An Easy Way To Reduce Stress & Find Balance In Life

I have always felt slightly irritated when reading articles telling me that I should find balance in my life. A balanced life conjures up (for me anyway) visions of yoga on the beach, meditating twice a day and long walks through the countryside. Now when I am I supposed to get around to that?

I’ll add it to the list:
1. work all day,
2. make dinner,
3. drop kids off at practice,
4. take cat to the vet,
5. find balance….

Hmm….on a day-by-day basis that just isn’t feasible and part of me thinks it is just something else to feel guilty about never getting around to doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for finding time in your day to take a breath, do something for yourself, however small, and not rush around all the time. It’s definitely not good to feel overwhelmed and stressed. This is why I like the idea of having a Sanity Account. It is the best way to reduce stress.

Let me explain more:
Just like a checkbook, where we try to balance money paid out with money paid in I think we should try to schedule some relaxing deposits to counteract the stress “pay outs”.

Find a pencil and draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. One side write “Debits” and list the things you are doing today that you find stressful or whatever is worrying you (and if it is the same thing every day we should look at that in more depth – see my free booklet Simple Steps To Overcome Anxiety & Worrying). Next tackle one “Debit”. It doesn’t matter which one, we just need to get started.

On the “Credits” side write down the same amount of things you love to do. Anything that makes to feel calmer or happy. Like most of us you are probably doing much more of the things on your debit side than on your credit side.

When you tackle one debit make sure you also do something from the credit side.

Here is the most important part. If you can’t do the credit straight away – schedule the credit on your calendar, either later the same day or sometime soon.

For more ways to reduce stress take a look at my free booklet Simple Steps To Overcome Anxiety & Worrying. It has a lot of other helpful information that highlights areas of your life where you can make small changes, which added together result in big changes in your mood.

I have put together a booklet with some strategies I am always giving to my clients to help them begin to feel less anxiety and to worry less.

I hope that you will find it helpful too.

Add your first name and email address in the box below and you will be sent the steps to download your FREE book.

If you have questions after reading this article or the booklet or have any questions about how counseling can be useful to your particular circumstances please contact me at 847 791-7722 or on the form below.

I see clients in my Northbrook office or if it is more convenience, via telephone or internet sessions

If you have any questions after reading this article or want to know more about anxiety treatment

please phone me at 847 791-7722 or

email me below

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Testimonials

When I had my first baby I had what I now know was postpartum depression but I didn’t get any help. It did go away after about 18mths but it was a miserable way to begin motherhood. When I was pregnant with my second child I started to become depressed again and this time told my OB/GYN how I was feeling and she referred me to Sarah. By starting to deal with how I felt and change the way I was handling the stresses in my life, I was in a much better place when my baby was born. The second time round my PPD was much less severe and didn’t last as long. Sarah was also really helpful in teaching me ways to make the transition of becoming a big sister easier for my oldest one too. My husband came with me for some sessions and that really helped our relationship and we started working on parenting issues together. Sarah’s counsel and support really helped our family transition to the good place we are all in today.

Sara D.

I began seeing Dr. Allen when my first child was around a year old. I had experienced a very traumatic birth, after a difficult pregnancy where I was on bed rest for a good portion of the time. The first year of my son’s life was spent worrying constantly. I also experienced flashbacks to the birth, which was an emergency C-section under general anesthesia. My son was in the NICU for several days following his birth, and I was not given very much information as to why. I remember thinking that he would die, or that something awful was going to happen.

I experienced a great deal of anxiety that first year, and I thought that it was due to being a new mom. I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating as normal, and I remember being worried about leaving the house or taking my baby with me anywhere. I worried constantly about illness, germs, etc.

The first day that I saw Dr. Allen, she gave me some questionnaires to fill out before we started talking. Then we sat down and talked about my experiences with my son’s birth and the early days of his life, and the year or so since then. I remember to this day the relief that I felt when she looked at me and said that I had PPD and PTSD, which was a result of the trauma I experienced during and immediately after the birth of my son. She explained how my brain had reacted to the stress of these events, and related it to why I was feeling the way that I felt. It made so much sense. Then, she described ways that I could get over the trauma, work through the feelings, and recover from PTSD and PPD. I felt so empowered, and so happy that the way I felt had a name, and that it was treatable. It also made me feel so validated in the ways that I had felt and reacted following my son’s birth. I wasn’t going crazy. My reaction was normal and natural. And with the help of Dr. Allen, and the type of therapy that she uses, I knew I could recover.

It is over five years since that first visit with Dr. Allen, and I still use the tools that she taught me today to deal with stress. I credit her with helping me to become a more empowered, happier person.

Elizabeth

Finding Balance: The Easy Way!

Let me explain more:
Just like a checkbook, where we try to balance money paid out with money paid in I think we should try to schedule some relaxing deposits to counteract the stress “pay outs”.

When you tackle one debit make sure you also do something from the credit side.

I see clients in my Northbrook office or if it is more convenience, via telephone or internet sessions

If you have any questions after reading this article or want to know more about anxiety treatment

please phone me at 847 791-7722 or

email me below

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Let me explain more: Just like a checkbook, where we try to balance money paid out with money paid in I think we should try to schedule some relaxing deposits to counteract the stress “pay outs”.

When you tackle one debit make sure you also do something from the credit side.

I see clients in my Northbrook office or if it is more convenience, via telephone or internet sessions

If you have any questions after reading this article or want to know more about anxiety treatment

please phone me at 847 791-7722 or

email me below

As featured in...

Let me explain more:
Just like a checkbook, where we try to balance money paid out with money paid in I think we should try to schedule some relaxing deposits to counteract the stress “pay outs”.