stress

Time for Tea

by Bill Brenner November 6, 2012 Addiction

This is going to shock a lot of you, given the steady flow of coffee you’ve watched me drink day after day, but try to stay calm. I’m drinking tea, and lots of it. Mood music: [spotify:track:4NlR3rwvLtLcLuKZxIiYp4] This change wasn’t planned. No doctor told me to do it or risk a heart attack. And I haven’t given up my beloved java. In recent days, I’ve started splitting the day between coffee and tea: coffee in…  [Read More]

I’m a Hot OCD Mess Today

by Bill Brenner October 23, 2012 OCD

I’m admittedly failing to control my worst OCD impulses this morning. I’m trying to assemble a slideshow for my work website and a vital application keeps crashing. It’s a busy day ahead, with blog posts to write and meetings to sit through, so this isn’t the best time for an app to fail me. Mood music: [spotify:track:7qSPdNGrKbaqLg6HqflCoZ] I’ve heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again,…  [Read More]

Out of My Head

by Bill Brenner September 27, 2012 Mental disorders

Like anyone with a mental disorder like OCD, I spend a lot of time locked in my head. My thoughts will be on what I’m doing the next day or a year out. Or they’re in the past, replaying scenes from long ago. Last night I began the mission to get out of there. Mood music: [spotify:track:7yqO8vYeyf8ahnLj9vOZ4G] It was the first night of my Stress Reduction and Mindfulness class. The instructor is my therapist, though…  [Read More]

Most Days Are Like New England Weather

by Bill Brenner September 4, 2012 Gratitude

Last Friday started in a brutal fashion. I woke up more than an hour late after a lousy night’s sleep. As a result, I fell way behind with work. To top it all off, the kids had the day off and were making all kinds of noise. Mood music: [spotify:track:5H19HygtEjZJLdGtGdpSPR] For the first two hours of the day, my mood was bleak. My head pounded, I felt disoriented and I was convinced my day was…  [Read More]

The Five Colors of the Anxiety Rainbow

by Bill Brenner August 29, 2012 Fear and anxiety

I broke free from fear-based anxiety a long time ago. But I still have episodes of anxiety. We all do, and it’s usually when we have trouble sorting through our emotions. To get a better handle on it, I’ve been trying to label the different kinds of anxiousness based on the colors of a rainbow. I decided to use the first five colors of Newton’s primary color system because if I broke this down by all seven…  [Read More]

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