New Year’s Resolutions with a Mental Health Focus

The new year is well on its way and resolutions will be abound. It’s well known that new year’s resolutions tend to fall off early in the year. I tend to shy away from choosing a new year for new resolutions—or goals—because it creates an external motivator. You’re motivated because it is the new year rather than because it is what you want to do and you’re ready to do it.

That having been said, I recognize the new year is a great time to set new goals. The hustle and bustle of the holidays is over and January tends to have minimal distractions related to holidays, heavy work -loads, school trips, vacations…etc. Those distractions will pick up after January and in order to stick to your resolution, I recommend making the focus of anything you do related to your mental health.

Why? Maybe it’s because I’m passionate about it, but I like to hope that if you focus on your mental health it will be more meaningful and important than other motivations. Let’s take a look at how you can shift your focus:

Lose Weight/Get Fit

One of the most popular new year’s resolutions, the prospect losing weight packs gyms from January to mid-February…and that’s when the resolution fizzles out. Weight loss is a tough goal to reach because the focus is on the numbers on the scale and the sacrifice of time. This is manageable in January likely because there aren’t as many distractions or temptations as most people detox from the holiday socializing and indulgences. Once February rolls around, holidays, social responsibilities, work load, and more is back in full swing and that’s when resolutions get tested.

If your resolution related to your weight and fitness is focused on sacrifice and loss, as mentioned above, how well are you going to weather the challenge of February’s, March’s, April’s…distractions? Instead, I recommend focusing on the benefits of exercise for mental health. For details, check out this article. When looking at it from a mental health perspective, you can focus on gaining more energy, feeling less anxious, spending your time for self-care, and having more social interaction.

With this focus you gain rather than lose and that alone sounds more positive. But you’re also taking away the fear of the scale, the frustration if you don’t see the numbers drop, and the lament of time not spent elsewhere. If you’re looking to lose weight and get fit in 2020, make your goals about how the process benefits your mental health to keep you motivated.

Save Money

While we may not like it, money is important to daily living as it affords us what we need and what we want—which can often times support self-care. That’s likely why people tend to resolve to save money in the new year. Saving money is an exercise in patience, organization, and prioritizing. So, it’s definitely hard to start and even harder to stick to.

The good news is, patience, organization, and prioritization are great skills to support mental health as well. To bring a mental health focus to saving money, I recommend including practices involving these skills. Challenge yourself to wait and save up over time for an item you might have previously purchased right away and if you make it, reward yourself with a small bonus such as a special coffee or bubble bath. Organize your phone calendar with reminders so that you’re not rushing to get in everything you need to finish before the next month. Choose your priorities based on, not just funds, but time and self-care, too.

Spend Time with Loved Ones

Many of us lead busy lives and it often gets in the way of enjoying the people we love. This seems like a simple fix; open up time for family and friends and plan to use it. What isn’t simple is; a) enjoying the time spent without worrying about all that isn’t getting done; and b) getting others on board.

To start out, if you’re going to commit to making time for friends and family, you have to commit to it being important enough to be in the moment. That may mean practicing mindfulness so you can stay in the moment, writing down all you have to do and when you’ll get it done so your mind can be free when you’re spending time with loved ones, or cutting back on other obligations such as work projects and volunteering. If this is a priority, don’t just make the time for it, make the mental space for it, too.

The trouble with this resolution is that it requires more than just your effort. There’s at least one other person involved in this exchange and if they don’t also put in the time and energy, you can’t make them. Focus on what you can do to reach this resolution and recognize what’s out of your control to reduce the stress of making this happen.

There are many new year’s resolutions such as quitting smoking, drinking less, learning new skills/information, traveling, and the list goes on. Challenge yourself to consider how you can put the focus of these or your own resolutions on mental health. Overall, make whatever resolution you set about what you want and make sure that you have good reasons for it, like your mental health and wellness.

