Putting health and family first

I have been MIA for a few weeks now.  I was faced with medical issues and a family crisis that I had to put first.  It would have been selfish of me to not give my full attention to each matter.  During these past few weeks I was able to address certain health issues that I had been keeping at bay by doing the bare minimum.  I think I let myself over think each issue to the point I assumed it would all turn out negative.  I put my big girl pants on and faced each problem head on.  It wasn’t easy but I learned that not all issues have to end badly.  In the end, I took the steps needed to better my overall health.  I might not be able to cure some of my health issues like Type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, gastroparesis, or anxiety/depression/maniac bipolar, but I can follow my doctor’s orders, take my medicine, and stay positive.  I learned my lesson and think I am overall better for it.  Don’t let the negative thoughts overtake your thinking.  If you start feel like your world is crashing, just take a moment and BREATH, then stay focused on positivity.

In these past few weeks I have had some ups and downs.  My grandmother, who is 91, was struggling with back pain that the doctors couldn’t pinpoint what was causing it.  The doctors finally realized what was causing her this immense amount of pain.  She has a fractured vertebra that can only be healed overtime.  Due to her age this was her only option.  She is being made comfortable and looked after 24/7 where she stays.  I am happy that the doctors where able to locate the problem and she is recovering one day at a time.

On the positive side, my son celebrated his birthday, April 2nd.  He is now 14 and is such a kind, intelligent, and funny teenager.  He is going through his growth spurt and keeps getting taller than me everyday.  Some other things I have done over these past weeks were all happy times.  I spent Easter with my family (mom & dad), my sister, niece, and son.  It was a special time.  I even did some dancing on the Wii, which was probably more funny than anything.  My sister, niece (she is 6 yrs old), my son and myself went the local zoo.  Since I come from a small family, I cherish every moment I have with everyone, it is even more special when I am not sick or in the hospital and can actually participate.  I could go on and on but I will save it for another time.

The dust is now settling and I finally have the time to catch up with my emails, blog, and interviews.  I don’t want you guys to think I left you hanging.  I have an interview with a great blogger at https://insilencewesuffer.wordpress.com, that I plan to post this coming Friday.

I have so much to catch up on that if anyone wants to email me so I don’t miss a previous email then please do.  Also, I still am looking for more bloggers to do interviews or guest posts.  Never hesitate to email me at jenmotivates12@gmail.com.  Just make sure to put something in the subject line so it stands out!

Much love

XOXO-Jen

 

 

Interview with B.G. of Getting Through Anxiety

I just did an interview with a wonderful blogger who goes by B.G. and is the author of the blog:

https://gettingthroughanxiety.wordpress.com

We did the interview by email so it’s kind of a Q and A type of interview.  There is so much in store for all the readers/followers/and bloggers out there reading this.  I am thrilled that B.G. agreed to do this interview with me because I have wanted to for a long time.  Let’s start with a piece B.G. wrote about the blog.

“Hi.  My name is  B.G. and I created by blog, Getting Through Anxiety, a little over two years ago.  I’ve struggled with anxiety for several years now and after my dad and therapist recommended that I write about my anxiety, I decided to do so.  Through struggling with anxiety, I have learned how difficult it can be to deal with a mental health issue.

While I created this blog in hopes of helping myself with my anxiety, it has done that and so much more.  In addition to being able to write down my feelings and experiences, I’ve been able to ‘meet’ others online who struggle with similar issues.  Many of these individuals have become great friends and we’ve been able to share both our struggles and accomplishments with each other.  I’ve found that when dealing with anxiety, support and education is key.

In addition to writing about my experiences with anxiety, I also enjoy writing poetry and sharing some of my sketches.  I have always enjoyed writing and I love to be able to help others through such a great medium.”

First and foremost I would like to thank B.G. for sharing with us a bit about the blog Getting Through Anxiety.  I feel there is so much more to this blog than meets the eye.  Let’s get started with some questions.

B.G., on your about page you talk about how your blog is a way for you to share your experiences with anxiety and offer any advice you think is helpful to those who struggle with similar issues.  I myself struggle with anxiety and it can be difficult at times.  What is something that you feel not only helps you with your anxiety but could also help others dealing with anxiety?

I think the most important thing when dealing with anxiety is to remember that different methods help different people.  Not every method is guaranteed to help every single individual.

However, in my experience, I think the best way to deal with anxiety is to use exposure therapy; to expose yourself in small manageable steps to things that you find anxiety-inducing.  For example, if standing in line makes you anxious, you could slowly stand in shorter lines for short periods of time and then slowly increase the amount of time you do so.

I also think that finding positive distractions to focus on is essential when conquering anxiety.  I know for me, I worry about a lot of irrational things.  If I’m not concentrating on my anxiety, I’m not feeling the symptoms.

