Create Your Bliss!
Create Your Bliss!
Out & About Today, my daughters and I went out and about. I still have very limited stamina due to worsened bronchitis. However, I was finally given an antibiotic that is helping immensely. So, today was exhausting just going out and having some fun. First, we went to the dog park and let Toula run […]
Publishing Schedule Illness Recovery I am still recovering from my mystery illness. The community Covid testing place moved to another campus, and there were no signs directing where to go so I never got my test done. Instead, I have been staying home mostly. It has been a week since I first felt mild symptoms […]
Bad Days Happen to Everyone Yesterday was a bad day for me. I realize that bad days happen to everyone, but they can be disruptive and uncomfortable. Fortunately, there are ways to help prevent how many bad days you have. There are also tips on how to manage a day marred by anxiety and depression. […]
Meal Prepping on Budget When you are low on funds, it is common to want to sacrifice substance for affordability. But you are in the right place here! Today, I am meal prepping on a budget! Affordability is built-in. You just need your favorite dressing, baked chickpeas, and some peanut butter on bread with cheese! […]
Trainer Tips This is my first Trainer Tips post. Yay! Today’s post pertains to tips for weight training at the gym. These tips work best if you are doing full-body weight training. Personally, I prefer full-body weight training over split weight training. I love how I feel when I have trained my whole body! Start with […]
Spin Day Today was a spin day. I got in a 30 minute 80s ride from the Peloton app. Tonight, I will add stretching and abs. Job Interview I meet with my job coach in a few minutes. Afterward, I have an interview for a medical receptionist position. I researched possible questions and acceptable types […]
Trip to Estes Park On Sunday, my daughters and I drove up to Estes Park. Estes Park is the base of Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a lot of fun walking the shopping district. The shops had beautiful jewelry and other gifts. They also had shops full of interesting types of rocks. I love rocks. […]
Low Self-Confidence with a Mental Illness & What Can Cause It In an earlier post, (see this link), I came up with the idea to write about a few topics that are affecting my life currently. Self-confidence was one of the topics. While researching how to build self-confidence, I did not find a lot of […]
Workout Journal I walked my dogs today. My granddog (Yeah-that’s a word-to me!) Toula slurped down some squirrel roadkill so we had to circle back home early. Gumbo (ratchet Chihuahua) had fun watching me try to stop Toula from eating the squirrel! My daughter works in a veterinary clinic so she knows what to do and […]
Branded Websites Today, I perused some similarly branded websites and realized quite a few things! I also thought about how I could grow Nibbana Wellness as a brand. I need to get comfortable with the camera again-Kind of like this comfortable: I need to learn how to use my fancy camera-It has been sitting in […]
My Life & Career Goals I took Gumbo, my senior Chihuahua (wears diapers & sweaters, likes to bite), and Fotoula (‘Toula-like my Big Fat Greek Wedding/My grand-dog) to the Freedom Dog Park. They had a great time expending their pent-up energy. As I watched them while enjoying the light breeze, I thought about my overall […]
Grief I have struggled with grief every September since 2018 when my younger sister died, unexpectedly. There were things said during arguments that were never made right. There were distant silences and tumultuous feelings between us at times. But I loved my sister, Diana, and I thought that we would become grandmothers together one day. […]
Flexibility is the Key to Keeping Goals In my post “Stop Self-Sabotaging Fitness & Wellness Goals”, I cover how we can talk ourselves out of achieving our goals each day, both consciously and subconsciously. But what about days when you wake up and nothing is going right or well? I had such a dilemma this […]
How we Self-Sabotage Fitness & Wellness Goals We can self-sabotage our fitness and wellness goals in two primary ways: Consciously Subconsciously Consciously Self- Sabotaging Fitness & Wellness Goals Have you ever thought that you could never reach your fitness and wellness goals? Do you feel bad about yourself presently and desperately want to change but […]
First Peloton Ride Since Bronchitis Today, I completed my first Peloton ride (I use the app; I don’t have a Peloton bike yet-it is on my wish list!) in a week since my bronchitis diagnosis. I even wore my athletic compression socks to help in case I have some remaining clot issues as mentioned in […]
Recovery and Productivity I tend to enjoy being productive, and this productivity is not limited to employment-related productivity. I enjoy knowing that I have meal preparations completed, that my carpet is clean, that I have written something meaningful, and that I have gotten in a good workout. I even consider spending quality time with my […]
Feeling Stressed Out! Feeling stressed is incredibly uncomfortable. In the past, I felt like I had to endure the agony of distress to eventually solve my problems. Later, after Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), I learned that taking a break from my stress helped me more creatively or rationally solve my problems. When These Skills Work […]
Building Competence Building competence is one of my favorite skills. I use it on days like today-when I think I haven’t achieved my goals and feel a loss in my skill ability. To build competence today, I completed tasks that made me feel in control of my overall wellness goals. I cleaned the kitchen and […]
