POSTS | depression hurts us

Jeopardy Of Returning to Work After A Break ~ Things Women Face

Post author:admin
Post published:July 2, 2021
Post category:POSTS

Are you a stay-at-home mom? Are you someone who is returning to work after a break? Or you have plans to? In this blog, I am going to share a combined experience of so many women out there who have been struggling to make it back to their career path after a long absence at work, including me.

A woman who is well-educated, knows her rights and question her existence is always on a lookout for some opportunities to take in her stride, this is one another outcome of the patriarchal system we are embedded with that we have to prove ourselves every now and then.

Being a single parent, now I don’t even have the liberty to mope or brood about my situation, I have to get to work. Although I have strong family support, this is not how I imagined myself in the famous” Where do I see myself in next five years” question, we get asked every time we give an interview.

What is it like to, returning to work after a break?

Over the past few months, I have been planning on returning to work after a break. I started applying for jobs. I have been doing good in my writing job, I get paid a decent amount but as a freelancer, it is still a fluctuating monthly income. In order to raise a child single-handedly and keep things running smoothly, I took this decision. But this doesn’t mean I will not blog, I will minimize my spread maybe. I had everything planned out before I began applying to the jobs.

I started with modifying my CV, and it sucked big time with this huge career break of 5 years, because there exists a completely alien world outside our small writing community, and for them, our digital space doesn’t even exist. No matter how amazing you are at your work, no matter how many people love what you do, it becomes so hard to explain it to someone you just met.

So, finally, I prepared two separate CVs one for my corporate job in supply chain management and logistics profile, like my earlier job, and the second one that suits a job profile of a SEO writer/digital creator. I got few matches and even went through a few telephonic rounds.

returning to work after a break — Ready to work from home

Restarting after a career break

Do you know, what was worse than negotiating the salary? The pressure of convincing them that I still exist. Most of the time, when a recruiter is interviewing you, they make it a point to bring you to a level where you either lose yourself or the job. After enough of explaining and putting my best foot forward, I even got reminded of Geet from Jab We Met, where she says, “Aap convince hogae ki main aur bolu? –are you convinced now or should I explain more?

It was when the interviewer laughed and said that “oh so you a mom blogger”(it hit me hard), a good thing to do to pass the time from home. I was at my wit’s end. Because a thing of a time pass doesn’t help you earn name and money. It doesn’t get you listed among top bloggers, write 4 books, one biography and win awards. I wanted to tell it all to that guy but I kept my calm. Breath in, breath out, Priyanka! Then he started negotiating on the salary and considered the base as the salary I was earning back in 2016, seriously?

I just felt like hanging up the phone but then I reminded myself, this is reality. Every time we try to break the glass ceiling and we find such people in the way who try to break us. I see so many women returning to work after a break with a heavy heart sometimes compromising on their salaries and job profile. Sometimes not even being able to use their full potential because of the unsupportive environment we have got around. So many of us are frustrated inside because we want to do a lot of things, leave a mark behind but we don’t get opportunities.

How to get back to work after a long break?

It might sound like losing ourselves in a biological space suit and trying to figure out what might hit us next. But NO, we are not stopping here, neither we are giving up. What we can do is:

1.) Be realistic in your approach

2.) Have a cover letter and CV updated

3.) Set your priorities right

4.) Be open to seek help when needed

5.) Network and look out for career return programs (Godrej, Convergys, Tata group offer some)

I am going to work harder until I establish myself and maybe someday I will find a decent job with which I can pursue my passion for mental health blogging as well. Till then, I am all game. So are you returning to work after a break? I say, bring it on and we will make our way through all the jeopardies.

Love and light

……………………………………………………………………………

Priyanka Nair is the author of 26 Days 26 Ways for a Happier you and Ardhaviram. An NLP practitioner and Founder of Sanity Daily, helping you prioritize your mental health. Let’s build a happy community.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.

Emotionally Burnt Out? Understand The Signs Of Emotional Exhaustion & How To Heal From It

Post author:admin
Post published:July 2, 2021
Post category:POSTS

While last year, in and on itself was a tough year to deal with, the year 2021 hasn’t fared any better, yet. Emotionally, we’re all wrung out and feeling drained of our energy and the emotional ability to deal with stressful situations. This feeling can be termed as emotional burnout or emotional exhaustion.

The state where you feel emotionally wrung out and drained as a result of long-term stress – professionally, personally, or a combination of both – can be one of the signs of emotional exhaustion.

When someone is feeling emotionally burnt out, they might feel as if they have no control over what’s happening in their life. Emotional exhaustion can feel a lot like you’re stuck in a rut with no way of escaping.

