advice

Answering all of your health, wellness, fitness, and personal questions.

Running Away from Myself
We live in a society where we are more educated, more advanced, and more aware of ourselves and the world we live in, yet we are still oblivious to so much that we should know. My story today is regarding mental health, more specifically depression and my battle to survive it. I don't think I have met one person who hasn't felt that cold, hopeless despair at some point in their lives. I cannot express the envy I feel towards those who seem perpetually cheerful. They are the type that have the ability to see the positive in every situation, people gravitate towards them because of their bubbly personality and enthusiasm for life. While individuals like this often suffer from depression themselves, their ability to keep optimistic is something I have tried to achieve for many years. I have only just begun to achieve it on my good days but I still have a long way to go. I first remember feeling depressed at around six years old. At that age I couldn't understand my feelings or how to express them, I used to cry to my mother that I should never have been born, I didn't know proper social etiquette around my peers so I was always the odd one out, my classmates labelled me as "weird," a lot of my teachers took me as lazy and unwilling to learn, unaware that I was struggling so deeply within myself that I was contemplating suicide at 6yo. I planned to eat some berries that I knew were poisonous but in the end I chickened out. It felt like I was tainted by an invisible darkness that nobody else could see and I was unable to put into words. I was drowning and nobody was noticing.
By Amba Em9 years ago in Longevity
Why I Decided to Not Be Like Everyone Else!
In a world, full of “carbon copy” people, I decided to be me! I refuse to conform to being who others tell me I should be. Instead, I stand on my own two feet, marching to the beat of my own drum.
By Nicole (Nikki) M.9 years ago in Longevity
Mirror, Mirror
I have a mission for you; a little exercise in self-confidence you might call it. Most women spend a significant portion of their day looking in a mirror and assessing themselves. Usually negatively. I suspect a number of men do as well but not with same venom and fervor that women seem to. We really hate our bodies. Size doesn't even necessarily come into it. I've seen girls that could barely weigh 90 lbs hate on their bodies in front of a mirror.
By Sarah Sparks9 years ago in Longevity
How Thinking About Sriracha Sauce Made Me a Happier Person
I recently learned of a crazy concept: basking in love. Yes, I realise it sounds like the title of one of those self-help books we love to hate or some a cappella song sung on the final day of a new-age life-coaching retreat. And it’s fine if those are your things, but despite the flaky intonations of the name, basking in love is a full-on, rather radical activity (at least by today’s standards) that, like any form of meditation, can make a significant mental and emotional impact on your life. I discovered basking in love because I needed a daily practice in maintaining not just self-love (an abstract term if there ever was one) but more an awareness of that self-love. In today’s world, we’re so quick to adopt a conscious sense of fear as a primal instinct for survival; I believe doing the same with love can empower us to be brighter, lighter, happier people.
By Bryan Levandowski9 years ago in Longevity
Being an Empath
My entire life, I felt energies. I was unsure what was going on. I could often walk into a room and immediately pick up who was happy, who was sad, and where any tension was.
By Beth Gibbons9 years ago in Longevity
Walking the PMDD Labyrinth
I recently came across a question on a PMDD forum that asked something like, "I just discovered I have PMDD. Please tell me there is something I can do to carry on with my life and responsibilities. And don't tell me to diet and exercise!"
By Cheeky Minx9 years ago in Longevity
How a Work Related Back Injury Affected More Than My Health
I had always known of the safety regulations at work—watching those boring videos about onsite safety and procedures. It wasn't until I experienced my own work-related back injury that I realized the importance of lifting heavy things safely.
By Philip P.9 years ago in Longevity
How To Manage Fear When You're Fearing The Worst
Fear is one of the most powerful human emotions we can endure. It's consuming nature can overwhelm our thoughts, dominate our emotions and negatively influence our behavior. It is a mysteriously dark force that can quietly creep into your life and take hostage everything that you hold dear.
By Brandon Krogel9 years ago in Longevity
A Dunning-Kruger World
As a person who has lived with ADHD my entire life, I can completely understand how people who have a know-it-all attitude and who aren't afraid to voice their irrelevant opinions can be frustrating and also damaging to one's well being. These opinions of others, whether they be right or wrong, can have an impact on the listener.
By S P9 years ago in Longevity
Living Under the Shadow of Anxiety
Anxiety, another invisible illness. How can I possibly justify my illness? How can I prove that I have chemical imbalances in my brain? Are they going to believe me, or think I'm too sensitive and stress too much?
By Stephanie Gendron9 years ago in Longevity
How I Reignited My Passion
A few years ago, I started a journal. We were about to move to America, and I wanted a way to document my journey to a different country. I remembered being excited, feeling that I would cherish it for the rest of my life.
By Tristan Ramos9 years ago in Longevity
The Greatest Privilege
We live in a universe where our greatest privilege is life itself, death the inescapable reality governed by space and time. But humans are a death-denying species, constantly forgetting the renewal that death offers the universe, the beginning of a new chapter from the end of the old.
By Justin Gignac9 years ago in Longevity