Empathy For Minds

 Im going to switch it up a little for this weeks blog and tell a little story about one of my best friends. The topic for the story today is Post Gradation Depression. I feel this is such an important topic because of the time most of us are in life right now, which is about to graduate this year or next year. Post-graduation depression is described as  depressive symptoms that occur after a person finishes college or university . Although it is not a medically recognized term, it is an experience many young adults may relate to. After many years of education, people may find adjusting to life after university challenging. So my friend after college had a job set up in Indianapolis and she was coming from Washington D.C. where she went to  college at Howard University. So already going from DC to Indianapolis was going to be a huge culture shock. Coming from  a Historically Black College/University was going to be different to living in Carmel Indiana outside o...

 To have negative thoughts it something that is a normal everyday occurrence for most people. It's ok to have a negative thought every once in a while, but it can become a problem when you're having negative thoughts all the time. Things like self doubt and worry can lead to things like stress, anxiety, and depression. Hopefully with some awareness and practice it's possible to overcome these thoughts. The first step is to understand negative thought patterns. These include some cognitive distortions that are irrational or exaggerated ways of thinking. Some common Cognitive distortions include,  All-or-nothing thinking (seeing situations in black-and-white terms, Catastrophizing (expecting the worst-case scenario), Overgeneralization (drawing broad conclusions from single incidents), and Personalization (assuming responsibility for things beyond your control). By recognizing what these thought patterns are we can move forward to change how we think. The next step is to cult...

 Learning how to cope with mental health issues is a huge part of our everyday lives. In my last blog I mentioned some ways to cope with mental health but there are so many more that I need to bring to light.  Last blog I talked about some ways to cope like seeking support, self care, and establishing boundaries.  A way to cope with mental health is learning how to manage your stress. This is something that is learned over time and it takes some bad experiences to get a real gage on this. When you know how to manage your stress you start to avoid things that are going to trigger you. This is just coming to really getting to know yourself and what you can handle. Another way to cope is to start a new hobby. Do something that you are actually interested in to get your mind off everything. I think a way that I cope with things is just allowing myself to really focus in on basketball, it's my escape from a lot of things. All my focus and attention gets locked into the game an...