Being in a chronic state of emotional stress can be harmful to your overall wellness. If you’re experiencing long-term stress, you’re more likely to experience the signs of emotional burnout. If you’re feeling emotionally burnt out, it is recommended you seek professional help, immediately.

Signs Of Emotional Exhaustion

Causes Of Emotional Exhaustion

You might feel emotionally exhausted if you’re facing extreme stress and anxiety daily. While it’s okay to feel stress and anxiety in small amounts, long-term stress or anxiety can cause you to feel emotionally burnt out.

Although, the triggers of emotional exhaustion may differ from person to person. Some of the most common causes of emotional exhaustion can, however, be:

Being employed in a job that requires high-pressure such as a nurse, military, police, doctors, etc.
Intense studying or work schedule
Long hour jobs or being employed in a job you don’t enjoy
Major lifestyle changes like having a baby, raising children full-time, or going through a divorce
Experiencing financial difficulties or stress
Being a caregiver to a loved one
Experiencing the death of a loved one
Living with a chronic illness

How To Heal From Emotional Exhaustion

You can heal from the signs of emotional exhaustion by only making a few lifestyle changes. If your symptoms are severe and if making lifestyle changes isn’t herling, then it is recommended you seek professional help.

Once you’ve identified the signs of emotional exhaustion, you can follow these ways to help you heal from being emotionally burnt out.

1. Remove The Stressor

One of the first things you need to do is identify what is causing you to feel stressed out. While it is not always possible to remove your stressor entirely, it is possible to avoid situations where your stress might be triggered. Try to find out what is causing you to feel emotionally stressed and exhausted and try to avoid or remove the stressor, if possible.

2. Eat Healthily

Eat Healthily

Having a well-balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, proteins, whole grains while avoiding sugary or processed foods can also help you manage your emotional exhaustion. When you are stressed, it is common to gravitate towards your comfort food (mostly fat, calories, and sugar). While eating such foods might give you temporary stress relief, in the long-term it can be harmful to your brain and body.

Having a well-balanced diet can help you improve your digestion, sleep, and boost your mood that can contribute to your overall emotional wellness.

Also Read: 14 Best Foods That Help To Reduce Anxiety

3. Exercise Regularly

Exercise Regularly

Exercising or any kind of physical exertion releases endorphins and serotonin which can improve your mood and emotional state. Exercising can also help you take your mind off stressful situations, hence contributing to well and good emotional health. Try to exercise for 15-30 minutes daily.

4. Limit Caffeine & Alcohol

As I said before, caffeine and alcohol may provide a temporary stress relief but in the long-term consumption of too much caffeine and alcohol can be harmful and might leave you feeling more agitated than before. To heal from emotional exhaustion, it is important to limit or avoid (if possible) caffeine or alcohol.

5. Get Enough Rest

Get Enough Rest

Getting a good night’s rest can be helpful for your emotional state. Getting at least 6-8 hours of sleep every night can help you heal from emotional exhaustion and recharge your emotional batteries. Having a healthy bedtime routine can help you relax and ensure better rest.

6. Practice Mindfulness Exercises

Practice Mindfulness Exercise

Practicing mindfulness exercises can help with healing from emotional burnout as well. It can also help you reduce stress and anxiety. You can try practicing:

7. Take A Break From Your Routine

Take A Break From Your Routin

Sometimes being stuck in the same routine over some time can also cause you to feel emotionally burnt out. To avoid that, it is suggested you take breaks whenever possible from your routine. Go for a vacation or staycation. Relax by doing something you love apart from your daily routine. Practice self-care. Watch your favorite movie.

Take time off now and then to relax and recharge your emotional self.

8. Talk To Someone

Talk To Someone

Talking to a loved one or someone you trust can also help you heal from emotional exhaustion. If you’re not sure to talk to a friend, you can always reach out to a professional counselor or therapist for help. A professional can help you understand your stressors and teach you how to deal with them.

You can connect with a professional and licensed therapist from any of these online therapy resources or you can write to us at info@calmsage.com if you need a supportive shoulder to lean on.

Final Thoughts

Emotional exhaustion or emotional burnout, by definition, means “mental or physical collapse caused by overwork or stress”. If you or someone you know are experiencing the signs of emotional exhaustion, making the above-mentioned lifestyle changes can help and if they don’t help, you can always contact a professional for help.

Emotional exhaustion is a condition that can be treated easily. If you’re not able to make lifestyle changes for any reason, talk to a professional counselor or therapist about it. They can help you learn effective ways to cope with the signs of emotional exhaustion.

“Sometimes the best thing that you can do is not think. Not wonder. Not imagine. Not obsess. Just breathe and have faith that everything will work out for the best.” – Unknown

Take care and stay safe!

