What is your best life worth to you?
Let’s be honest — sometimes it can be hard to pay for therapy.
How often do you tell your friend or co-worker the following: “I’m going to the gym today,” “I got a pedicure,” “I went to church/spiritual practice this weekend,” “I had all day to myself to relax,” or “I took a sick day.”
We say this daily to friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and store clerks without batting an eye. Continue reading “The Value of Therapy”
Don’t believe everything you think.
“I am so worthless. I suck at everything, especially my job, relationships, keeping my car clean and letting my nail polish dry before I leave the house.”
Does this feel familiar? Your mind spewing at you an endless litany of ways you fall short in life? What can you do when this is happening? Continue reading “3 Ways To Put Your Brain In Its Place”
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Arianna Smith, MA, LPC
Travel is an essential part of modern life. We travel to see far-off family and friends, renew ourselves, get away from the day-to-day grind, serve others, and see the world.
For a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), travel can be inherently overwhelming. New smells and sensations can be both exciting and alarming. Unfamiliar routines require extra processing or planning. Different cultural expectations create more emotional stress or material to process. Jet lag and time zones can mess up an HSPs sensitive internal clock. It’s enough to make an HSP want to resign themselves to never leaving their zip code.
However, fear of overstimulation is not a reason for HSPs to avoid or limit travel. In fact, I would argue travel is essential for HSPs in order to deepen and enrich their lives – but it has to be done in a way that is both nourishing and mindful of HSP qualities. Continue reading “Travel Tips For Highly Sensitive People (HSPs): When Your Travel Companion Is Not Highly Sensitive”
What if using a public restroom was the most dangerous part of your day? How would that impact your quality of life knowing you had to plan your day around avoiding public bathrooms because you would be putting yourself at serious risk of harassment or assault? Continue reading “Thought-Provoking Thursday: Bathroom Politics”
If you are in recovery for an eating disorder, you probably know that it takes constant accountability and support to stay on track. But what if you only attend therapy once or twice a week? How can you be held accountable and receive support in between? Continue reading “The Only App You Need If You Are In Recovery For An Eating Disorder (And It’s Free!)”
Every time I see a magazine showcasing how to “get a bikini body in 4 weeks” or lose weight for summer, I want to burn it. Not just hold a lighter to the edge, but to create a magnificent bonfire of body-shaming magazines and calmly watch them go up in flames.
Does this fantasy seem extreme? Perhaps the imagery is, but the sentiment is not. I am continually outraged how our society, culture, and media tells us only certain types of bodies (generally thin, cis-gender, and white) are allowed to be seen and showcased. Body-shaming media perpetuates the kind of toxicity which breeds low self-esteem, body image issues and disordered eating in our population. Unfortunately, the messages amplify in months leading up to summer. Continue reading “4 Ways To Have A Body Positive (or Body Neutral) Summer”
April was an extraordinary month. For two very different reasons.
To start, the month was filled with an unusual amount of family visits. Given that most of my immediate family and relatives reside in other states (Alaska, Florida) or countries (Europe, New Zealand), the ability to have all my weekends this month filled with family time was truly glorious and unprecedented. Continue reading “The Gift of Illness”
I want to share with you one of my all-time favorite poems.
After you read this, I encourage you to ask yourself: Continue reading “Which Chapter Are You?”
Happy Thursday!
It’s almost the weekend, which has me thinking about play! Did you know play is essential for both children and adults? Continue reading “Thursday Pick-Me-Up: The Importance Of Play (a.k.a. The Great Grape Toss of 2016 )”
Arianna Smith, LPC, IFS Certified Therapist 