal, there will be higher demand for anxiety related services.

For those of us who have suffered with it for years that equates to more options at some point in the future as supply of service catches up. I think you will see far more resources devoted to helping people with anxiety from private instructions. Employers in particular would likely want to have a robust mental health benefits package to ensure productivity of staff and place people in positions to be successful.

We have ample resources (albeit not perfect) to deal with regular physical malady that people get. We need a bit of a catch up for mental health issues and this pandemic might be the catalyst that does it. Ya I’m feeling optimistic today, things will get better, you are doing awesome, one day at a time.

India

Where you live often dictates outcomes

Posted on by Karac Avalron

I am patriotic, I admit it. That doesn’t make me a nationalist, it doesn’t make me right wing, it doesn’t make me a bad person. I love my country, and I feel fortunate to have been born here and live here. I also recognize that other people feel the same way I do about their home country. Our friends in India are no exception.

India continues to interest me as a content creator. Full disclosure, I get many hits on my blog from India. I suspect its because I do a fair amount of my content on stress and anxiety related issues. Indian citizens have their plate full when it comes to stress. Its not only the common ones we know in the west, but they have a far more involved family structure which we have largely unraveled here in the west.

I found an interesting article here.

From the article: “A report by the World Health Organization in 2017 found there were fewer than two mental health professionals for every 100,000 people, drastically lower than the global average of nine.

The crisis is expected to worsen, and many experts say it could have serious economic, social and cultural consequences. Between 2012-2030, WHO estimates that India’s mental health emergency will cost the economy more than $1tn in lost productivity (as measured in 2010 US dollars).”

Its not only the proportion of mental health professionals to population but proximity. In the west we have this image if India as being super populated, their cities overflowing. They may or may not be true, but India is a huge country, 70% of the population live in rural areas where there is only 25% of health infrastructure.

So, its not only an issue of availability in terms of ratios of health professionals but you then actually have to get to them to attain services. Not to mention payment, social stigmas on and on. India is an emerging super power, and I only use the term emerging because it’s full potential is still fairly untapped. While its history is remarkable, we know it as its current state post WWII.

If India were able to do more for its citizens with less, via improving the social net I think it would quickly emerge as one of if not thee top economy in the world. We are entering a period by which the world is becoming more bi-polar. The U.S. bloc and China. Russia continues to stagnate, but India is the country many don’t seem to bring into the conversation.

I see more and more articles about Indian culture and how there is a concerted effort by young people to modernize the social structure to afford more health care outcomes for more of the population. WHO claims there is a “mental health emergency in India” (per the article) and that might very well be but sounding the alarm doesn’t illuminate the full potential of this future super power.

The world in 2050 may look a lot different, specifically if India keeps investing in its people.