Call for PMS leave to be implemented in UK workplaces

Post author:admin
Post published:July 2, 2021
Post category:POSTS

In a survey, 84% of women wanted to see PMS leave implemented by law in the UK

Cripplling cramps, headache, backache, mood swings, fatigue, and bloating – not to mention the practicalities of dealing with a period – it’s safe to say that premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a lot to deal with. Add the demands of working on top of all that, and it’s easy to see how both productivity and wellbeing can suffer as a result.

But now, a survey from menstrual care company Yoppie has revealed that 84% of women would be in favor of a legal policy that introduced menstrual leave into UK workplaces. Currently, the law does not stipulate that women who are experiencing severe menstrual symptoms can take time off work – menstrual leave is defined as a ‘sex-specific employment policy’, and is distinct from sick leave.

“The UK continues to fall short of basic employment rights by constantly ignoring the issue of menstrual leave,” says Daniella Peri, founder of Yoppie. “While those nations that already offer some form of leave might not be getting it absolutely right, they’re miles ahead of us.”

In Indonesia, employees are granted two days of menstrual leave each month – similarly, this is seen in the Chinese provinces of Liaoning. And in Zambia, menstrual policy means that women are allowed one day off a month, and employers can be prosecuted if this leave is denied.

“Some will argue that our general sick leave policies are sufficient to cover menstrual leave, but if a woman is having to take a day or two sick leave every month compared to the average of four or five sick days a year, employers may start to look unfavourably on them,” Daniella argues.

“It’s this stigma that causes many to refrain from taking time off work when PMS hits, in fear that they won’t be treated equally against their male counterparts.”

As Daniella sees it, we need to differentiate between unforeseen bouts of sickness and the cyclical nature of PMS symptoms in order to create an equal and accessible workplace. And when you consider the effects of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) – a more severe form of PMS which causes severe irritability, depression, or anxiety in the week or two before your period starts – the question of PMS leave is also a mental healthcare concern.

“Menstrual symptoms are not something that can be ignored – for some women, the pain can be debilitating and the ability to focus on work all but vanishes,” she continues. “We must work to ensure that menstruation is put on the political agenda and discussed at the highest level.

“If we can’t make this happen via the government, we want to empower women to come together and campaign for change in their own workplace, so that we can start to make a change one company at a time.”

What do you think? Join the Happiful Reader’s Panel Facebook group to continue the conversation.

correcting-altered-brain-circuit-could-tackle-coinciding-obesity-and-depression

Post author:admin
Post published:June 26, 2021
Post category:POSTS

Research has found that obesity and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety seem to often go hand in hand. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions are providing new insights into this association by identifying and characterizing a novel neural circuit that mediates the reciprocal control of feeding and psychological states in mouse models.

Similar to human patients, mice that consumed a high-fat diet not only became obese but also anxious and depressed, a condition mediated by a defective brain circuit. When the researchers genetically or pharmacologically corrected specific disruptions they had observed within this circuit, the mice became less anxious and depressed and later lost excess body weight.

Interestingly, weight loss was not the result of lack of appetite, but of the animals’ change of food preference. Before the treatment, the mice naturally preferred to eat a high-fat diet, but after the treatment, they turned their preference toward a healthier diet with reduced fat and abundant protein and carbohydrates. The findings, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, for the first time, not only reveal a key regulatory mechanism for coinciding obesity and mental disorders but also suggest the possibility of pharmacological treatment.

“Reports indicate that 43% of adults with depression are obese and that adults with mental illness are more likely to develop obesity than those who are mentally healthy,” said corresponding author Dr. Qi Wu, a Pew Scholar for Biomedical Sciences, Kavli Scholar and assistant professor in pediatrics-nutrition at Baylor’s Children’s Nutrition Research Center. “Factors such as hormonal dysregulation, genetic deficiency, and inflammation have been proposed to be involved in the connection between obesity and mental disorders. Here we provide evidence that supports the involvement of a neural component.” To investigate the neuronal circuits that could be involved in reciprocally regulating weight gain and depression or anxiety, the researchers provided mice with a high-fat diet. As expected, the animals became obese. They also developed anxiety and depression. In these mice, the team studied the function of neuronal circuits.

“We discovered in normal mice that two groups of brain cells, dBNST and AgRP neurons located in separate brain areas, form a circuit or connection to each other by extending cellular projections,” said co-first author Dr. Guobin Xia, a postdoctoral associate in the Wu lab. “This newly discovered circuit was malfunctioning in mice that were both obese and depressed.”