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What It Looks Like: Depression

Content/Trigger Warning: suicide

Sadness is what many people equate with depression, but sadness is an emotion everyone experiences whereas depression is a group of symptoms that can include sadness—not all people experience depression. Many well-meaning friends, family and co-workers recount the tales of their sad times and how they managed the sadness in hopes of supporting a person managing depression. This effort often falls short and can even feel demeaning because it isn’t genuine to the person’s experience.

So what is the experience of depression?

Disclaimer: This post—like all my content—is NOT intended for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only. The only place you can truly receive diagnosis and treatment is with a YOUR professional, qualified treatment provider following the proper assessment(s). Proceed with caution and use this post and all posts for information purposes ONLY.

Sadness, Hopelessness, Helplessness

One of the two main criteria to indicate depression is regular sadness, helplessness, and/or hopelessness more time than not. For example, you may have two really good days out of the week and the other five days feel sad, think hopeless thoughts, and have a sense of helplessness most of that time. There may be unexplained crying because the sadness doesn’t always present itself clearly, particularly when life is going well and there isn’t a perceived “reason” to be sad.

Of course, depression doesn’t need a reason to be there. Life can be great and the sadness still present. Additionally, depression can be present without sadness.

Lack of enjoyment

The other main criteria to indicate depression is not getting enjoyment or pleasure out of what you normally would. You may love to dance—it lifts your mood—but when you go out, you find you’ve been dancing for 30 minutes and just feel neutral, blah, bored.  You notice time with friends consists of less and less real laughs and smiles. Laughs and smiles require effort as you try to play along to mimic your former reactions which you can no longer feel.

I think of this experience similar to when your taste buds are damaged (having had my tonsils out at 22, it’s something I can say was miserable) and you go to eat your favorite food which you know is delicious, but when you take a bite the damaged buds can’t form the taste. After a while, you don’t have much of an appetite because food all tastes the same and none of it is enjoyable. That’s what happens to fun events, hobbies, and interactions with depression. Because depression feeds into itself, if sadness and hopelessness wasn’t present before, it may start to form in reaction to not finding pleasure in anything.

 Lower motivation, energy, and productivity

Perhaps related to the lack of pleasure resulting in a no internal reward, there may be a reduction in motivation to do…well, anything. For some this can be something hard fought against to continue life as “normal,” but it’s a grueling grind. For others this may be so severe that even motivation to go to work, school, get a shower, or eat something is impossible to achieve.

Energy levels may feel depleted which could be due to the reduction in energy-producing functions dropping off such as exercise, eating (discussed below), and planning, in addition to the chemical imbalance in the brain. What a person does throughout the day—work, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.—may slow down. Others notice that you’re moving or completing tasks at a slower pace and you may feel your thinking slow down as well.

 
Appetite Change

As mentioned above, when a person is depressed they may start eating less. They may also start eating more. Appetite and, consequently, weight gain are sometimes part of what depression looks like. It may look like skipping multiple meals due to lacking energy and motivation to cook. Just as possible, eating to manage feelings of sadness or boredom is also possible.

 

Sleep disturbance

Much of what is described above I might suggest is compounded by, or even developed as a result of, sleep disturbance. Similar to the appetite change, problems with sleep can go either way—too much or too little. A person may struggle to sleep due to the negative thoughts and sadness weighing on their mind each night after another day of feeling slowed down, guilty, and hopeless. For another person, sleep may be all that seems possible in between work and the bare minimum of daily tasks leading to three hour naps between 12 hour sleep cycles.

It isn’t hard to see how all of these can work together and cycle depression into a difficult to break pattern of chemical imbalance and sustaining behaviors.

Thoughts of death and suicide

This is the part where I remind you again that this blog and all of my affiliated social media accounts are not monitored 24/7 and I cannot provide support to those who are experiencing suicidal thoughts. Here, where I am in the USA the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is: 1-800-273-8255. For those not in the USA who need resources to reach out to, I’ve linked suicide.org, International Association For Suicide Prevention, and internationalbipolarfoundation for your reference. Local emergency rooms/hospitals can also be safety resources. If you’re having suicidal thoughts, seek help.

