THE THING ABOUT ANXIETY

Anxiety is nothing new; it's become more prevalent in the last decade, and certainly more so in he last 3 years (thanks, Covid).

I've had anxiety my entire life; coupled with guilt and shame and the overzealous need for acceptance and to be liked.

To be honest, it hasn't served me well at all, and I've worked quite hard over the last year to let that shit go. It's so easy to say it, but infinitely harder to know and live it. For me, it was the realization that my worth supersedes the knots in my stomach and/or the reels going through my head: What did  say? Was it me? Are they mad at me? Why won't they call? What did I do wrong?

Truly, it has very little if anything to do with me. Maybe that person has the shits and can't get to the phone. Who knows. But to think their life revolves around reassuring my insecurity is just silly. So I no longer feed into that mindset. If I start to go down that road, I immediately think about the situation and if I have actually done something wrong. I am usually quite purposeful in the things I say and do, but I make mistakes too, so if I have reached out and there's no response, I don't assume I've done something wrong. This is a big step for me, because the feeling of someone being mad at me was a horrible feeling, and I was in a state of panic until I could connect with them. 

My anxiety was caused by not being in control and being insecure. Do you feel anxious about certain things?  What brings about those feelings of desperation? And what do you do to calm yourself?

I feel that children are also at risk of developing anxiety/depression; the rates of mental illness are on the rise in adolescents and adults.

Is social media the culprit? 

We wanted to try and help girls feel better about who they are, and our Smoothies Empowerment Camp for Girls was born!

I think if we can teach our girls to be confident at their core, nothing can destroy their self confidence and sense of worth, regardless of where it comes from. Being a parent or teacher or anyone of influence for a child has the power to really impact how our kids feel about themselves.

Thoughts on how we can improve our anxiety as women?

How can we best guide and demonstrate to our children how to navigate unchartered waters?

Sending love your way,

Kiki xo