WELLNESS TOOLBOX
These are go-to practices, resources, tools, podcasts, and books that I draw from for my personal wellness needs and frequently share
and recommend to friends and family. Some affiliate links generate traffic info and/or proceeds to help support this website.
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PRACTICES​
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Assess where you are early and often to minimize stress, understand your past, current, or future issues, and determine your next steps more clearly. At the end of my Dimensions of Wellness and Hierarchy of Needs blog post, I lay out a simple activity which include 1) questions to ask yourself, 2) acknowledgement, 3) reflection, and 4) giving yourself credit. Our situations are everchanging and unique, and this activity reflects that.
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This exercise of journaling from all sides came to mind as an adaptation that combines 1) the empty chair method, 2) journaling, and 3) the theory of the id, ego, and superego (also can be described as your young self, now self, and wise self). It's helped me to process hurt, grief, and other feelings and thoughts that lingered from my past and/or could not be resolved with the other party involved (for whatever reason). I believe it can help to empower you to give yourself what you thought you needed from others in order to understand, heal, move on, and grow.
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I use the mindfulness exercise of noticing thoughts to manage stress and anxiety. 2 visualizations that have been most helpful to me are what I call the Lazy River or Thought Bubbles.. Another more straightforward method is to add "I notice I am having the thought that..." to put some space between you and thoughts to prevent unnecessary unhelpful spiraling stress.​
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Practicing gratitude is linked to greater happiness. If you find yourself in a funk or think you can benefit from just feeling a little better overall, try this exercise from my What Are You Grateful For? blog post. For 5 days, write down 2 small and 1 big things for which you are grateful. At the end of the 5 days, you will have a list of 15 things you are grateful for. Keep this list handy, add to it often, and reflect on it once in awhile or whenever you need it to give your mood a boost.​
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TOOLS & RESOURCES​
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Need to calm down, chill out, take a breath? This super simple app helps with just that. I bookmark the URL (or even better if you bookmark this toolbox page) to access it whenever I need. You can adjust the audio, seconds for each breathe, and number of cycles to suit your preference. ​
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Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages is one of the most recommended books for strengthening your relationships and, in turn, your own social wellness and love and belonging needs. It is based on the idea that all relationships grow better when we can understand each other. Relationships are a huge component of wellness that is often overlooked or at-odds with our individualistic society. With the current shortage of couples counselors and increasing stresses related to pandemic, this is an easy place to begin replenishing your "love tank." After you've read or listened to the book, they provide a study guide to go deeper.
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​Text: “NAMI” to 741741, Open 24/7
HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264, M-F 7am-5pm
NAMI works to educate, advocate, listen, and lead to improve the lives of people with mental illness and their loved ones. They offer education classes, support groups, and a HelpLine by phone and text. Their website is an amazing resource with information on mental health conditions and how to navigate a mental health crisis or emergency. There are more than 600 NAMI affiliates offering local services.
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For someone who is so enthusiastic about mindfulness, I can't meditate for sh*t. With that said, this is my go-to when I need cool down, take a breath, and reset. It makes me laugh and puts me in the right mindset to move on about my day and get things done. Bookmark it; trust me. It's on YouTube and it's free, or you can buy the full-color illustrated hardcover guide on Amazon.
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Roger K. Allen, Ph.D. creates content to empower people to make better choices. I learned about this content first through his Udemy course "Become a Master at Conflict Management at Home or Work" and purchased but need to make time to take his course on Creating a Happy Marriage and Love Relationship. (These often go on sale for about $15, so keep an eye out!) His website has a wealth of helpful articles and resources. The tool I refer to the most often for myself and to share is his 4 Phases of Dialogue and Conflict Management, which include 1) Preparation, 2) Invitation, 3) Exploration, and 4) Collaboration.
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Grant Sabatier provides these free money tools, spreadsheets, videos, and calculators to supplement his book Financial Freedom. I think the most important ones for anyone, even those without FIRE plans, are the How much money are you making per hour? calculator and the Future Value of Money calculator. One thing that differentiates this from other money books is that it is written from a young(er) perspective.
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These are not by any means substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment, but sometimes it helps to have easily accessible tools to give you an idea if trying out therapy is a worth a shot. At the end of each quiz, there is a field to enter your email address to receive their newsletter. You do NOT have to share your email if you don't want to! Just leave it blank and click "See Results".
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The 3 Minute Depression Test is used by mental health practitioners before each visit to assess depressive and anxious symptoms and track trends (decline, improvement, etc.). Also very helpful are the Do I Have Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)? quiz and ​Postpartum Depression Test.
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This is one of the most effective tools to manage life where relationships are involved. Basically, set a 30-minute timer and discuss: 1) Appreciation, 2) Chores, 3) Plans for Good Times, and 4) Problems and Challenges. I've found this removes or minimizes feelings of stress, urgency, and being blindsided in discussing issues as they occur or when they become too much to tolerate. It allows those who are generally avoid conflict an opportunity reason to discuss their issues before they become too much, and those who are more anxious to give themselves grace and permission to set issues aside for a more productive and less emotionally-charged time.
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PODCASTS​
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TED Talks Daily are short episodes on thought-provoking ideas to change your perspective, ignite your curiosity, and learn something new. If you find an episode that piques your interest, you can probably find the full TED talk on YouTube.​
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Joanna Vargas gives off the most motivating energy I've ever experienced in my life. I trained with her at The Fit Factor Studio (now reformatted to the Live Fully Academy) for years (and lost 30 lbs leading up to my wedding!). Now, she also provides mindset and business coaching services and workshops, and creates content such as The Get Up Girl Podcast (also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify). Some days, it's literally all I need to get inspired to make magic. ✨
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NPR's Life Kit podcast episodes are short (a couple minutes to under a half hour), and provide practical tools to help you get it together. They cover topics that help with health, money, parenting, life skills, and more.​
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Connie and Aimee are two young female entrepreneurs who invite others to ride along as they figure out how to navigate their lives and find true happiness. What I find so courageous and refreshing about this podcast is that they say they "haven't made it yet" where other podcasts generally try to come across as teachings by someone who has it all figured out. They and their guests talk through their very real experiences along all the triumphs, setbacks, doubts, and questions that come with them. Episodes have covered money mindset, mental health awareness, and more.​
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Grant Sabatier of Financial Freedom and Matt Zubricki of Distilled Dollar discuss tough personal finance topics in 5 minutes or less on Millennial Money Minutes. I listen to this to quickly gauge which money issue I need to tackle next. Personally, I've never been so easily convinced to take a big money step as when I listened to Episode 149: How to Access 25% Returns. ​
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I'm all for short inspiring podcasts about real people. Side Hustle School was created by Chris Guillebeau as a he realized the demand for side hustle stories while touring for his book The $100 Startup. ​In addition to daily short episodes telling stories of real life successful side hustles, there are longer, more in-depth instruction how-to "Extended Cut" episodes to provide guidance to those trying to set up their side hustle.
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