With that said, frequent thoughts of death or suicide can be part of the presentation of depression. Of course, this is serious and help is out there to maintain safety as you can see from the above resources. One person could have unwanted images cross their mind of a suicidal act whereas another may think of the idea of death often but not consider suicide. Further still, a person may actively develop a plan for suicide and think of it occasionally, but another person could think about suicide multiple times a day without ever making a plan or attempt.

There are so many ways this can make an impact on the mind and each person experiences it unique to them. Of course, not everyone who is dealing with depression is suicidal or focuses on death. Further, not everyone who considers suicide is depressed.

My Depression Tale

Because depression, like many mental illnesses, is so variable in its presentation, I’d like to end with my story of depression. Looking back, I’ve had recurrent episodes of it. For me, depression tends to come along when the anxiety is worse.

The anxiety will create discomfort that runs me down and makes me tired. The fears I have for the future start to mix with regrets from the past. Regrets I don’t have until depression rears its ugly head. I do sleep more and eat less—that may be the anxiety causing stomach troubles, too. If I enjoy things, it’s for short periods of time.

I notice time spent with others is more taxing because I work harder to present the way I “should.” Of course, that only makes me more exhausted and leads to regular crying episodes—mostly when alone. No one says I’ve slowed down but my thoughts feel like they are. Decision and concentration get harder.

There’s a lot of anger—at myself, my thoughts, the anxiety—that fires off at random. After so long, I start wishing it would stop being so painful all the time as my gut twists, the fibromyalgia and PCOS flair up, and I just keep crying. Images, unwanted and alarming, may pop into my head of self-harm and I say things like, “I wish I would just die.”

Once the thoughts of self-harm and death enter in, I know it’s at its peak. Somehow, usually self-care against all odds and doing the opposite of what depression wants me to do, it starts to ease up again. After coming to the conclusion that’s what I was dealing with, the episodes have been shorter and less jarring. I do a lot of work to quickly address the episode before it gets out of hand.

I keep a vigilant mindset so that I can recognize it before it takes a toll.

I haven’t had a depressive episode in a while now but know it could come back. If it does, I’ll keep trying to move forward, knowing it will get better. In the meantime, I will keep up my self-care, as I’m sure you already know is so important.

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What It Looks Like: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

“I’m so OCD.” “My OCD is kicking in.” “I’m OCD about _____.” You’ve probably heard obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD) used casually in conversation in one of these ways. Too often, OCD is used to describe feeling particular about something or what Freud may have considered anal retentiveness.

Not only is this use offensive and inappropriate, it also paints an inaccurate picture of what living with this condition is like. Obsessive compulsive disorder is often chronic and can greatly impact daily functioning. It’s not a behavior description or a joke and now we’re going to review what OCD really looks like.

As the name suggests, the disorder centers around obsessions, compulsions, or both. What does this mean?

Disclaimer: This post—like all my content—is NOT intended for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only. The only place you can truly receive diagnosis and treatment is with a YOUR professional, qualified treatment provider following the proper assessment(s). Proceed with caution and use this post and all posts for information purposes ONLY.

Obsessions and Compulsions Defined

Obsessions are intrusive thoughts that are often repetitive and produce anxiety. Being intrusive indicates they aren’t able to be ignored or pushed away. Some other type of thought or action is needed to manage them.

Compulsions are the thoughts or actions that calm obsessions. These are usually bound by rigid rules and feel like something that has to be completed in order to manage the distress brought on by the obsessions. Compulsions can also be preventative; they occur to keep obsessive thoughts away and avoid anxiety.

How They Work

Most people are familiar with orderliness and cleanliness as part of the experience of OCD. You should know this isn’t the only way OCD manifests and, further, may not be something many people with OCD experience at all. There are many ways that OCD presents itself. It’s often very creative and rooted in personal fears and beliefs.

Obsessions, to start, can vary widely but tend to center around something going wrong. It can be as specific as, “I’ve hurt my children and didn’t know it,” or vague as, “something terrible is going to happen.” The thought plays over and over, increasing distress about the possibility of the fearsome event until something is done about it.

