Project Happiness Articles — control

When I’d encounter myself in high-stress situations, I would engage in the following 5-minute exercise, which is extremely efficient if you feel a lot of nervousness and you need to be quickly calmed down (i.e: when looking for a job, before an interview, before a presentation, before asking for a raise). You can do it wherever and whenever you want.

Acknowledge and Fight the Stigma – A recent NPR interview with Author and Professor Dr. Anthony Rostain discusses the burgeoning mental health epidemic on college campuses. A record number of students are feeling anxious and find it difficult to get help even though they know it is available. In some cases, students might even be adamantly against it. Why? Well, the reasons vary but one stands out – denial or procrastination. Only 1 in 4 students get the counseling.  

Anger is a signal that something is not right - maybe a boundary has been violated, maybe you feel you are being prevented from getting something you really want; perhaps you have been hurt so much that you cannot take it anymore, maybe you feel appalled or helpless about some circumstances or situation right now.

And so it begins—the willingness to subsume our own will because of the uniquely uncomfortable feeling that comes from saying no. This phenomenon is by no means confined to youth. All of us, at some point or another, have found ourselves coming up with excuses of our own. 

Admitting you have a problem is the first step in helping yourself and allowing others to do so as well. When my cry for help came, I was exhausted to the point that even thinking about the solution was tiring for me. But let’s start from the beginning.

Easier said than done, you might think. Not at all, only if you are prepared to invest some effort to gain much needed serenity. Though no single approach works for everybody. Have a shot at them to see what a difference they could make in your life.

She has room on her plate for her husband and their twin children, her job, and her relatives. Anything more would fall off her plate. 

We all do it. You scroll through your newsfeed and see "perfect" parenting. The perfect plate of food from all the food groups, (which we assume their kids eat ALL of without complaint)...

We often hear about nature’s sense of balance and the tendency of systems to achieve equilibrium, but we still seem surprised to see it in action. 

Underneath it all, I was drowning. I was unable to relax, to recharge, to rejuvenate.