Reflecting on my remote work journey, I was wondering where it all started. I find myself transported back to my first experience in a co-living space in Medellin, Colombia, circa September 2022. At that time, instead of working I was on a sabbatical, exploring the joys of Latin America and the Spanish language as well as slowly getting started on my mental health blog. During this experience, I met other remote workers and digital nomads in this beautiful, vibrant city, and a dream I had felt in the back of my mind started to come more and more into shape: I wanted to be able to work fully remotely, from anywhere, sharing houses with other like-minded individuals that are living the same lifestyle. I wanted to sit and work in cute cafes or on…
In my experience in search for some support with my depression, doctors and psychiatrists didn’t offer me an alternative to antidepressants, which is quite disappointing considering that they do exist. Luckily, I never ended up taking antidepressants because it didn’t feel right for me. I don’t judge anyone who does take and need them but I think it’s a shame that we are not being told more about natural cures for depression because they are out there! Why should you consider trying a natural alternative? As I found myself in lack of recommendations from professionals, I started doing my own research and ‘experiments’ with a couple of cures that I’d like to share, to offer more natural alternatives to fight depression. Despite being natural medicine, please always talk to a doctor before using any…
If you’ve been struggling with depression, anxiety, and/or panic attacks for a while, you might be well aware of what can help you in these situations, while you’re well. But then the next bad moment, minute, hour or day comes along and you’re suddenly frozen. You can’t remember a single strategy to get yourself out of your intrusive thoughts. Or maybe you’ve never known many tools in the first place because you only recently to experienced your first mental health emergency. Many strategies speak about more long-term strategies that can help prevent bad mental health but what can we really do if we need help NOW? If you are finding yourself in a mental health emergency or want to be prepared for the next one or maybe even be able to help a loved…
Read on about my honest experience of an Ayahuasca Retreat in Colombia. Just be aware – this won’t be the usual happy ending story with this plant medicine that you’ve likely come across before. What is Ayahuasca? This depends very much on who you ask. On the one hand, a shaman or healer will tell you that it’s a healing plant, retrieved from specific trees found in the Amazon in South America. More specifically, a plant with many healing properties for the mind and body. Ayahuasca is for example said to be able to heal trauma from the past. On the other hand, a scientist might categorize Ayahuasca as a psychedelic drug. Most people who have tried it would probably agree that drinking this plant offered them the chance to enter a different dimension…
When it comes to mental health, preparation is everything. Because once these days hit, we often find ourselves with blank minds on what we could do to feel better now. Therefore, I’ve collected some tools for you that you can prepare during good times on which you can rely on in those low moments. So next time you’re having a bad mental health day it might still take you by surprise, but at least you won’t be unarmed. Read on to find out how to prepare for a bad mental health day. Do something for your mind and body every day. This tip on how to prepare for a bad mental health day isn’t new but just a friendly reminder. Body exercise and mind exercise (such as meditation or breathing exercises) is a long-term…
Connect with yourself I believe one of the most important actions to a healthy morning routine for mental health is to start your day by taking some time for yourself before you let the world in and engage with it. Most likely, the way that you are getting into your day impacts how the next 24 hours will unfold for you. In that sense, don’t rush from your bed straight to work. In fact, try to not rush at all and instead try to wake up early enough to be able to get ready for the day ahead as stress-free as possible for a healthy morning routine for mental health. Make sure that you are taking some time to check in with yourself before you start your day and engage with the world. If…
Or: does traveling mean running away? An opinion piece for those who judge themselves for taking a travel break from life and are scared of doing so because of their mental health struggles ‘We don’t travel to escape life, but for life not to escape us.’ As I am sitting on the train I am starting to think about traveling, now, post-covid where we finally can move around freely again. What is it that makes me crave so much for it? I wonder. An escape from ‘real’ life and routine? Am I running away from ‘real life’? From my perspective, most of us don’t realize that this ‘real life’ doesn’t exist outside of a fixed mindset that has been created and passed onto us by society. ‘Real life with a real job’ is merely…
Burnout manifests differently in everyone and is as of now officially not a DSM-5 diagnosis. (DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and could be described as the bible for psychotherapists which they use to diagnose mental illnesses in patients.) However that doesn’t mean that burnout isn’t real. It felt very real for me and my symptoms included panic attacks, anxiety, intense feelings of constant stress, insomnia, exhaustion and depression. On top of that I also had physical symptoms like regular headaches and dizziness. In my opinion we also don’t always need a diagnosis, you will feel it when you have it. Looking back, there were some confronting truths about burnout which I have come to realize that even though they were painful at the time, were so true. Even though…
We all know that social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok (which I won’t talk about it in this article because I don’t use it – I guess I am officially old now) and Facebook can be toxic. They sucks us in, let us waste hours of our time and make us feel like our lives are boring compared to what we see online. Social media platforms can unfortunately also worsen depression and anxiety if we follow the wrong accounts. They can trigger feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy and jealousy. We can remember that we shouldn’t compare another person’s high with our low all we want, however our subconscious still gets affected. One option to deal with this would of course be to deactivate or delete your accounts. However, this is first, difficult, and second…
The uncomfortable truth is that getting out of a bad mental place requires work. If we don’t actively work against the bad thoughts and feelings it’s going to be hard to overcome them. The good news is that there are several healthy habits for mental health that you can incorporate into your daily life that don’t take more than 5 minutes each you can comfortably perform from home will over time significantly boost your state of being Gratitude When our mental health is bad, our brain is highly focused on all the things we wish were different and all the things that are going wrong in our lives. Therefore, we need to remind ourselves of the positives in our lives. A gratitude practice is an excellent way to reframe our thoughts and thereby our…