Compulsions come into play to relieve the anxiety. If the obsessive thought is the above, “I’ve hurt my children and didn’t know it,” you may check on your kids every time the thought arises. This is a checking compulsion where you consistently have to check on the focal point of the obsession to ensure nothing is amiss.

As mentioned earlier, compulsions can sometimes happen before the obsessions to prevent anxiety. With the example of, “something terrible is going to happen,” you may count to 10 before opening your front door or have to keep pumping gas until the cost is rounded to the nearest 50 cents. If these actions don’t occur, you’ll worry for the rest of the day about the impending terrible event or may develop another compulsion to manage the earlier failed attempt.

What makes OCD a disorder and not just isolated thought and behavior patterns is how it impacts life. Your functioning from day to day is interrupted by obsessions and compulsions. Maybe you’re getting in trouble at your job because you’re making frequent calls to your significant other to ensure they’re safe because your obsessive thoughts have you focused on all the ways they could be killed. Perhaps you’re not getting enough sleep because the obsessive thoughts about unknowingly harming your children have you up several times in the evening to check on them taking up an extra two hours of time after you’ve tried to lay down to sleep.

There are so many ways OCD can invade life and complicate daily functioning it’s tough to touch on all of them but I do want to share some examples to help improve understanding of how it can look in real life.

Further Examples

Starting with the most commonly depicted concept of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, let’s look at a cleanliness example.

You fear germs and being contaminated. You don’t wash your hands until raw or shower four times a day. However, when your obsessive thoughts are triggered by a person being sick at work or you finding a bug bite on your leg, they play on repeat. They keep going, getting in the way of sleep and focus because any moment of quiet brings them slamming into your brain. You check in with loved ones about it and get their opinions, ask your co-workers’ opinions, look up symptoms on the internet which takes up chunks of time from other activities and may prompt worry about you from others. In the end, you have to see a doctor to stop the worry leading to an excess of doctor bills weighing on you financially.

Cleanliness is not the only way OCD manifests and another common example of it has to do with orderliness or having things arranged in a particular way.

No, you don’t keep your bookshelf arranged in alphabetical order and your living space isn’t labeled and categorized. Yet, you do have a photo on your wall of you and your parents that you adjust first thing in the morning before doing anything else (even using the bathroom) and every evening as the last thing before going to bed because if you don’t ensure it is perfectly even, your parents will fall terribly ill. You also have a particular place for three items in your car and if they aren’t by the time you’re on the road, you will get into a car accident. You also count your steps, which must be even before reaching your destination. All of these compulsions slow you down and interrupt your day and focus.

Orderliness is not as straightforward as it seems just as OCD is not often fully straightforward. One way we see this is when obsessions are the main focus of the disorder with little to no compulsions. This is often so with those who have socially disturbing thoughts such as intrusive thoughts about violence to others despite no desire to hurt others and no history of it. These thoughts can be about strangers, family, friends, co-workers…and you regularly engage yourself in a mental battle about your own character and desires. You may have behaviors that don’t seem like compulsions because they are normalized like praying to confess and be absolved. In this situation, it may be often and time-consuming.

This is only the tip of the iceberg for what OCD might look like and, as always, the only way to properly diagnose and treat the mental illnesses I talk about on this blog is to seek appropriate professional help. I cannot provide that here and only write for informational purposes. My hope in delivering this information is to change the perspective on what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder really looks like and how it is not a description of being picky or particular about something.

If there’s one thing I’d like everyone to take away from this, it’s to stop using OCD as a casual descriptor. It’s a serious mental health disorder that majorly impacts function, even more than I’ve been able to describe here. Overall, it is hurtful to those who live with and battle OCD to use the diagnosis flippantly to describe your interest in a clean work desk or special way you like your coffee. Be aware and be mindful.

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Source Cited

American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5 Task Force. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5™ (5th ed.). Arlington, VA, US: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

What It Looks Like: Anxiety

Look up any mental health disorder online and you’ll find a laundry list of symptoms that could vaguely be any mental or physical health disorder. Don’t get me wrong, these quick symptoms lists can be helpful in pointing people in the direction of help—what a wonderful outcome! However, it seemed to me like there’s room to expand beyond the symptoms to understand what the disorder really looks like.

