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Happy New Year! If you are looking for Hope, Motivation, and Inspiration as we welcome in the 2021, check out my new YouTube channel. If you are looking for encouragement, you don’t want to miss this! Viewers will benefit from interviews with suggestions on how to live your best life now and experience happy, healthy […]
Happy New Year! If you are looking for Hope, Motivation, and Inspiration as we welcome in the 2021, check out my new YouTube channel. If you are looking for encouragement, you don’t want to miss this! Viewers will benefit from interviews with suggestions on how to live your best life now and experience happy, healthy relationships. Please feel free to share the link with friends, family and everyone you believe could use a little more joy as we start this new year! Stay Tuned, Stay Safe and Be Blessed!
As many families continue to shelter in place together, they are finding it challenging to beat the stress and stay in shape. Exercising as a family is one-way families can accomplish both of these goals! And the good news is, there are plenty of ways families can exercise without the need of going to a […]
As many families continue to shelter in place together, they are finding it challenging to beat the stress and stay in shape. Exercising as a family is one-way families can accomplish both of these goals! And the good news is, there are plenty of ways families can exercise without the need of going to a public gym.
Take a pack of regular playing cards and turn them into fitness cards. Hearts stand for crunches, clubs push-ups, diamonds for squats, and spades for jumping jacks (or any other exercises you may want to substitute). Have each player take turns selecting a card and doing the activity. So for instance, if someone draws the five of hearts, they need to do 5 crunches.
Strap on your helmets, hop on your bikes and take the kids for a nice bike ride around the neighborhood. You can also decide to bike to the library or to the park for a picnic. Just be sure to pick a route that is safe and isn’t too much effort for your child.
Decorate your living room with a disco ball or other fun string lights, turn on some good tunes, and have a dance party. You can even choose to record yourselves and share your dance party with others on Youtube.
Chances are over the years your kids have begged you to play certain games like hide-and-seek or kickball. Now is the time to embrace these requests and head outside for some family fun. There is also tag, jump rope, dodgeball, and kick the can.
This game will get everyone moving to get some aerobic exercise. Take turns and split the family up into 2 teams. Team A will start by hiding objects around the house or yard. Then team B has 10 minutes to find them all. This means they’ve got to really RUN around looking for all of them. Then swap so Team B hides items and team A has to find them. The team that finds the most items wins and doesn’t have to do the dishes that week.
Walking is such a great form of exercise and an equally great way for families to connect. Try and build walking into your daily schedule. Maybe after dinner take everyone out for a walk around the neighborhood. If you have dogs, take them, too!
These are just a few ideas you can try with your own family. Get creative to come up with some ideas of your own. While Covid has definitely made our lives more stressful and challenging, the silver lining is that it has helped many of us reconnect with our families. Take this time to do the same and stay fit at the same time.
SOURCES:
During this time of year, radio and TV ads would have us believe we should all feel merry and bright. Sadly, that’s not always the case. According to the National Institute of Health, many people experience depression during the holiday season. Some of the most common reasons people experience depression during this time of year are: Financial hardship – […]
During this time of year, radio and TV ads would have us believe we should all feel merry and bright. Sadly, that’s not always the case. According to the National Institute of Health, many people experience depression during the holiday season.
Some of the most common reasons people experience depression during this time of year are:
If you can relate and are looking for some relief, here are ways you can cope with your depression this holiday season:
Feel Your Feelings
If you are grieving a loss, it’s important that you’re honest about your feelings. Your instinct may be to put on a brave face for friends and family, but forcing yourself to be happy for the sake of others will only make matters worse. Sadness and grief are a part of life, no matter the season, and it is 100% okay for you to feel your feelings.
Give Something Besides Money
If a lack of finances is the primary source of your mood, look for other ways you can give to others. You can volunteer at a local charity. Are you a good cook? Offer to cook for friends and family. If your talent is writing, write your kids a bedtime story or, if it’s painting, paint a beautiful mural on their wall. At the end of the day, thoughtful gifts from your heart will leave the greatest lasting impression.
