Do you ever feel like you have the world on your shoulders – between being a parent, an employee, a partner, a friend, a pet-owner – and then notice a shoulder muscle that won’t relax? Or a pain in your hip, foot, head, or back? Surely, we’ve all noticed the connection between busy and stressful … Read more
If you’re my family or friend, I know the way I worry all the time can be frustrating and exhausting. I want you to know, I feel the same. One of the worst things about my worry is how hard it is for me to talk about in the moment. Or after the moment. Or, … Read more
Icebergs are deceiving because what you see on the surface is usually only a small fraction of what lies below. Observing the behavior of an anxious child is sometimes like looking at the tip of an iceberg: underlying the anxious behavior are layers of emotions and experiences. Therapists often illustrate this idea with an image … Read more
I’m not always the most patient parent. I’ve been told otherwise by encouraging family and friends, and deep down I guess I know that I do well with kids, but there’s no getting around those heated, emotional moments when my inability to control a situation turns into frustration and anger. Especially at night. For example, … Read more
Crying children clinging desperately to legs, arms, and necks. Parents trying to console young ones while fighting back their own tears. Cadets trying to keep order. Bells sounding. Panic. Screams. While these words could describe some rare, chaotic scene, they also describe the normal start of every school day for many families around the world. … Read more
As parents, we have a natural tendency to reach out to our children when they are anxious, scared, or stressed. What none of us can anticipate is how our children’s anxiety will cause us to feel anxious, helpless, hopeless, angry, or desperate. The next time your child is ridden with anxiety, repeat any of these … Read more
“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power,” says Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker. “It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” (Photo Credit: Levent Konuk / Shutterstock.com) My favorite movies of all time come from the original Star Wars trilogy. Growing … Read more
I wanted to sleep with a bat under my pillow. It was plastic; nonetheless, it was a weapon. I was 5 years old, and I firmly believed that each night when I went to sleep, a robber would break into the house. I needed something to defend myself (and maybe my family), and my brother’s … Read more
It’s no secret that hearing our kids cry makes us uncomfortable. Just think about how anxious you feel when your little one tears up without an obvious reason. We know that a newborn’s main way to communicate is to cry, yet we still look at it as something to be “fixed”. Once that infant becomes … Read more