I’m a recent grad with a Health Sciences degree who is facing difficulties with slowing down. Does there need to always be something I am working on? Do I need to always be working on all of my projects? Keeping on top of everything? Growing and improving in measurable ways? It feels like my mind…
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What you do with the seeds of knowledge I offer is up to you – a free verse about living with depression
Read moreThis is something new that I am trying out – the following is completely unedited, free-flow writing written exactly from where I am at in the current moment. Its purpose? To give one perspective on what life with chronic depression is really like, in order to increase those without depression’s understanding of it. Also, to…
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Not Everyone Suffers From Mental Illness, But Everyone Has Mental Health #GetLoud
Read moreExtremely common and damaging misconceptions: I have good mental health. After all, I don’t have a mental illness. People with mental illness and myself are fundamentally different. I don’t need to go out of my way to be kinder to myself or practice meditation or whatever. I don’t have a mental illness, so why should…
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Big List of Self-Care Date Activities For Those ‘Off’ Days
Read moreAlright, Nico. Why are you sitting around in bed? How useless. You’re wasting your time. Again. Why can’t you control your own thoughts and emotions? You know, rationally, that nothing will come of moping around all day. And yet. And yet. These are words I spoke to myself just the other day. I was having…
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Challenging cognitive distortions – a guide for students
Read moreTwo weeks ago, we explored 11 cognitive distortions that are commonly seen in students. The aim there was to learn to recognize and identify them when they arise in our everyday lives. Today, I’d like to help you to redirect these cognitively distorted thoughts toward healthier alternative thoughts. I want to reiterate that everything here…
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11 Cognitive Distortions for Students
Read moreI’m a university student in a program that has an admission requirement of a 90% average from grade 12 in high school. I absolutely love my program, but I have heard oh so often from my mental health professionals that it is a breeding ground for mental health issues. I attribute it to the fact…
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Abandonment – Overcoming the Fear
Read more“The reality, Nicole, is that although your thoughts are not completely rational and are definitely cognitively distorted, there is an element of truth to them this time.” I had spent three weeks ruminating endlessly on these thoughts that I shared with my psychiatrist, only to hear that statement from him. I knew that I wouldn’t…