Below is a picture with random words and a quote that you created yourself.  On your blog you have a page for all your quotes, images, and drawings that you created yourself.

This is one of my favorite ones.  What is your favorite quote and what made you create this particular picture?

My favorite quote that I made up is, “Fear is a liar.  The best weapon against it is the truth.”  This is my favorite because anxiety is always trying to convince me that I am unable to do things.  I know though that this isn’t true.

I created the above picture and quote because I feel that as long as you’re working hard on a consistent basis to get through your obstacles, there is no reason to worry about the future.  I know this can be a hard thing to do sometimes, but I really believe that if we work our hardest, we can get through our obstacles.

The top of the image includes all of the things that will lead to success, progress, etc. and the words on the bottom of the image illustrates the effects that working hard will have on us.

Next I would like to talk about the other blog, Battle of Mind.  There is a page on your blog that links to this blog for everyone to read.  The link is https://blog.battleofmind.com.  One of my favorite posts on this blog is OVERTHINKING-How to break the cycle.  Could you please share some of your points you made in this post that you find helpful?

While I didn’t create the blog, Battle of Mind, I have contributed some guest posts and did write that particular post.

I find thinking about something positive, doing something positive, realizing that negative thoughts make things worse, and reminding yourself that irrational thoughts are irrational important steps to overcoming overthinking.  Overthinking is such an issue for anxiety sufferers and it can lead to so much unnecessary stress.  By thinking and doing something positive, we are concentrating on something we enjoy instead of something that causes us anxiety.  Doing something constructive with our time helps us to do something helpful instead of harmful.

Additionally, we need to realize that concentrating on our negative thoughts only makes us feel like they are real.  So many of our thoughts are just that-thoughts.  Sometimes we spend so much time thinking negatively that we actually bring anxiety upon ourselves.  Something else that is really important is to remind ourselves that when we think irrational thoughts, they have no real substance.  We need to keep reminding ourselves that we are stronger than our anxiety.

I love the post, “Ideas for tracking progress.”  I love the positivity about this post.  It reminds us to stay positive about dealing with anxiety and moving forward.  You gave some great suggestions but one I would like to talk about is, Write daily progress reports.  Someone dealing with anxiety or other mental health issue, how would you suggest someone do this with all that life has going on a daily basis?  Since I deal with anxiety myself I love the idea of daily progress reports but not sure how to get started.

This is an excellent question.  While I admit that it’s not always easy to keep up with, I find that an excellent idea is to set our phone alarms if we can to go off and remind us to practice facing our fears in some way.  This can be by taking small steps to overcome our anxiety either by using exposure therapy or by doing helpful stretches and exercises.

Each time we take a step towards getting through our anxiety, we can write down the time and what we did.  This way we can look back and see what progress we made.  Also, if we didn’t do much one day, we can figure out what we should do the next day so that we can improve.

I am a big advocate for mental health awareness.  What are your feelings or thoughts on this subject?  What would you say to the non-believers?

I think that educating others on mental health is extremely important.  There are so many individuals that struggle with mental health issues and who have family or friends who don’t understand.  For any people out there who don’t believe their loved ones struggle, I ask that you please have an open mind and heart.  Some people are really struggling and lending a helping hand might help that person immensely.

I wanted to touch on all the awards that you have received and the few you have created.  First, congratulations.  Some of the awards your blog (and you) have received are: Liebster award, Sunshine Blogger award, The Versatile blogger award, Dragon’s Loyalty award, The Epically Awesome award for EPIC AWESOMENESS, Blogger Recognition award, The Creative blogger award, The Shine and be Awesome award, The INFINITY DREAMS award, The SANDYCADEMY award, The Miranda sings award, and the Spirit Animal award.  That is one heck of a list!  What do you think contributes to getting nominated for these awards? What are some suggestions you have to all the readers (bloggers) for their blog?

First of all, thank you!

Honestly, I think that I get nominated for awards because people enjoy reading my blog and feel that they can connect with my experiences.  I’ve said this before, but I never imagined I’d meet so many lovely people and that so many individuals struggle with mental health issues.  However, I have learned that there are a great deal of people who are seeking help and who have a lot of wonderful advice and talents to share.

I think what makes a good blog is one that is written by someone who is honest and who genuinely cares about their readers and about the subject that they are writing about.  I think good blogs and bloggers try to connect with their readers and offer kindness and understanding.

You have also created awards.  They are: The Quotable Blogger award, The Kind blogger award, The Amazing Talented Bloggers award, and the B.G. Getting Through Anxiety Talent Blog challenge.  What made you create these awards and challenge?

I started out creating awards because I thought they were a really cool way to show appreciation for other blogs and bloggers.  I guess I just wanted to be a part of the creation process.  Also, I started noticing that a lot of people don’t think that they’re talented, which is far from the truth.  That’s why I created the B.G. Getting Through Anxiety Talent Challenge.