Focus on Self Care
It’s important that you care for yourself during the holiday season. Eat right, drink filtered water, exercise, and get plenty of rest. While these steps are important for everyone throughout the entire year, they are particularly important for those suffering from depression during the holidays.
Seek Help
Depression is nothing to take lightly. If your depression has lingered, is getting worse, or you’re having suicidal thoughts, it’s imperative that you seek help from a qualified mental health professional. They will be able to help you navigate your overwhelming emotions and offer tools to manage symptoms.
If you’d like to explore treatment options, please get in touch with me. You don’t have to suffer alone. I would be more than happy to speak with you about how I may be able to help.
When you first fell in love, you could never imagine that someday the sound of your partner chewing could make you want to scream. It’s inevitable that once we are out of our honeymoon phase and reality sets in, we realize that all relationships take work and compromise. But while some couples may hit bumps […]
When you first fell in love, you could never imagine that someday the sound of your partner chewing could make you want to scream. It’s inevitable that once we are out of our honeymoon phase and reality sets in, we realize that all relationships take work and compromise. But while some couples may hit bumps in the road every so often, other couples find themselves in bigger trouble, with neither party knowing exactly how to fix things.
If you are in a relationship that is no longer feeling healthy, here are 5 warning signs that it may be time to try couples counseling:
Once you have a communication breakdown, you are unable to rationally share thoughts, feelings, and concerns with each other. Beyond this, unhealthy communication tends to leave one or both partners feeling depressed, angry and hopeless.
When there has been infidelity, it is very difficult for the couple to rebuild trust and repair the damage. While there is no magic pill to recover from an affair, a therapist can offer tools and strategies to rebuild trust.
If you and your partner act more like roommates than romantic partners, this indicates a lack of intimacy and a potential need for professional help.
You try to mask your real feelings for as long as possible, but then you start to act out the hurt and resentment you may be feeling. For instance, if your partner has been unfaithful and you have agreed to stay in the relationship and work things out. But over time you find yourself lashing out, acting rude and trying to make them believe you are having an affair so they will feel the same kind of hurt. This acting out is unhealthy for both people and is a BIG indicator you need to seek some help.
A break from negative energy can be very helpful to the relationship. But when a temporary break leads to more and more time away from home and someone renting their own apartment, this indicates a need for counseling. Spending time away from home usually doesn’t lead to any real resolution, just more distance.
If you and your partner are interested in exploring treatment options, please be in touch with me. I would be more than happy to discuss how I may be able to help.
This week’s blog is on a topic many women have experienced; and secretly gone through. The pain and emptiness of not having anyone to confide in or help bring understanding and clarity to; including such questions as “Why Me?” Hopefully not anymore after today! My guest today is Tasha! She has volunteered to briefly share […]
This week’s blog is on a topic many women have experienced; and secretly gone through. The pain and emptiness of not having anyone to confide in or help bring understanding and clarity to; including such questions as “Why Me?”
Hopefully not anymore after today! My guest today is Tasha! She has volunteered to briefly share her story and her journey on how she has survived and want to help other women who have experienced the unforeseen loss of their unborn child and/or have experienced infertility challenges.
Q1: Dr. Wynette:
Hello, please tell us a little bit about yourself and what motivated you to participate in this week’s blog: Surviving Miscarriage!
A1: Tasha:
Hi! My name is Tasha, and I’m here to tell my story. From the time I was a teenager, I would say about 16, I always had my life planned out. I said by the time I’m 30 I’m going to have two kids, I’m going to have a boy & a girl, and I’m going to name them this & that…and I’ve always been the type of person to plan everything out, and my fertility journey didn’t go as I planned.
Having a baby is the most, I think is the most fulfilling experience a woman can have, and when it doesn’t happen for you right away, it makes you feel like you did something wrong, or why is this happening to me. So many women go through the struggle of getting excited about being pregnant, and then going through the struggle of having a miscarriage, and this is the reason why I’m sharing my story.
Q2: Dr. Wynette:
After having it all planned out, what was your experience when you found out you were indeed pregnant?
