Did Your Resolution Love You As Much As You Loved It?

Annah ElizabethHappiness, Loss, Grief, and Healing, The Five Facets Philosophy on Healing ™2 Comments

Maybe you spent months dreaming up a plan that was sure to take you to new heights or maybe you thought the exciting energy surrounding the trending new diet, exercise or self-help regimen sounded like the next best thing for you, too. Now, for whatever reason, your in-it-to-win-it spirit has turned into God-how-I-hate-this-I-just-might-puke-if…or a You-suck-you-quitter/loser/faker/despicable/[insert your whatever]-You.

Regardless of how you came to setting your resolution, it is obvious that this is more than a little slump; it is just not working for you. In fact, it could be all wrong for you. A few simple questions will help you isolate where the breakdown(s) might be and help you redirect.

Ask Annah: Why Do I Feel Worse 2-3 Years after My Significant Life Loss Event

Annah ElizabethAsk Annah, Loss, Grief, and Healing, Mental Health2 Comments

Dear Journeyer, I am often asked some variation of this question: “It’s been three years since my child/parent/sibling/spouse/best friend died and I feel worse now than I did when it happened. What is wrong with me?” Though this query often references the death of a person, I have also heard it with regard to other forms of loss, including but … Read More

Energized by Envy

Annah ElizabethHappy Happens ™, Loss, Grief, and Healing, Mental HealthLeave a Comment

Happy Sunday-now-Monday, Journeyer! First up on the Happy Happens tribute list? First week of Back to School is behind me!! Woot! Woot! As always, the return to the early morning six o’clock alarm is a little daunting. Thankfully the first day back wasn’t a split shift, which meant I was able to entertain a much needed, midday nap! My mood … Read More

Healing and the Two Sides of Freedom

Annah ElizabethHealing and the Two Sides of, Loss, Grief, and Healing, Mental Health, SpiritualityLeave a Comment

As I prepared for my family’s July 4th celebration, I couldn’t help but think about some of the events and threads that comprise our freedom. Our freedom, for all of us who live in countries that afford us the privilege of choosing our own daily course of actions, was born on the backs and of the bloodshed of too many to … Read More

On Falling from Grace and Forgiveness

Annah ElizabethForgiveness, Happy Happens ™, Spirituality2 Comments

Happy Sunday, Journeyer and for those who honor the holiday, Happy Easter! As I thought about this week’s post and the upcoming Christian celebration, I thought about how Easter reminds me of all of us, people from all religions and those of non religion. This morning marks the fifteenth year my family has participated in an Easter Dawn pageant, a reenactment of … Read More

I Matter

Annah Elizabeth2 Comments

  No matter our location, our age, our temperament, our prestige, or our personality, we will somewhere, sometime, encounter people who treat us as inferior. Often those people are strangers, sometimes colleagues, yet sometimes those people are friends, and sometimes, sadly, family… As I typed the word sadly I thought about what a therapist once said, “We don’t have to … Read More

On Validation and Self Worth, a Digging for the Light Excerpt

Annah ElizabethLeave a Comment

  Earlier this week I shared with you something that I had previously revealed only to two other people: my therapist and my husband. It’s a scary, scary thing to not only admit to our shortcomings, but to put them out there for the entire world to see. Scary. SCARY. SCARY! What I can tell you, though, is that I … Read More

On Validation and the Value of Self Worth

Annah ElizabethLeave a Comment

As I sat in my therapist’s office last week, a small truth began to unfold before my eyes. “I guess I’ve just always been looking for validation,” I said. Learning. Growing. Understanding, Journeyers. That’s half the battle. As those words tumbled from my mouth, I remembered a conversation with my first successful therapist. I say “first successful” because my parents … Read More