Thus begins my new series on what “it” looks like.

Disclaimer: This post—like all my content—is NOT intended for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only. The only place you can truly receive diagnosis and treatment is with a YOUR professional, qualified treatment provider following the proper assessment(s). Proceed with caution and use this post and all posts for information purposes ONLY.

You’ve seen the memes, digital comics, and graphics depicting different aspects of an individual’s anxiety. Everything from looking calm on the outside and drowning on the inside to seeing the world in demands and put-downs. They all say, “this is what anxiety looks like,” so it can be quite confusing to get a picture of what anxiety really is.

Anxiety is…normal. Yes, normal. Anxiety is the anticipation of danger and helps prepare us for the fight or flight response when we perceive something is wrong.

For example, you might notice warning signs at your job that the company is closing and that could produce anxiety related to being laid off. Being without a job would be perceived as dangerous because it’s how you provide for yourself and your family (aka, survive). This anxiety can be adaptive because it can lead you to do something about the situation such as search for another job, focus on saving funds, and gain more information about the company’s status.

Anxiety becomes maladaptive when it is; A) uncontrollable or difficult to control; B) not related to any perceivable threat; and C) gets in the way of your functioning somehow. Using the example above, imagine if you believed your workplace was closing but no one else there thought there was anything to be worried about, you talked to management and they assured you all was well, and you’ve been saving funds just in case.

Even after all of those efforts that should ease your anxiety, it continues to be there disrupting your time off making you feel uncontrollable urgency to do SOMETHING and it keeps you up at night with worry.  You leave for a different job and later regret leaving as the company continues to flourish. Now the anxiety from above looks much different.

So we know the difference between adaptive and maladaptive anxiety, but what anxiety are people referring to in the symptoms lists, memes, and social media posts? The answer is: that depends. There are a number of different anxiety disorders and, while they may have similarities, they tend to look quite different. I won’t be discussing all of them here, but will focus on the most common.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

When many people say they have anxiety, as a counselor, I first assess for generalized anxiety disorder. As the name suggests, the maladaptive anxiety a person experiences is generalized across many types of situations. The worry can be about your health, the health and safety of your family members and friends, finances, social performance, job performance, school performance, appearance…and so on.

These thoughts may have some relevance in reality (there is always some distant threat to most of the above examples) but the worry is out of proportion to the “threat.” To use a personal example, I frequently feared failing every major exam throughout my seven years of college despite the fact that I consistently maintained straight A’s semester after semester. Some might say that the anxiety drove me to do well. I say the anxiety reduced the time I had to study because I was so distracted by catastrophe, I couldn’t focus for periods at a time. If I was less anxious, I probably could have done just as well with less time spent on studying and completing assignments, leaving more time for self-care. Ultimately, my  worry was well out of proportion to the threat.

As described earlier, this anxiety is difficult to control, so thoughts just keep playing in your head on repeat. This is particularly so when you aren’t occupied with a distracting task. Many people notice it most when trying to go to sleep which results in a sleep disturbance.

Further, relaxing can be difficult overall. Muscle tension and restlessness can get in the way of letting yourself rest and enjoy activities. Tension and restlessness are like that of the fight or flight response and can be distracting.

Lacking sleep and using up large amounts of anxious energy on a variety of worries leads to fatigue. It is an overwhelming feeling of tiredness that makes you more vulnerable to your anxious thoughts, because it’s harder to reason when exhausted. It creates a cycle of anxiety sucking up your energy, disrupting your sleep, and leaving you tired.

When overly tired and distracted by anxious thoughts, you might find yourself more irritable. The irritability can come out as being short with others, giving up easily on challenges, crying at small setbacks, and negative self-talk.

All of the above gets in the way of concentration and focus. Many people—myself included in the past—can feel foggy and notice problems with short-term recall. When you can’t focus, it’s hard to take in information and code it into your brain.