You nominated all your readers/followers/bloggers community for the Amazing Talented Bloggers award.  What do your followers need to do to complete and accept this award?

Well, they don’t have to but the reason I nominated everyone is because I think that every blogger is creative.  Creating a blog is a really amazing thing to do and I think it requires some creativity, especially to make it successful.

You also nominated everyone for the B.G. Getting Through Anxiety Talent Blog challenge.  I have included the link to the post announcing this challenge.  It will show readers what to do to participate.  Here is the link:  https://gettingthroughanxiety.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/introducing/

I know I plan on participating in both the challenge and award!  Thank you for creating these.  They are both great!

You’re very welcome!

I want to include something fun about you and your blog.  What is your dream vacation?

I’d love to go to Italy!  The artwork there is amazing and my grandma was Sicilian.

Lastly, the quote on your about page, “A world without goals is like life without water-DRY, STALE, and IMPOSSIBLE to LIVE WITHOUT.”  Could you leave us with a goal(s) you have or goals we could all work on?

Well my main goal is to get through my anxiety and learn to manage it better.  I also want to be a professional writer one day.  I think everyone’s goal in life is just to be happy, healthy, and kind.

That ends this interview with B.G. the author of https://gettingthroughanxiety.wordpress.com blog.  Thank you B.G. for taking your time to do this interview.  I greatly appreciate it and hope all the readers enjoyed it as much as I did!

Thank you, Jen!

Much Love

XOXO-Jen

 

Don’t miss my interview tonight!

I wanted to let all my readers/followers/bloggers community know about my interview with B.G. author of the blog:

https://gettingthroughanxiety.wordpress.com

This is going to be a great interview with a great blogger!  The interview will be about anxiety and mental illness, fun questions, information about the blog, and a look into the many awards B.G. has received and even created.

The interview will be posted today at 7:00 PM (eastern time).  Make sure to check it out!

Much love

XOXO-Jen

Challenge the clichés

I had to think about this one for a bit.  I started by looking up the definition on Google.  Basically, a cliche is a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

The first few that came to mind were:

1. Blondes have more fun
2. At the speed of light
3. Waking up on the wrong side of the bed
4. Better safe than sorry
5. Absence makes the heart grow fonder
6. Actions speak louder than words
7. Any friend or yours is a friend of mine
8. Do you think I’m made of money
9. Don’t beat around the bush
10. When life gives you lemons make lemonade

However, my fiance said a lot of cliches are more of an aphorism.  I had no idea what that meant so I Googled the definition.  An aphorism is a short phrase that expresses a true or wise idea.  An example would be if it ain’t broke don’t fix it or all dogs go to heaven.

The above sayings I believe are a bit of cliches and aphorisms.  Now as the title says, “Challenge the cliches.”  I think I am going to choose just one and write about it.

The cliche I decided to write about was number 6, “Actions speak louder than words.”  I think this can relate to all of us as bloggers, especially myself.  I have been notorious for saying I’m going to do something then not do it.  I also think this speaks to me when it comes to friendships.  I have lost many friends that I thought were friends but in the end were not.  Talking about friendships, if you’re going to do something that is lacking or bugging your friend and you said you would change it, then as they say, actions speak louder than words.  This saying can relate to parenting, relationships, and even my health.

Using this cliche as an example in my health is at my appointment the doctor asks me to start taking this medicine to say help my nutrition levels.  When I show up for the next visit my doctor tells me that my levels are still low and I admit that I haven’t been taking the medicine but I promise I will start taking my health more serious and take the medicine.  I start taking the medicine as prescribed and by the third visit the doctor comes in saying my nutrition levels are better and my health is looking better.  After all is said and done, actions did speak louder than words!

Are there any cliches that you think people use way too much?  If you could choose a cliche which one would you choose and why?  I am hoping to get some great comments on this.  Thank you for reading as always!!!

 

Much LOVE

XOXO-Jen

If you could remove one obstacle from your life what would it be?

If you could pick just one thing that is holding you back and remove it from you current situation what might that be? This is the question I asked myself (as the title says).  While thinking of the answer I began wondering of the many things I might would change in my life but at what cost?

Here is the dilemma, by removing one obstacle what would I be changing and could this affect my future. We all think that if we had more money, or different living situations, etc. things would be better.  However, would it really be or would it bring more challenges in our life? With that said, I feel that I am where I am at for a reason.  Yes, I would love to be healthy, have more money, drive a fancy car and so on.  This is just materialistic besides the health.

Even when we look at others and think they have everything, behind close doors I am sure there is something they wish they could change.  I sometimes think what life would be like if I didn’t have all the health issues I deal with but my health is what inspired me to create my blog.  I use my health problems as a platform for speaking to others.  I want each and every person to know that the best thing to do when dealing with a health crisis is to stay positive and know that things could be worse.  I don’t know if that is the best way of putting things but this is how I look at it.