DBT Distress Tolerance Skill Improving the Moment is a skill in Distress Tolerance found in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). It is one of my favorite skills. Sometimes, when your emotions are heightened, you feel panic. It’s like your rational mind leaves and your emotion mind takes over. In reality, your rational mind is still online, […]
Source of Anxiety I am nervous about starting my new senior care job today. I know I have experience from a more difficult position in assisted living (dementia care), but I still feel nervous about going to someone’s home. Music I have my headphones on and I am listening to music; it helps a lot. […]
Covid-19 Lockdown I obtained my personal trainer certification during lockdown. I was also certified in sports nutrition and exercise therapy. I did not really intend to work as a personal trainer at all. I studied for the certifications so that I could learn how to better combat the metabolic syndrome that is caused by taking […]
Trigger Warning 1. Healing Does not Depend on Whether or not the Perpetrator is Punished Many people who were sexually assaulted never get any type of justice for what happened to them. If you are fortunate enough to have had your perpetrator punished judicially, it still won’t heal the wounds. Healing from sexual assault does […]
Intense Emotions I tend to dislike intense emotions. I was brought up thinking that I had “emotional problems” when I showed any type of emotion. So, for a long time, I walled off my emotions and lived a pretty emotionally desolate life. Then, the pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction, and I felt […]
Antipsychotic medications, like olanzapine (see this list) can impair your body’s ability to regulate heat. For this reason, you need to take extra precautions during the hot summer months. Wake up Earlier I generally go to bed early so that I can wake up before the day heats up. I need about nine hours of […]
I literally cringe when I see that people describe themselves with derogatory psychiatric terms or with mental illness diagnoses. It is not embarrassment for them that I feel. I just feel pain that they cannot see what is beautiful about themselves. They are, in a sense, internalizing the stigma held by others and themselves. For […]
Just Getting Started I started “meal prepping” about six months ago, and in that time I have learned a lot. Meal Prepping is also an easy quick-meal solution on busy days. In addition, it has helped me to learn more about food safety. In the beginning, I would see Instagram posts depicting a week’s worth […]
Evening Drive Yesterday evening, the girls and dogs and I loaded up in the RAV and took an evening drive. Before setting off for the countryside, we stopped by Scooter’s for coffee. The streets nearby were filled with many more homeless people than usual, and I felt a deep sadness for them. On the way […]
My Current Success This morning, I weighed myself with a body composition scale and discovered that I have lost seven pounds this week. The weight loss resulted from a calorie deficit paired with exercise. Now that I have exceeded my goal, I began to think of non-food reward ideas to boost my motivation. Currently, I […]
Triggering Event Today, I was cycling along to a popular spin app when Nine Inch Nails’ song “Closer” began to play. I know this song is said to represent self-hatred, but its lyrics are triggering for someone who has experienced sexual assault. “Closer” began to play and I felt angry. I wanted to quit the […]
It is my opinion that creativity is vital to living well. However, I have not written a poem since 2011 (poem below) and have not felt especially creative for a long time. The medication I take dampens my vibrant imagination. Initially, what I failed to realize is that being stable will allow me to finish […]
If you are anything like me, you are going to have days when exercising feels impossible. While it is important to listen to your body, sometimes the mental aspect is more difficult than the physical part. When you have a mental illness, committing to a daily fitness plan can seem daunting, but you can always […]
Even if you are experienced in handling your mental illness, there will be days when you panic. The mere threat of another mood episode sends you into maintenance mode. I experienced this yesterday. When I awoke this morning, I realized that I had done an excellent job in identifying my trigger and responding to it […]
Darn That Pesky Negative Self-Talk! Today, I was writing My Story and I felt a rush of negative thoughts and emotions. No one is going to read this blog. Sharing your story will worsen the stigma you face. Once you have experienced psychosis, no one thinks you have any valuable thoughts about anything. I hope […]
Therapy usually feels like a relief, but sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it brings up painful memories and emotions. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) module on Distress Tolerance can help reset your emotional balance. TIP Skills: Change Your Body Chemistry Tip Skills include: Tip the temperature of your face with cold water Intense Exercise Paced Breathing […]
Niche Nibbana Wellness’ audience is people with mental health conditions. Focus Articles on Nibbana Wellness include articles in the following categories: Meditation Fitness Nutrition Managing Activities of Daily Living Recovery Maintenance Goal Setting & Achievement Submissions If you would like to submit an article to Nibbana Wellness, please see the Submissions Page. […]
Nibbana Wellness is coming soon and will be fully online on July 1, 2021. Please see Nibbana Wellness’ About page to learn more about the mission of Nibbana Wellness and to learn more about its creator, Carolina Maine. If you are interested in contributing an article to Nibbana Wellness, please visit the Submissions page. Photo […]
