Tenacity to Purpose

The human body is a well-designed machine, able to fight off diseases, able to house and nurture new life until it is time to give birth. Our brains, being the motherboard, controls function to the different parts of the body. It has control for things like appetite, emotions, even our motor functioning! It still amazes me how much our bodies are able to do and how much they are able to handle. But have you ever gotten to a point where the body is fatigued? Even the thought of getting out of bed has already depleted the little energy you had? Well, when we don’t manage our stress levels well, our body tends to throw out warning signs to let us know that we need to slow down. What kind of signs, you ask? Let me tell you… Being a health professional working specifically in mental health, I see a lot of patients come in complaining of how at first their energy levels went down, and then they struggle with headaches or even tummy issues. I myself struggled for a while with chest pain...

Building a new habit is not always as easy as they make it to seem. 21 days, they say. Surely it can’t be that easy. Because when you’re a recovering people pleaser, anything can be a trigger. The urge to go back to your old ways will sometimes be so strong, that you need to call a friend to remind you of who you have become. The road to recovery is filled with lots of guilt and shame, because how dare you put  your needs before other’s!? How dare you stop letting other’s words dictate your actions, your life!? How dare you do what makes you happy!? How dare you take back your power!? When you’re a recovering people pleaser, anything can be a trigger. The words of a loved one. The need to feel understood. The craving to be accepted. Sometimes it can be as simple as not wanting to say “no” to a “fairly reasonable request”. But remember why you are here in the first place. Remember why you chose to go to rehab. Remember the freedom that you...

Having lived in three provinces in the last three years, my idea of friendship has changed a lot. Moving to a new place always comes with the sometimes daunting task of finding new friends. Somewhere along the journey I realised that a new place doesn’t necessarily mean new friends. Sometimes it just means new acquaintances, new contacts, and new opportunities for growth. In today’s post I’m going to be sharing five key things that I have learned about friendships, and how they have transformed my criteria for awarding someone that title. 1.       Friendship is Not Proximity, it’s Presence Do you ever look back at your schooling years, and realise that you were only friends with certain people because you had to see them 5 days a week? Or that you were “friends” with someone because your friend wanted to be their friend, so you were automatically stuck with them? I’ve been there too! That is when physical presence kind of makes you believe that there is a genuin...

When two worlds collide, it is exactly that. An explosion. A big bang. A head on collision. At first the impact is not felt, no, it's all butterflies and rainbows. You get lost in the genuineness in his eyes. He is still in disbelief that this is really happening. The sounds of the collision are muffuled by your declarations of love. When two people come together, it is like uprooting two oak trees so that they could be closer to each other. Along with them come all the people that have watered them when they were just seeds. The people that pruned leaves and branches. Those that used the tree for shade and didn't give thanks to the tree. When a tree is uprooted, the things once hidden are now at the surface. Vulnerability has a way of making a person go into fight or flight mode. We either stay, and put up a fight while we're at it. Or we flee and always wonder what could have been. Not only are we scared to show ourselves bare to the other person, we fear what the mir...

I love being there for the people that I love. I find so much joy and fulfillment in being available when my friends and family need me. Whether it be a phone call, or a pizza date. If you want me there, consider it done. It dawned on me a while ago that I do this because I would want that kind of treatment from them. On days when I need someone to vent to or just share good news, I would want to know that it brings them joy to make time for me. Over the past two months, I have had to spend more time with myself for the purpose of recharging my batteries. Being around people and interacting with them, is kind of what my job is all about. I love that about my job, but it can also be taxing. I don't know if you've ever heard of social exhaustion before. In an article on Psych Central, Sarah Newman writes about how introverts can burn out from too much social interaction. In the article she shares how she experienced burnout when family members came to stay with them. Hosting pe...

Transitions can be very tricky to navigate. Change is an inevitable thing that none of us can escape. Transitions can be scary, but I believe that they can be a catalyst for growth. If I had chosen to stay the same person I was 10 years ago, I would be doing an injustice to the people around me and to myself. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines transition as a “passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another: CHANGE” It gives a second definition that describes transition as “a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another.” It would great if every transition in our lives was a smooth one, unfortunately this isn’t always the case. Sometimes change can leave us with lots of anxiety due to the uncertainty of the outcome. When we transition, we move from one stage of our lives to the other. Oftentimes we cannot predict how things will pan out. That is what freaks us out the most, the lack of control we have over the transition. I went ...