Damselz-In-Sanity

 Hello everyone and welcome back! A lot of us may not be familiar with the term ' Bereavement', and truth be said, I wasn't too until recently.  This was something I came across on social media and thought of sharing with you all because I realized this is something that takes place through all stages of life, and the earlier you know it, the better. So, without further ado, let's get to it! Starting off with the obvious,  What is Bereavement? In simple terms, it is the  period of grief and mourning after a death or a loss occurs. Grieving is a normal reaction to loss. One may experience it as an emotional reaction which could be either physical or mental. Sometimes, mental reactions can include anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness and despair. Emotions can be overwhelming after dealing with the loss-not necessarily death. It could be anything that you truly cared about; a job, relationship or change in a person's health.  This  phenomenon is coined as 'Bere...

  Hello everyone and welcome back to the last 'informative' post of the year!! We've all probably heard of the saying, "Coloring is therapeutic", right? We associate it with that word mostly because when we perform it, it calms us down. The reason behind the same: When we colour, our mind is fully engrossed in it, trying to get everything in line and perfect form that it blocks an anxious thing out of our brains. We fully focus on the art. But did you know, there's more to this? It has an immense effect on your mental health too! Without further ado, let's find out how :) Though there isn't an extensive research on this particular topic, evidence suggests that coloring can greatly reduce your stress levels. It can provide little relief temporarily to let your mind find some ease and relax and then go back to a stressor and approach it with a different perspective. 'Adult coloring books' acts as an alternative to meditation. Living in the presen...

Hello everyone! Welcome back <3 We celebrated World Mental Health last week, on 10th of October.  Last week, I was also presented the opportunity to attend a ' Mental Health Fest'; by the students - for the students *History textbook flashback*. The event focussed on conveying various ideas on Mental Health using creativity as a medium such as music, dance, film making, street plays and more. Attending this amazing event sparked an inspiration in me to author a post on why we should encourage Mental Health Activities around us. Without further ado, let's get to it! Mental Health is a highly stigmatised topic all over the world. Therefore, promoting the idea of speaking up about it, through various expressions of creativity not only instills innovation but also helps the youth become more vocal on world issues. Nearly every person has had some experience with Mental health; it may not necessarily be a grave situation, but we've all had our ups and downs with it.  Men...

 Hi everyone and welcome back! If you have been following me since the beginning of my journey, you may have noticed that I have thrown limelight procrastination by basing a few posts on them. Today's post is yet another super demanded post, however, is only slightly linked to 'teenage mental health' - the niche of my blog. Nevertheless, hope y'all enjoy reading it and without further ado, let's get to it! Procrastinators can broadly be classified under 3 groups. If you google them the results look something like this: 1. The Perfectionist These are the type of people who tend to spend so much time thinking over their task or solving one minute issue that they end up wasting the entire time dedicated to the task. They ideally procrastinate when they are overwhelmed with the fear of producing work of a low standard, or fear of failing, and in a few cases victims of OCD. 2. The Avoider Or whom I like to call, the 'ho jayega' one's. These constitute the peo...

 Hello everyone and welcome back! I had authored a post titled  Social Media Is Bad For Your Mental Health!  which led me to ponder over one of the most common ill effects of it - the effect of Cyber Bullying on our mental health. A lot of us are probably well acquainted with the term "Cyber Bullying"; but for some who aren't, here's a basic overview of it: What is Cyber Bullying?  When you google this term, the first sentence that pops up reads, " The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. " In simpler words, a person (mostly adolescents) is bullied, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed, or targeted in some way by another person. It is similar to real life physical bullying except it is done by both known as well as unknown people on the internet. They tend to name call, troll and threaten the other person.  This brings us to the next, and the most important part of this post...

 Hey everyone! Welcome back!! In all honesty, I was not well acquainted with the term "Mental Health Days" until I saw it in a TV show . This led me to thinking if something like this actually exists, and if so, how can it benefit us? So, I did my research, started implementing it in my personal life and wanted to share with you the importance of the same :) Without further ado, let's get to it! Starting off with the obvious, What is a "Mental Health Day" If your first thought was something related to taking a break, you would be correct. A Mental Health Day is one where you absolutely cut off from your rat race life and take a step back to rejuvenate yourself. It’s a day to relax, decompress and take care of yourself overall. For example, if you've just finished with your exams and sacrificed on your sleep schedule a lot, its regaining that. If you've burnt yourself out with various stressors, its taking a pause from it.  It's taking time out to rel...

