Anxiety, ‘Manifesting’ and Kindness (be warned: getting into ‘nicer world’ territory here!)

I was due to write another Simplicious monthly post this week, but I hope no one minds if I skip the September post, and instead write one next month to cover both September and October. I have still been cooking from the cookbook as per usual – but have been a little preoccupied and not had the time to properly reflect on it.

I mentioned in a recent Instagram post that my anxiety has flared up again, after some weeks of being in denial about it. I’ve written before about going off my anti-depressants back in 2014, with a follow-up post one year later in 2015. Reading back over them, I realise that a lot of the strategies I had previously been using to manage my anxiety have dropped off; and I’d returned to some quite serious fear-based thinking. This might have been triggered by a number of personal circumstances outside of my control – but was not responded to particularly well by me (and my tendency to catastrophise…).

I think I’d also gotten a bit smug about it all. About ‘getting back in control’ of my anxiety, which over time led me to stop prioritising my mental health and the strategies that help me to manage it. So I’ve started to bring those things back in, in small, achievable ways. When I recently wrote a post about ‘frantic doggy-paddling’, a very kind commenter named Mel suggested the Slow Your Home podcast, which had also been mentioned to me by a friend. I’ve been listening to it in the car, and really enjoying it. Listening to it regularly in this way is also serving as a constant reminder to be mindful, intentional and to slow down. No doubt I’ll be writing more about it in the near future – the Slow Home Experiments are really interesting, and I’ve just started the October experiment on decluttering (yes, MORE decluttering!  😀 ). Continue reading →