By default, I describe myself as an overall positive person. Despite that, I don’t always see myself in the most positive light, and my mental health plays a part in that. Things have been unstable because of it, and I often wonder if I will have anything resembling a positive future with my mind being how it is.

It's important to shift your self-talk when you're anxious because anxiety can (and usually does) make us painfully hard on ourselves. Any type of anxiety typically brings harsh self-judgments in the form of labels and negative self-talk. Often, it occurs so automatically and frequently that we almost get used to it and come to accept it as truth.

Being a cat owner, whenever I have to be away for an extended period of time, I have to arrange for someone to feed him. Every time I do that, without fail, I worry about him. It’s especially prominent during the few days before I have to leave him. It can often adversely impact my mental state for several days, so in this post, I want to explore why this may be the case.

Anxiety is complex with many causes, none of which are personal flaws or weaknesses. In fact, researchers have discovered and are working to understand yet another reason anxiety is not your fault. Anxiety (depression, too, actually) is well-known as a mental health experience. It turns out that anxiety and depression are very much physical health conditions, too. As scientists learn more about the gut-brain axis, the more they understand that problems in the gut can cause anxiety and depression.

An anxiety flare-up is an unexpected return of anxiety after you thought you had worked through it. Anxiety never fully disappears from anyone's life, but you may have been sailing through your life, unburdened by constant anxious thoughts and feelings and doing things you want to do, when seemingly out of the blue, anxiety jumps into your path and tries to control you again. Despite how it may feel, it's not a sign that you're doomed to a life of high anxiety. When you gain a broader perspective on what an anxiety flare-up is, you can take steps to handle it and move forward again.

I don’t know how many people feel limited by anxiety, but if I were to make a bet, I would say that quite a few people are impacted by the limitations of anxiety. So, I figured a post is recommended. When I am anxious, I find that there are certain things that I am unable to do because they are too mentally taxing. I’m not talking about things that I’m uncomfortable doing anyway – these are things that I love doing, things that I would ordinarily spend a lot of time doing if I wasn’t anxious. This post is about those things.

As explored in a previous post, health stress and health anxiety can be exhausting and burdensome. Our health is a vital component of our lives, and when something isn't right, whether it's a chronic condition or an acute, short-lived experience, it is natural to experience anxiety and stress because of it. Here's how to gain the upper hand on health stress and anxiety.

Sometimes, stressful things can happen without the slightest hint of warning. Recently, I woke up to find that my laptop had just stopped working. I had used it the previous evening, and it seemed fine. But then, for whatever reason, the hard drive just died.

Whether short-term or chronic, health concerns can cause anxiety and stress. Signs and symptoms of health-related anxiety and stress can range from mildly annoying to completely disruptive and debilitating. The signs might be obvious, or they might hide as something else. Here's what health anxiety and stress may look like to help you recognize them and take charge.

I’ve discussed my love of music on this blog a couple of times in the past. Though my tastes in music can be somewhat wide-ranging, without question, my genre of choice is metal. That may take some readers by surprise – metal seems like a kind of music that someone with anxiety would hate, given its reputation for being angry and abrasive. In this post, I want to go into a bit of detail with regards to why I like it and why metal helps my anxiety.