 Hello everyone and welcome back to a fresh new month! Video Games and Mental Health - Are They Related? Perhaps every teen's obsession at some point of their lives was playing these games.  Be it Fortnite, PubG or Minecraft, no one has ever given it a thought if in reality it has any links to your mental health. I was acquainted with this topic during my time at Harvard and thought it would be a great idea to throw some limelight on this topic :) So without further ado, let's get to it! While most parents might argue that the influence of video games has been negative, recent studies show that playing video games in fact has also had a positive impact on a person's mind. A lot of us must be familiar with the fact that it improves hand and eye coordination, helps you focus better and even learn better. But did you know, it also simultaneously increases as well as decreases your social resilience ?  There has been a steep rise in the level of social anxiety sufferers ev...

Metacognition is the process of thinking about your thoughts.  You're doing it. You just don't know it. This technique is usually promoted by professionals to deal with some mental health issues and also by several teachers in the classroom. In simpler words, it is like a big brain watching and analyzing your own brain. In today's post I won't be focusing on the technical aspect of it rather, I'll be discussing more about how we can incorporate into our lives and it's benefits.  Without further ado, Let's get to it!  A person has about 6000+ thoughts on an average daily. We as humans have a natural tendency to do 2 things: Overthink most of our decisions or blissfully ignore them. Metacognition falls into the former part and can also be coined as 'healthy overthinking'. It involves one’s thinking process leading to better study techniques, memory processing, and the ability to self-monitor one’s learning process. You become the person who self-questi...

 Welcome back everybody! If you're a gen-z or a millennial, chances are you are probably well acquainted with the idea of mental health. In today's post, I'll be tackling the idea of why it is so stigmatized and why it is equally as important as your physical health. Without further ado, Let's get to it! Growing up as a kid, third grade me was exposed to the term 'mental' as a swear to describe someone as a lunatic.  "Bro you belong in a mental hospital" was a line that came up in nearly every conversation- and still does to this date. This was just my first expose to the stigmatized world of Mental Health. Teasing someone and bullying them by using this phrase contributed to the idea in our brains that being out of line=crazy=mental disorder. We had a picture drew up in mind about someone in white overalls, open uncombed hair and walking with small steps with their neck bent sideways- most movies promote the idea in the same way. The exposure to all...

 Hello and welcome back everyone! HAPPY 100TH POST!! A lot of us may have come across the term "Therapist Friend" of a group. The stereotypical description of the same would look something like this: The quiet, calm, cool and collected one with the best advise whom anyone can approach for the minutest of inconveniences. A good listener is the basic trait possessed by them.  However, the fact still lies that most people misuse the term 'Therapist Friend.' A few months ago, I had authored a post titled ' Facebook Therapy Memes ' which led to this topic.      It was also suggested by a reader of my blogs and I found it to be extremely insightful considering it's high misuse, so I decided to throw a bit of limelight on the same. Without further ado, let's get to it. The phrase 'Therapist Friend', I believe, is a wrong term.  This is simply just my opinion but let me justify why. There is a significant mixing up of the term 'Friend' and a ...

 Hello everybody!  Welcome back!! Now anyone who knows me personally would describe me some what as a 'professional overthinker'. Partly due to my anxiety, partly due to my extremely cautious mind, and partly due to self doubt , I have always tried my best to stay one step ahead, which may or may not have led to excessive amounts of overthinking eep :p Except, I know I'm not the only one who goes through this🤷🏻‍♀️ Let's admit it, we have all spent a significant amount of time pondering over embarrassing moments, reliving conversations in your head and thinking about all the things you wish you had or had not said.  A very recent case of mine: I was supposed to send the working of a numerical to my pedagogue. I initially approached it by dividing it by a thousand then overthought and decided to cut it off and leave it as is. When he told me it was incorrect, the queen of silly mistakes noticed that they had added incorrectly :)  That wasn't just it. The final ...

 Heylo everybody! Welcome back <3 I had dedicated all the posts in the November, 2021 to Eating Disorders. I'm glad to share that we had an extremely successful event that month which brought in a great new number of readers as well.  One peculiar observation I had made was that despite throwing limelight on such topics, there was still a bit of confusion in the air about what classifies as 'normal behaviour' and when it starts extending into a disorder. Note: I'm not trying to diagnose you here considering I'm not a professional and don't have the authority to do so. This post will mainly be focussing on a few differences between an Eating Disorder and regular hunger pangs.  Anyone who has met me in real life would describe me as an absolute foodie(something I'd say is hereditary in me :P). I love experimenting with new styles and dishes, be it street food or at a classy restaurant Anyway, I've also had my share of stress eating before important even...

