“I will breathe. I will think of solutions. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress break me. I. will. simply. breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don’t quit.”

-Shayne McClendon

I’ve had jobs I dreaded (I remember one day breaking down crying on my way home after leaving an in-home therapy session). Being in THOUSANDS of dollars in debt. Wanting to go to sleep and not wake up.

…I still feel like that once in awhile.

I’ve learned that the key isn’t in making it GO AWAY, it’s in learning how to manage it.

…If you’ve followed my journey for the last couple years, then you might know that I disappeared from everyone over the summer….having to deal with my own sh*t. Feeling trapped.

I had to figure out why I was feeling trapped and how to manage it.

Some of the reasons I felt trapped:

– Feeling like I had NO CONTROL over my life and my situation. Like life is happening TO ME

– Feeling like I had no purpose, like I lost my soul.

– Committing to too many responsibilities.

So now what Dani??

The way I’ve learned to manage it:

– I listen to my body. If I’m tired, I take a nap….even if that means a 4 to 8 hour nap. And I practice not getting angry at myself over it. I don’t deprive myself of food or whatever my body wants to eat (when I get stressed out, my appetite tends to sink). I don’t push myself too hard at the gym or exercising. I meditate, color. Pretty much whatever my body tells me it wants to do, I do.

– Take the smallest steps, regardless of how small those steps are. If you’re always taking a step forward, no matter the size of the step, you are still moving forward. Acknowledge yourself. Recognize EVERY positive.

– Do the things that make you happy, even the littlest things. Something as tiny as lighting a candle can change the tone of environment. Find small things that you can change to support you.

Filling those unpleasant feelings up with things like alcohol, sugar, sex, or unhealthy relationships may fill the void temporarily, but once that moment of high is gone, you’ll be right back to the reality again…sometimes feeling worse off than before. You don’t have to feel trapped. EVERY little step is another step towards moving away from a life you don’t want, to a life you do.

love always,

dani