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Posts created by Luciana - Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

A little bragging going on over here....!!

Way to go Jazz, those stats sure are impressive. You should be very proud of yourself!

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Still alive and kickin'

Thanks for the update Janet, you're always welcome to drop in and say hello, and share your knowledge with the newbies.

Those stats sure do look good on you! Keep it up, there's no turning back now.

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

hy & hello

Hello Sia,

Your own free will can be a good strong motivator! Also replacing fruits with smoking is a great substitution, a much healthier one.

Feel free to come here for the support you need from others who can relate to your experience.

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

10 ways to ride out tobacco cravings

Members, I came across this article that had a great summary of how to avoid tobacco cravings. Give it a read, it’s a great refresher of some things you may already practice, or you may even get some new ideas. It talks about delaying, the importance of not having just one, avoiding triggers, exercising, reminding yourself of the benefits, and even about the importance of going online!

What are you top ten ways of riding out tobacco cravings?

Mayo Clinic. Quitting smoking: 10 ways to ride out tobacco cravings: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nicotine-craving/SK00057 Accessed April 7th 2010.

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Role Transition and Strategies

Members,

Give this a try.

Step 1: Write down all of the positive aspects of your old role. What did you like or enjoy most about the old role? What aspects of the old role do you miss the most?

Step 2: Write down all of the negative aspects of your old role. This can be very difficult to think about. However, there’s always at least something negative!

Step 3: Write down the negative aspects of your new role. Try to be as specific as possible and describe the negative aspects in as much detail as possible.

Step 4: Write down the positive aspects of your new role. This is the most difficult part of the exercise but you may be able to find some if you think long enough - and try hard enough. There may be something positive about your new role even if it doesn’t seem very big or important right now. If you can’t think of anything, ask the Support Group for help. Somebody may have been in a similar situation.

Step 5: Spend some time comparing the positive and negative aspects of your old and new roles. After looking at the evidence, was the old role really all good? Is your new role really all bad? You know what the challenges of your new role are. What are the potential opportunities? Is there any possible way to get anything positive out of your new role?

Step 6: Spend some time thinking about how your new role has affected your relationships. What were you like in your old relationships? What are you like in your new relationships? Is there anything you’d like to change in your behavior or communication style? What are your goals?

Step 7: Spend some time thinking about whether or not there is anything you can do to cope better with your role transitions. Are there any changes you can make in how you’re thinking or behaving? What specific changes could you work on?

Take the time to really think carefully about your role transition and complete the Role Transition exercises suggested above. This will be hard work and it’ll likely take some time. Most people who struggle with a role transition have trouble seeing anything negative about the old role - and anything positive about the new role. You may need help by getting a different perspective from a friend, or ask the Support Group for help. That’s what we are here for.

Was this strategy helpful to you?

Luciana, Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Rebuilding your self-esteem

Members,

Has an illness, addiction or other left your self-esteem in the gutter? In the weeks to come, we will be exploring various strategies to help rebuild your self-esteem:

Your Inner Voice
We all have one. A voice that although we cannot hear is constantly repeating messages that will either be reassuring if we have a good level of self-esteem, if we have a low self-esteem, the voice is a harsher critic. This voice also has a tendency to incessantly belittle accomplishments.

The Consequences of Low Self-Esteem
The consequences of low self-esteem can include: anxiety, stress, loneliness, increased risk for depression, problems with friendships & relationships, impaired academic & job performance, underachievement and increased risk for substance abuse.

Does your inner voice influence your behavior? Have you already experienced some of the consequences listed above because of your low self-esteem?

Feel free to share your experiences with us.

Luciana - Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Rebuilding your self-esteem

Members,
Has an illness, addiction or other left your self-esteem in the gutter? In the weeks to come, we will be exploring various strategies to help rebuild your self-esteem:

Today's topic is about being kind to yourself.

Being kind to yourself is essential in rebuilding your self-esteem. This includes:

• Making sure you eat well, sleep enough and get active.
• Engaging in pleasurable activities
• Patting yourself on the back for ALL accomplishments, big or small!
• Remind yourself how great you really are! You have lots of strengths! And the weaknesses you’re not so crazy about, you can work on and grow into an even better version of yourself!
• Tell yourself it’s OKAY if you don’t achieve everything you had set out to do, big or small. Plans life and other need constant revision and remember you may have been put on a different path you can’t see yet.

What does this all have to do with self-esteem you might ask? Everything! If you don’t believe you deserve the basics and learn to start loving yourself, it makes it harder for others to do the same.

It is not selfish, it is self-nurturing!

What are some ways that you are kind to yourself?

Luciana - Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Rebuilding your self-esteem

Members,

Here are some more tips and strategies which can help to rebuild your self-esteem:

• Do not dismiss praise or recognition from outside sources. Say thank you. (This gets easier with practice

)
• On the flipside, DO NOT accept put downs from others. This is a non-negotiable. Constructive criticism is now the accepted norm for you!
• Accept that not everyone will like you. It’s a fact of life. Some people just aren’t meant to be friends or lovers. Find people you do bond with and build relationships with them.
• Stop comparing yourself to others. You are unique. You are special in your own way and you have your own strengths. Change the focus back to you every time you feel yourself falling back into that old habit of comparison.

What do you find helpful when it comes to re-building your self-esteem? More tips to come next week!

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Food for Thought

We thought this article might be fun to read and it does give some ideas on how you can cheer yourself up.

Have a read, and let us know what you think. Do you have any other ideas you can add to the list?

"In 1820 English writer Sydney Smith wrote a letter to an unhappy friend, Lady Morpeth, in which he offered her tips for cheering up. Most of Smith's suggestions are as sound now as they were almost 200 years ago – though a few are amusingly odd, and it might be tougher today to work "good blazing fires" into everyday life.

1st. Live as well as you dare.
2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75 or 80 degrees.
3rd. Amusing books.
4th. Short views of human life?not further than dinner or tea.
5th. Be as busy as you can.
6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.
7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you.
8th. Make no secret of low spirits to you friends, but talk of them freely?they are always worse for dignified concealment.
9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you.
10th. Compare your lot with that of other people.
11th. Don’t expect too much from human life?a sorry business at the best.
12th. Avoid poetry, dramatic representations (except comedy), music, serious novels, melancholy, sentimental people, and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion, not ending in active benevolence.
13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree.
14th Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.
15th. Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant.
16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness.
17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.
18th. Keep good blazing fires.
19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion.
20th. Believe me, dear Lady Georgiana."

Source: Rubin, G. The Happiness Project. Tips for cheering yourself up--from 1820. Posted July 19 2006. Available online: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2006/07/index.html. Accessed: December 14 2009.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 224

Greetings from sunny Florida!

Hello RedFox,

Good question about the difference between being an alcoholic and just being a habitual drinker. From my understanding alcoholism is different than just habitual drinking because those who are alcoholics do not have control over their drinking, despite negative consequences that can happen because of their drinking. Also, they are always preoccupied with thoughts of drinking and often do not realize that they have a problem with drinking.

Members, what do you think the difference between being classified as an "alcoholic" and just a "habitual drinker" is?

Also Foxman, thanks for sharing the useful information with us. I will have to take a look myself and read through some of the chapters.

Luciana, Bilingual Health Educator

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