“Using genetic approaches, we identified specific genes and other mediators that were altered and mediated the circuit’s malfunction in the obese and depressed mice,” said co-first author Dr. Yong Han, a postdoctoral associate in the Wu lab.

“Importantly, genetically restoring the neural defects to normal eliminated the high-fat diet-induced anxiety and depression and also reduced body weight,” Xia said. “We were surprised to see that the animals lost weight, not because they lost their appetite, but because genetically-aided readjustment of the mental states changed their feeding preference from high-fat to low-fat food.”

“Keeping in mind translational applications of our findings to the clinic, we investigated the possibility of restoring the novel circuit pharmacologically,” Wu said. “We discovered that the combination of two clinically-approved drugs, zonisamide and granisetron, profoundly reduced anxiety and depression in mice and promoted weight loss by synergistically acting upon two different molecular targets within our newly identified brain circuit. We consider that our results provide convincing support for further studies and future clinical trials testing the value of a cocktail therapy combining zonisamide and granisetron (or a selection of their derivatives) to treat metabolic-psychiatric diseases.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by Baylor College of Medicine. Originally written by Homa Shalchi. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Effective Strategies To Create A Secure Attachment

Post author:admin
Post published:June 26, 2021
Post category:POSTS

In most of our blogs, we have discussed attachment styles and I observed that everyone is trying to determine human behavior which always leads to a question regarding the rise of “nature vs. nurture.”

Meanwhile, studies show that human behavior is a combination of both. When it comes to marriage, relationship, or parenting, nurture plays an important role because it tends to have a healthy and secure attachment that helps to long last a relationship especially in a marriage.

Indeed, an insecure attachment style is negative and leads us to the fear of abandonment. And sadly, it’s quite common these days.

In this article, I am going to tell you effective ways to create a secure attachment that helps you in recalling relationships and strengthening your relationships or bonds with others as well.

So, let’s get started.

Effective Ways to Create Secure Attachment

1. Try to build self-esteem

Try to build self-esteem

Self-forgiveness comes along with the creation of self-esteem. When you will let your thoughts free and will free yourself from the pain of the past, you will be able to work on yourself again. In order to keep your mental health intact, try to practice positive self-talk and try to build self-esteem in these ways:

1. Do not neglect yourself. And try to make yourself a priority by also practicing self-compassion. If you want to keep it better, do not neglect your personal needs and desires. Always remember that you don’t have to be perfect, it’s just you have to polish your personality.

2. In order to build great self-esteem, take a blank book and start writing three compliments for yourself each morning. This habit helps in providing positive attributes and works as an affirmation.

3. Try to find activities that fulfill If you enjoy photography, take out your camera, and click whatever you want. Do whatever makes you happy; just try to spend quality time with your hobbies.

2. Keep your focus on self-healing

Keep your focus on self-healing

Insecure attachments are due to childhood trauma or experiences that created self-esteem and guilt issues in your life. While living with this guilt can result in self-destructive behaviors or self-sabotaging.

In order to heal from the guilt and self-esteem issues, you will need to form a secure attachment with the help of healing strategies. If you are wondering how to self-forgive yourself and move on with a secure attachment style, don’t worry here are some ways that can help you with self-healing:

1. Try to evaluate your past decisions and do not reflect on them if they seem to be wrong.

2. Step into the light of self-forgiveness and be responsible for your actions. If you think you have done something wrong, start apologizing. It will help you in moving forward in life.

3. If you are comfortable, try to take the help of self-compassion exercises that will help you to make it through the healing procedure.

3. Acknowledge your issues

Acknowledge your issues

The most effective way to confront the negative aspects of your insecure attachment style is to start acknowledging it and to start your focus on moving forward.

By acknowledging, you will be able to build self-esteem, you are going to feel more confident and content about yourself and this will help you in forming healthy and secured relationships with others.

Do not remain silent and start acknowledging by speaking up what’s inside you so that you can start feeling better.

In order to acknowledge your needs and issues, you can try:

Reading self-compassion books or articles
Try to maintain close relationships with others.
Read resources related to different attachment styles and you can also watch ted-talks.

4. Seek professional help

Seek professional help

In addition to the above-mentioned strategies, therapy or counseling can help you in accelerating the healing process. Research shows that Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) helps us to bring a major difference when we really want to improve our relationships while dealing with insecure attachment issues.

You can easily get this therapy through online platforms. If you are considering online therapy, you can seek help from a counselor from BetterHelp. To connect with a professional counselor from BetterHelp, click here.

I hope this blog helps you with effective ways to create a secure attachment. Comment down and share your thoughts on creating a secure attachment style. For more such content, connect with us on all social media platforms.

Thanks for reading!