Ignite your potential
Many things can cause anxiety such as work issues, family problems, driving on the road, etc. Anyone can feel anxious, even celebrities. Last year, I wrote a blog on 10 ways to lower anxiety. Here are 5 more tips.
Schedule worry time.
Set aside 15 to 60 minutes to do all your worrying. Write down or draw all your fears. When worries come to mind save them as a list. It helps to release emotions in constructive ways and also contain your emotions during a designated time.
Persistent practice gives you strength.
Practicing daily can help you achieve anything. I’ve been voice training since I was 7 and the daily practices have not only helped me to become a better singer, but gain confidence.
The easy choice is not always the best one.
It appears as though the way to sing is with your voice. After all, they don’t call it voice training for nothing. It seems easy enough: voice= singing. However, once delving into the vocal music, you find that your whole body is the instrument (leg muscles to diaphragm) and the last thing to use is your voice.
Changing the magnifying glass focus from problems to strengths
Even when you have a good day, one bad thing like horrible service at Starbucks, boss making a lousy comment, computer crashing can ruin your day. This can lead you to focusing on all negative aspects in your life. Instead try to focus on positives and if it is difficult write things down. Have trigger words to help you think outside the negativity and focus on how these challenges help you grow and strengthen yourself. Tell yourself there is no need to magnify this out of proportion. Take a deep breath and take it step by step to find solutions.
Focus on Results
In order for teams to be effective, they must all be cohesively focused on the end result. Dysfunctional teams tend to focus on their own goals and self-interest. This leads to misinterpretations of the end result and difficulty achieving a successful outcome.
Accountability
It is important for each of the team members to be accountable for their actions. Also each member must be willing to call out a team member’s bad behavior or poor performance. Also, it is important for each member to play their role. Otherwise, it can result in a team with resentment and based on bureaucracy.
Recently I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outlier. I have been a fan of his works after reading the Tipping Point and Blink. Here is a list of 3 tips taken from the book that I found to be especially motivational:
Hard to do it alone
Many successful people have had opportunities or help from others. Bill Gates had parents who were part of the “rotary club.” They were also rather affluent parents. Therefore, he had access to program computers before computers were available to the general public.
Stress can negatively impact a caregiver if the caregiver does not take care of themselves. Here are some tips to help with stress.
Use relaxation
When you are frustrated, find relaxation techniques to help. These can be as simple as counting from one to ten, while taking slow deep breaths. Others have gone for walks. I tend to meditate, sing, and take baths.
Prayer
Find positive affirmations or prayers that work for you to help you with negative thoughts. For example, the serenity prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”
The following are 5 ways that stress can negative impact a caregiver.
Physical Health
Caregivers become at risk for chronic or disabling conditions themselves. Caregivers suffer from increased rates of physical symptoms including acid reflux, headaches, and pain/aching and have high levels of obesity and bodily pain.
Emotional health
Caregiver stress is also linked with anxiety, depression and other mental health effects. Estimates show that between 40 to 70% of caregivers have clinically significant symptoms of depression.
Mental Health
Caregivers experiencing chronic stress may be at greater risk for cognitive decline including loss in short-term memory, attention adn verbal IQ.
Caregiving requires much time and can be demanding. It is important to recognize the signs of stress in yourself or someone you care about. The following are typical signs of caregiver stress.
Denial about the disease the person cared for has
This is having unrealistic expectations of recovery for the person being cared for.
Anger at the person being cared for
Patience wanes, and anger erupts at things that the people being cared for are not able to do.
Social withdrawal
One can be so consumed with caring for the person, that the caregiver can lose touch with their friends and families. The caregiver no longer does things they once enjoyed.
As part of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, here are top 7 ways to lead a healthy lifestyle without taking too much time.
Go out for a short walk before breakfast, after lunch, or after dinner or all three. Start with 5-10 minutes and increase to 30 minutes.
Walk or bike instead of driving.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Pick a sport to enjoy. I love golf!
Lift weights while watching television.
Heavy gardening- clean your yard and get exercise at the same time.
Being in the “caregiving” profession, I was interesting in finding out more about who are informally caregivers and the commonality among them.
Typical “caregiving” professions that come to mind are those related to direct service such as doctors, nurses, social workers, etc. Informal caregivers are defined as anyone caring for someone who is in need of help. They are unpaid and are usually family members, friends or neighbors.
There are 1.8 million households caring for someone aged 50 or older (Scharlach, et al, 2003). In California 77% of caregivers are women, 37% are daughters and 25% are wives of the person needing care.