To surmise, generalized anxiety looks like a looping record playing in your head and each time you turn one off another one turns on. It changes how you interact with yourself, others, and your work because of your poor sleep, fatigue, irritability, and concentration problems. It may feel like it’s driving you as you ignore the exhaustion and you press through until one day it’s too hard to ignore.

As you may already know from reading my previous article onmy own anxiety journey, this is not a hopeless disorder. It is very much manageable and treatable. Finding the right providers, supports, and self-care is an important part of healing.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Unlike Generalized Anxiety Disorder, social anxiety disorder is focused on just one worry: social performance. Worry around social performance could occur related to something many people find nerve-wracking such as giving a speech or something commonly done without thinking like walking into a grocery store. Given that humans are social creatures, it’s easy to see how this can majorly impact daily function.

With social anxiety, you might feel like everyone is judging each move you make negatively, fear being humiliated in front of everyone, have difficulty getting to know new people or interacting with friends, and criticize every move you make in public the way you assume others are criticizing you. This often gets worse leading up to an event with social expectations like a school or work presentation or Halloween party.

Often, this worry leading up can create nausea, trembling, and sweating that will continue the cycle of the anxiety. It may even lead to proving you “right” that you feel humiliated due to the impact of the disorder. The fear, then, continues forward in life and becomes intense enough to impede the activities and interactions you want to be a part of if not for the anxiety.

This type of anxiety can feel lonely because it may result in isolation. Social anxiety is not exclusive to this disorder but it is the major focus of this one. Just as above, this is a treatable disorder with the right care.

Panic Disorder

Many other anxiety disorders can include panic attacks but in panic disorder the panic attack is the focus. Panic attacks can feel like sweating, shaking, nausea, dizziness, feeling outside yourself, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, chest pain, fear of dying, fear of losing control, hotness or coldness, and numbness. On the outside, they may look like distress or sickness, or nothing at all, even.

When you have panic disorder you experience panic attacks. At some point, they become so scary you become anxious about having them. You begin to be so anxious about having them, you avoid places and situations you think might invoke one.

Any stressful situation might invoke a panic attack such as going to the doctor, to work, or to a family gathering. Once that happens, you become fearful it will happen again and start avoiding these situations. The avoidance increases because once you start to think the event a panic attack comes on proving you shouldn’t go.

This is a highly physical disorder because panic attacks ARE almost entirely physical reactions. Getting the physical reaction under control helps with the treatment of this disorder. Again, it takes the proper support team to address panic disorder.

If there are only three things you take away from this post let it be these; 1) anxiety is not all the same; 2) it is a physical experience with implications in functioning; and 3) it can be overcome. I hope this has helped you better understand the experience of anxiety and how it can vary widely. Let me know if you want to see more articles like this one in the comments below.

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Source Cited

American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5 Task Force. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5™ (5th ed.). Arlington, VA, US: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

Cosplay the Anxiety Away

It’s October, my favorite time of the year. It’s the time of year my brand of weird gets to shine. So let’s talk about dressing up in costume.

Pieces of my cosplay accessory being built

The first costume I remember wearing was Snow White, for Halloween. My mom made it by hand with textured fabrics and sequins. My love of costumes never seemed to dwindle. I wore a lot of costumes from then on, evolving from just Halloween costumes to characters—such as a dead club kid dressed as a fairy.

The first actual cosplay I took on was Kitana from Mortal Kombat® during my first convention. I mimicked poses from the original game for pictures and nodded at others in costumes from my game universe. It felt so comfortable.

The difference between wearing a costume and taking part in cosplay is that in cosplay you are not just dressed as the character, but acting as the character. It’s a performance in a lot of ways. You may develop a voice, movements, and poses that emulate your character.

For someone with chronic anxiety, like me, attention was uncomfortable and something to be avoided. But under the mask—literally and metaphorically—of my character, attention was tolerable, good, even. There was no pressure in social interactions because I knew what the fellow con-goers wanted from me—mostly just a picture and to pay a compliment. I found it easy to reach out with the same praise to other cosplayers.

