by Sheryl Paul | Dec 20, 2020 | Anxiety, Sexuality |
If ever there’s an area where we’re sold a bill of goods – where we’re fed an impossible ideal and told what we “should” be feeling, doing, and thinking – it’s around sex. Here’s what we’re told: You should... by Sheryl Paul | Dec 13, 2020 | Anxiety, Health anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts, Relationships |
Some people are called to explore the vicissitudes of depression; Johann Hari comes to mind. Other are tasked with uncovering the underpinnings of eating disorders, like Anita Johnston, author of the exquisitely wise book, Eating in the Light of the Moon. For a myriad... by Sheryl Paul | Dec 6, 2020 | Anxiety, Parenthood transitions |
With the pandemic surging, worry is on the upswing. Worry is a culturally acceptable way to refer to anxiety, but I think of them as the same thing. If you’re on my site, worry may be taking centerstage in your life, if not every day then some days. The stakes... by Sheryl Paul | Nov 29, 2020 | Anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts |
We talk a lot about big T traumas in psychological circles these days, which are the moments or experiences that overload our capacity to cope and cause us to go into fight, flight, freeze or fawn. These might be: growing up with addiction or abuse; repeated bullying;... by Sheryl Paul | Nov 15, 2020 | 20s, Anxiety, Moving, Parenthood transitions, Retirement/Grandparent, Transitions - General |
As I’ve shared many times, the panic attack that dragged me into the underworld of my unearthed pain and initiated me into the landscape of anxiety that would become my life’s work occurred at age twenty-one, three months before graduating from college.... by Sheryl Paul | Nov 8, 2020 | Anxiety, Break Free From Relationship Anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts, Relationships |
Every week for almost two years I’ve met with a small group of the most lovely people to talk about relationship anxiety. Like you, they’re highly sensitive, deeply empathic, analytical, and conscientious. Like you, they found me because they were... by Sheryl Paul | Nov 1, 2020 | Anxiety, Empty Nest, Holidays/Holy Days/Seasons, Transitions - General |
I’ve shared a birthday post almost every year that I’ve run this blog (this is the first one I wrote ten years ago). I typically write a few days before my birthday both to mark time and also to share with you, my highly sensitive audience prone to anxiety, what it... by Sheryl Paul | Oct 25, 2020 | Anxiety, Break Free From Relationship Anxiety |
When I first started writing and talking about relationship anxiety over seventeen years ago, the term ROCD (relationship obsessive compulsive disorder) was barely a blip on the psychological radar screen, and it certainty hadn’t hit the mainstream cultural... by Sheryl Paul | Oct 18, 2020 | Anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts, Relationships, Sexuality |
An intrusive thought arrives… What if I harm someone? What if I’ve harmed someone in the past and I don’t remember? What if I’m with the wrong partner? What if I’m gay/straight? What if I left the stove on? What if I have a terminal... by Sheryl Paul | Oct 11, 2020 | Anxiety, Empty Nest, Parenthood transitions, Relationships, Transitions - General |
We’ve arrived at the end of a cycle in our family’s life. An essential and positive end, but an end nonetheless. And if there’s anything I’ve learned about endings in my nearly forty-nine years on this planet, it’s that they need to be...