I feel God has presented these obstacles in my life for a reason and he has a plan for me.  I always look at the saying, “ God gives his toughest challenges to his strongest warriors.”  

Lastly, I would love to hear your opinions and thoughts on this question and how you might answer it.  Please feel free to speak freely and honest.  I want to thank all my readers/followers and bloggers community for reading this and as always would love to hear your comments.

XOXO-Jen  

Happy Birthday

Just want to touch base with everyone. I’ve been very busy and not been able to post much. I’ve had so many doctors appointments but they have all turned out good.

Today, February 3rd, is my birthday and I’m now 35 years old. Don’t mean to toot my own horn but this a big milestone for me. With all my health issues, some would say I’m lucky to be alive. I never thought I’d make it to this point but by the grace of God and changing my life around I am!

I am so thankful for this day. I’m thankful for all of my readers/followers/and blogger community, my family, my fiancé, friends, and doctors in my life. I was not looking forward to this milestone but realized how much I have in my life.

XOXO-Jen

Project harpoon

I just came across this and am outright pissed!  It is called project harpoon and it posts photos of plus size women then alter the images if they were thinner. 

Some of the hashtags are #SkinnyAcceptance and #Project Harpoon. I started writing this on August 20th this year and over the past few months Project Harpoon had their Facebook, Twitter,and Instagram pages taken down but now they are back up, at least on Twitter. I wanted to see what all of you think about this issue. Not just editing images but the issue of a womens weight in general.

In my opinion I disagree with what they are doing but I don’t disagree with helping someone lose weight when needed. Here in the United States we have shows that are about women over 800 pounds and their life. I think that is just wrong to do that! 

I hope you guys look this up and let me know your feelings on the matter. 

One word inspiration…….

If you were give one word and asked to write an article (in this case a blog post) based off that individual word could you do it? That was the basis of our Writing 101 day 3 assignment. To get things started we had 6 words/prompts to pick from, making it a bit less daunting, or so I thought.

The 6 words were: TREASURE, REGRET, HOME, LOVE, UNCERTAINTY, and SECRET

There were no boundaries with our writing. It was open to interpretation. I wrote down each word, multiple times attempting to narrow it down to one. My mind had stories bouncing around for EVERY SINGLE word.

I decided to start narrowing the list down one by one. Then there 3, TREASURE, REGRET, AND UNCERTAINTY. I took into consideration of why I created my blog to begin with. It was built to be a blog that was positive, motivating, inspiring, and real life based on parts of my 34 years living in this society. Out of the top 3, my first choice was REGRET, but how to write a post that you want to be positive, motivating, and inspiring on a word that is defined as being sad/down on yourself due to mistakes, wrong choices, even missed opportunities from your past. It rings negativity to others.

After reading that last paragraph, your probably thinking REGRET got tossed out the window. Now here comes the SURPRISE……..

Can I get a DRUM ROLL, please. My final choice my come as a surprise but the final choice was, “REGRET.” I chose this word because I want to let others see that, REGRET, for me personally helped me turn my life around for the better. In short, my one word inspiration (regret) was replaced with an even better one word inspiration.

I was never good at math but since this was an equation with words. Here is my equation:

---

REGRET = CHANGE

---

I can wallow in my own sorrows for myself and live in the past. The past is the past. Some people learn from their poor decision making and others let their past consume them. When all you do is focus on mistakes you make over the years, you are only hurting yourself. I am a prime example of that! Some decisions I made over the years not only hurt myself but my family, friends, aspirations, dreams, and who knows what else.

If you learn anything from this post is that regret can be a POWERFUL word in someone’s life but it doesn’t haven’t to be. I want the person reading this to know that whatever your past holds is not your future. It is up to YOU to learn from your past mistakes and take that knowledge to better yourself.

That is exactly what I did. I held on to the past instead of moving forward. When I finally began to start really viewing the world by taking it one day at a time, life began to CHANGE for me. I still have a long journey ahead of me but instead of always looking back over my should, I keep my eyes straight ahead and focus on the future, one day at a time.

Lastly, I want to share some things that I have experienced by changing my ways.

1. I went back to college and earned my degree
2. I found true love
3. I started this blog
4. I got sober and clean
5. I am managing my health issues (Type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, depression, feeding tube, anxiety, thyroid issues, just to name a few) the right way
6. The best things to me is I have become a better mother, sister, daughter, granddaughter, aunt, cousin, niece, partner, and friend.

I hope this post caught someones attention or at least someone will at least skim through this post. I really put my heart and soul into this assignment because I dealt the regret for MANY YEARS! I don’t want to see another person dragged down by what this powerful word can do.

Jen  XOXO