anxiety Archives - Good Griever

April 23, 2020April 23, 2020

PTSD: The Strange but Wonderful Effects of the Global Pandemic

It’s no secret anymore that I live with PTSD (so glad I came out of that closet a couple of years ago). Millions of people do. And within the context of living with PTSD that struck me when my daughter died in 2005, this world pandemic has taught me something really strange, but also wonderful. It’s given me a new start. And what I’ve learned may apply to other people who were already struggling with PTSD, heightened anxiety or unrelenting stress in our earlier “normal” times.

March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

Staying Sane in a Mad, Mad World

Any little bit of positivity we can hear or read about amidst the Coronavirus outbreak is a good thing in my view. I appreciate every positive story shared as a wonderful counter to the regular scary news stories we are being inundated with (probably rightly so). Positivity gives us a small dose of sanity in a world that has seemingly gone mad.

As someone who grew up with a Chicken Little mentality and now lives with PTSD, while no expert on pandemics, I do have a lot of experience dealing with the power of fear of the unknown and the nervousness and panic that quickly sets in. All of which is currently happening in much of the global environment that to be fair, is understandable in many ways.

November 8, 2018April 1, 2020

Getting Grounded in Grief

As a bereaved mom of a beautiful daughter who died by suicide in 2005 at the age of twenty-two, I certainly know pain and suffering. Just like a lot of other people know pain and suffering who have lost someone to suicide, sudden and/or traumatic death. I have done a lot of work to heal from my pain over the years and have had tremendous success to this point, but it’s an ongoing journey.

Continue reading “Getting Grounded in Grief”

October 12, 2018April 1, 2020

Mastering Fear in Grief

Universal laws teach that everything in life is orchestrated in divine and right timing. I know it doesn’t always feel this way when we are suffering. It can be difficult to trust that we’re going to be okay when faced with challenge after challenge, which is how it often feels in grief.

Whatever difficulty you may be facing right now, if you are feeling anxious and fearful because doors aren’t opening fast enough or in the way you think they should, do not despair. Here are a couple of things to consider: Continue reading “Mastering Fear in Grief”

October 4, 2018April 1, 2020

Mountain or Molehill?

I struggle with anxiety. Fortunately, not on a daily basis anymore, but it does sneak up on me depending on how much seems to be stalled in my life, giving me lots to worry about if I so choose. I’m well aware that nothing is ever stalled. It just seems that way. But for a person living with anxiety, it can take the occurrence of only one or two small things that remind us we are not in control, to kick start the feelings of anxiousness and worry into high gear. Normal situations that millions of people deal with every day can suddenly turn into problems the anxiety-ridden believe are or potentially could be monumental disasters.

Continue reading “Mountain or Molehill?”

September 12, 2018March 31, 2020

Your Health – Environment is Everything

I just moved into the condo of my aspirations. I won’t say dreams, but I will say the aspiration I had for the past two years to live in a condo with an ocean view in the city I have come to love on Vancouver Island. My husband and I moved to the island in 2016, but to a city that wasn’t on our radar. But by a force of nature that I couldn’t compete with, and despite not understanding the reasons for the events that occurred to bring us where we are today, I now understand it all and couldn’t be any happier or feel more at peace. Which says a lot, speaking as a bereaved mom who has not felt at total peace for years.