Mental & Emotional Health

If you let it, Valentines Day can really stress you out. The media over commercializes the day trying to convince you to buy everything to “prove” your love. My husband has always been good for a card but with all the built up expectations there can be let downs.

I remember one year I bought these pretty little heart candle holders that I put on a table in our bedroom. Well, my husband was tired, came home and knocked them over smashing them to bits. Whether we had those stupid candles or not is not going to make or break our marriage.

If you build it up thinking it will be the most romantic night of the year, you are bound to be let down emotionally. Ironically, the day can end up causing more problems if you let it.

What if you are single? Valentines Day can be very lonely for people who do not have a date. Try to pamper yourself instead and fight the media’s notion that you are not complete without some romantic partner.

Grab a good book, have a bath, listen to music, invite a friend over for a movie and/or light some candles. There are many things you can do for yourself and don’t have to wait for someone bearing chocolates and roses.

I do believe Valentines Day is overrated anyway. So what if someone spends a fortune on Valentines Day? Does that make them a good potential partner? No, anyone can buy a couple gifts one day out of the year. What about the rest of the year?

Spending quality time together doing things you both enjoy on a regular basis is more likely to make for a successful relationship. For all we know that woman in the office who received jewelry and a dozen roses is going home to a life of hell.

• If you want to read something light, head over to Tulsa OK’s blog where Candy shares some insulting quotes from famous people.

I recently started reading another great Mental & Emotional Heath blog called Mental Health Notes and I’m really enjoying reading it. Alicia Sparks wrote a (mostly) light-hearted Christmas-themed post today about The Top 5 Things My Brain Wants for Christmas and I am stealing her idea … so I bring you:

The Top 5 Things My Heart Wants for Christmas

1. to physically feel well - I haven’t been talking about it much here (been concentrating on those depressed elderly) but I’ve not been feeling well. I have blood work scheduled for Friday to rule out some more things and we’ll see … but I’d like to not hurt this Christmas

2. to be anxiety-free - not only is my health stressing me out, but I feel like I’ve got a lot of other things to deal with lately. Life is changing, and while I absolutely love change, it stresses me out and makes me feel like I have too much going on. I’d love to not be anxious for the rest of the year … or the rest of my life, actually.

3. to have mental illnesses be stigma-free - while we’re definitely not in the dark ages regarding mental health, it’s still not an “okay” diagnosis to have. It bears stigma over cancer, diabetes, IBS and the like, and I just wish it didn’t. While we’re at it, can we remove the stigma from and HIV or AIDS diagnosis, too?

4. a good night’s sleep - like heavy, full-night-long, deep as the ocean sleep. I’ve been so tired and so stressed about being tired, that I can’t sleep and it sucks. Someone let me sleep!

5. the guts to karaoke - I don’t sing very well, but I can hold my own at church and in groups. I have NO guts when it comes to karaoke. I’d love to get these guts in a pretty container … maybe with some tasty tea, too.

So, dear readers, what five things does your heart want for Christmas this year?

I received an email today specifically asking for me to post about this subject. I think that it is for a worthy cause and do believe that we should help this woman out.

Today I’d like you to meet Erin. Erin is a 29-year-old single woman has Chiari malformations and cranial lesions. She is currently being treated at Oregon Health & Science University here in Portland, and she is struggling to pay her hospital bills due to being unemployed and therefore uninsured. Thanks to Oregon’s strict laws, because Erin has no children and is not pregnant, she doesn’t qualify for Medicaid. After a recent surgery consultation, Erin was told that she should have her first brain surgery as soon as she can, but she’s required to put down a deposit on her surgery of anywhere between $1,500 and $5000. Due to her illness, she has been unable to work for a year now and obviously doesn’t have this kind of money.

“Living with a Chiari malformation is painful and exhausting. Living with cranial lesions in addition to the Chiari? Is beyond any kind of description.”

Erin didn’t want to ask for handouts, she’s even hesitating to give away her PayPal information as solicitation for donations, but stumbled upon a MegaUpload reward program in which 5 million downloads from her account will earn her $10,000. There are a few stipulations to this download, including: only one download per original IP address per day, only downloads made from qualifying countries count, and no attempts can be made to manipulate or fraud MegaUpload for more points.

So, Erin has uploaded many word documents to her MegaUpload file in hopes of getting 5 million downloads. Then, to help her out, Cleolinda has uploaded a movie paradoy to the controversial book; The Golden Compass as a virus-free text file to MegaUpload. The book will be posted in four separate sections and you can download each section as they are uploaded. These clicks are being counted for Project Download - the pet name for Erin’s download project. I’ve had friends download the book and assure me that it is virus-free and a perfectly viewable movie parody.

DOWNLOAD a parody of The Golden Compass to help save a woman’s life!

mental and emotional health, Erin, The Golden Compass, Project Download, Cleolinda, cranial lesions, Chiari malformations

Today I’d like to look at how to avoid gaining weight during the holiday season while you’re eating. Later I’ll take another look at emotional eating and how to avoid that specifically.

How To Avoid Gaining Weight During the Holidays

> As much as you can, stay with your regular exercise program. The holiday season is incredibly busy, so this might be the time of year you actually need to schedule your workouts. Once you write them down, keep them! This thirty minutes of physical activity is not only good for your waistline, it’s good for your holiday stress level as well!

> Only watch the holiday specials on the television. When A Christmas Story is on, laugh at the “you’ll shoot your eye out with that thing!” line. Watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas special, but don’t just sit in front of the television through the holidays. Take your children out to see the Christmas lights, take walks in through the snow, go skiing; get out, do something! Take your kids outside to throw the frisbee or spend the family time playing touch or flag football! Even gramma can enjoy those activities with you! If you really want to be wild, turn on some fun Christmas music and boogie in your living room. You can even do that one alone! (Actually, I’m sure my friends prefer that I boogie to Christmas music alone.)

> TRY not to overeat. I won’t tell you just not to do it, but you can try. Don’t graze at buffet tables - don’t make your home near them. Get one helping of the things you really want to try, and then walk away. Drink a lot of water and enjoy the company of others rather than the company of all those fattening and sugary treats. Watch your portion sizes and TRY! If there are piles of fruit or vegetables, snack on those instead (but avoid the dips - they often have high amounts of fats and sugars).

> If you choose to drink alcohol, stick to one drink; or drink low-cal drinks. Stay away from the high-sugar cocktails or carbohydrate-filled beers.

mental & emotional health, eating, holiday foods, losing weight, holiday eating tips