Twelve years later, I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg of what cosplay has done for me. The research is minimal on the topic and based on personal stories more than statistics, so there’s no science supporting these views. But I know it’s not just me. I’ve know people in person and read posts online from those who have gone through some type of experiential “therapy” by taking part in cosplay.

What do I think cosplay can do for you?

Cosplay improves social interaction: If you’ve read my blog, you know I like to highlight social interaction as a major part of mental well-being given that so many mental illness lead to isolation. Whether you’re sharing ideas and photos with a social media cosplay community, going to a Halloween party or local event, working on accessories with friends, or attending a convention welcoming costumes, this is a hobby that will lead to interaction.

As I mentioned earlier, talking to others is easier at conventions and other events where people are coming in costume. The start of a conversation is as easy as commenting on their look. For those who don’t know how to start the conversation, chances are someone will want to talk about your costume. If you cosplay, you’ll be there as a character and act as the character (appropriately) which may take the pressure off of worrying about what others will think of you since you’re being someone or something else.

Is it perfect? No, you’ll probably want to be able to feel comfortable as yourself and be socially interactive in other settings. I think of this as a really fun stepping stone, a place where it can feel a little bit safer to try out social skills.

Cosplay engages the mind: As I’ve mentioned before, creativity is good for the mind and hobbies tend to also be our coping and self-care skills. Many cosplayers make their own costumes and accessories which requires building skills, practicing, and trying new techniques. Regular con-goers tend to have a cosplay project going at all times.

Even if you don’t want to make everything from scratch, there’s still going to be a level of creativity you may not have expected. You can find creativity in developing the right make-up style, making alterations to existing clothes and shoes, styling a wig, or developing the character’s posture and poses. Regardless of how you approach this, you will be engaging your mind and keeping yourself focused on something enjoyable.

Cosplay gives you something to look forward to: Whether it’s the next convention, taking and editing photos, or seeing the look you developed come together, there’s always something to look forward to! When you have something to anticipate, it can often help you get through the tough day at work or push through the fatigue that drags you down. We should all have something to look forward to and cosplay can be a consistent provider of anticipation due to the near-infinite possibilities for costumes and regular scheduling of conventions all over. And, of course, every year there’s Halloween! *MY FAVORITE!*

Cosplay improves problem-solving: When you’re developing your costume, it’s usually not smooth sailing. You’ll make mistakes, try multiple ways to address a need, and learn new information in order to develop the look you want. What you’ll get out of it is an ability to assess the issue, take on new perspective, and adapt to the situation. Developing your cosplay can often help you practice patience and flexibility. Additionally, if you have a wardrobe malfunction, you’ll learn quickly what you need to carry with you to manage those and/or how to ask for help from others.

Personally, I feel more outgoing, comfortable with attention, and open to new experiences since testing the waters with cosplay. Now, I continue to do it for the challenge and excitement of crafting and developing the character. This year I’m so excited to be trying out a new challenge and hope to be able to pull it off. Can you guess what it is by the picture?

If you’re looking for a new way to support your mental wellness, help address your social worries, or find daily motivation cosplay might work for you!

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Posting Announcement

Hi all! I wanted to take the time to announce that I'm going to be moving my blog posting from weekly to bi-weekly for the rest of 2019. There are a few reasons for this:

1. The holidays are coming up and I suspect they'll not only be busy for me, but also busy for you, the reader. I write my content to help and support others so I don't want the content to seem overwhelming. I want you to have time to enjoy and absorb it.
2. To keep this blog going, it needs to have a greater reach. With my limited time, I've put a great deal of effort into the content--which is super important to me! As a result, though, I haven't been able to give the right amount of attention to social media. To expand this blog's reach, I need to improve my social media outreach so that I can continue to create quality content you want to consume.
3. I want to try on some new strategies for delivering information. I hope that this will bring a new and exciting element to this blog. However, I must give that some extra attention to determine if it will work for me and for you in the best way possible

My hope is that by taking a step back, I'll be better able to grow this blog and develop content you want to see. What I don't want is to provide so-so content just to make a weekly post happen. You can continue to expect to see my postings on Fridays. Looking forward to the New Year and a new beginning. Thank you for your support and patience!