A2: Tasha:
Pregnancy is an emotional roller coaster. You go through so many ups; you go through so many downs. You go through the excitement of first finding out your pregnant, your anxious, you want to run & tell everyone, and then when things don’t go as planned, it’s like you just got the wind knocked out of you and that’s exactly how I felt. It took me a very, very long time, I would say years to finally come to a place where I could share my story with you.
The reason why I’m sharing my story is because I don’t want anyone to ever feel like their alone, and at the time that I had my miscarriage, that’s exactly how I felt. And, I had a lot of highs, & I had a lot of lows, and I just don’t want anyone to ever have to feel like their alone. There’s a whole community of women dealing with miscarriage, but because it’s so taboo, we’re afraid to talk about it because we feel ashamed, we feel guilty, we feel all these different emotions.
Q3: Dr. Wynette:
What would you want to say or let women who have experienced a miscarriage know?
A3: Tasha:
As women we blame ourselves, because I know I blamed myself for a lot of years. When I miscarried, my first thought was “What did I do wrong”, “Did I not eat right, did I overdo it, did I overtax my body…what could I have done different? And, I had to come to the realization that I didn’t do anything wrong. You feel angry, you feel sad, you feel depressed, you feel isolated, you don’t want to talk about it, and it seems like everybody’s saying the wrong things to you. And, I just want women to know that you’re not alone, and it’s going to be okay. You’re entitled to feel sad, depressed. You can feel any way that you want and it’s okay to feel that way. And, this is why I decided to share my story because I want everyone to know that, you’re not alone, and there is support for you.
Q4: Dr. Wynette:
If a women who have experienced the life changing event of miscarriage was looking for support, how can they contact you?
A4: Tasha:
I can be reached via email at natashakgrant@hotmail.com.
Q5: Dr. Wynette
Would you be interested in facilitating and hosting an online support group for women surviving miscarriage?
A5: Tasha:
Absolutely! You never know what someone is going through, & you never know how you can help someone else, just by telling your story. There’s a whole community of women dealing with miscarriage, and I think it would be great to have an open forum where we can talk about it. A judgment free zone.
Thank you so much Tasha for making yourself available to assist other women going through the pain of miscarriage. I encourage anyone who would like to continue this conversation and for support please contact Tasha at natashakgrant@hotmail.com. There is hope and life after a miscarriage!
Now that we are three months into the 2019 New Year, have you been successful in moving towards achieving your individual, family; personal or professional goals? Goal planning can be a tedious task to complete; frequently we do not know where to begin. However, it is one of the most crucial necessary steps to take […]
Now that we are three months into the 2019 New Year, have you been successful in moving towards achieving your individual, family; personal or professional goals? Goal planning can be a tedious task to complete; frequently we do not know where to begin. However, it is one of the most crucial necessary steps to take towards living our best life now!
Here are five simple steps to take towards achieving your personal and professional goals before the end of the 2019 year:
Now with the holiday season upon us, it is more important than ever that we fully take care of ourselves; specifically, our emotional well-being. Because this time of the year is historically known to bring back feelings of sadness and depression which may manifest in the form of repressed and subconscious longings for our loved […]
Now with the holiday season upon us, it is more important than ever that we fully take care of ourselves; specifically, our emotional well-being. Because this time of the year is historically known to bring back feelings of sadness and depression which may manifest in the form of repressed and subconscious longings for our loved ones who may no longer be physically in our lives or reminders of non-tangible things we do not have and feelings of just not having enough.
Today I would like to offer you a remedy to overcoming these negative emotions. It is one simple word: GRATITUDE! For the next 30 days, I invite you to write down three things you are grateful for each day and review the list frequently to remain mindful of why there is a reason to smile and be thankful. Stay optimistic and keep in mind the ability to breath daily or to witness the beautiful branches on the trees is truly a gift and something to be thankful for. This holiday season allow gratitude to lead the way as you enjoy the festive lights and holiday music as well as great food.
Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays!
Dr. Wynette