 Hi and welcome back <3 Today's post is based on something that is not so uncommon among us. Bottling up your emotions. Everyone has undergone it sometime and well, it's had its own share of repercussions. In today's post I'll be covering the impacts of the same, since most of are familiar with the concept. Without further ado, let's get to it! Emotions are feelings that need to be expressed. Be it happiness or sorrow, sharing it with your world affects how you perceive the situation. But, if you start hiding them within yourself and not disclosing it to others, chances are they will boil over and show themselves later, with worse consequences.  The main reason why we as humans are more prone to the same is because we fear facing them-head on. If we bottle things up, they don't just go away. Emotions will stay down until we physically can't contain them anymore, then they'll burst out fiercer than before. And more often than not, these come out in a f...

Palms sweaty. Throat scratchy. Feet shivering.  Hello and welcome back to a fresh new month <3     We're all familiar with the term 'Stage Fright' or 'Performance Anxiety' right?  The irrational fear or anxiety when performing before an audience. A lot of us may have also experienced this at some point. I've been a avid dancer ever since I was a kid but that doesn't doesn't imply that I've haven't been a victim to the same.  It happened to me at a really young age however, I developed methods to overcome the same, which I'll be discussing towards the end of this post. Keep in mind, today's post is going to be based on a little more general perspective that we all have undergone at some point and not the disorder. (Do let me know in the comments if you would like me to base a post on the same) Let's first understand,  Why does it occur? Self consciousness, low self esteem, and many more factors. If y'all have watched the new mov...

 Hello everyone and welcome back to month 22 of #faltufriday!! For people who are new here, I recently gave my term 2 of my 10th grade ICSE boards which FINALLY marked the end of an incredibly cosmic roller coaster ride. The past 15 academic months have been absolutely crazy - dealing with online studies and keeping up with the '10th grade pressure', so I thought, why not share my journey now that I'm finally over with them! I'm a science student so my boards ended on the 19th of May, 2022. However, I started preparations for the same, back in March-end, 2021. 15 dreadful yet the most memorable month's of my entire academic journey. About a week after my 9th grade exams had ended was when 10th grade commenced for me. Both school and tuition began and the end goal of 10th Grade was set. The first couple of weeks did seem a bit overwhelming considering the huge pressure and importance that is given to this aspect of your life, however, I dealt with the same soon. One...

 Hey everyone! Welcome back to a fresh new month <3 Here's another post based on Anxiety :) Okay so, a lot of people have sent me messages in response to my other posts covering various aspects of Anxiety and this was one of the top. Dealing with an attack in public. I have had my share of dealing with Anxiety attacks since 8th grade. As anyone would describe me-a SUPER introverted person- I don't disclose when I'm undergoing one. To combat them, I have learnt/developed a few tricks or rather 'grounding methods' to help me get through one. Here are my top 3: 5-4-3-2-1 trick I had also included this in a prior post and have written about it here as well for the sole reason of its effectiveness. 5 things you can see 4 things you can hear 3 things you can feel   2 things you can smell 1 thing you can taste(even water works) Read about why its one of the best ways to deal with an attack: here This is one which gets me through most of my attacks and is also one which...

  Hello and Welcome back!! In last week's post , I spoke about the connection of the C² foods in our lives which led me to titling this post as the 'M² Maze'. This is a post I've been meaning to write on ever since I authored a post called  Dance Movement Therapy  almost a year ago. Music and Mental Health. Are they connected? Let's learn more about in this post! To simply answer, Yes. They are highly interconnected.  Most of us are probably acquainted with the fact that music can greatly reduce stress by releasing chemicals such as dopamine and oxytocin and lower the level of stress hormone cortisol. But do you also know that it can improve your cognitive performance? Do you play music in the background while studying or cleaning up? Several researches have concluded that playing music in the background can actually enable you to focus on a task better and perform it efficiently rather than distracting you. It jumpstarts your brain and helps you maintain your focu...

Most of us have probably consumed these two products on a weekly basis, if not daily, in our lives. Coffee and Chewing Gum.  It's addiction is more common than you might think. Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with the effects it has on your physical health, right? But the lesser known fact is, the consumption of this can greatly affect your mental health as well. In today's post we'll be looking at some of the effects it has so without further ado, let's get to it! Coffee. Though research has found that caffeine can certainly help your energy levels and deal with splinting headaches, it has a terrible impact on your stress levels and sleep cycle .  It's addiction is unique. You know you are consuming it in high amounts, however, aren't able to survive the day without one, which may or may not lead to overconsumption of the same. Just a few examples are these: It produces symptoms that can easily be confused with anxiety disorders , such as panic attac...

 Hi everyone! Welcome backk!! Today's post is one on which I've been meaning to write on for a really long time and finally got the opportunity to.    Social Media Is Bad For Your Mental Health Perhaps something which we have all heard at some time but blissfully chosen to ignore (I did too eep :p) Until recently, when I deactivated most of my social media due to my exams did I realise the harmful impacts of social media in our lives.  I cannot comprehend into words how relieved I felt those 4 weeks I was away from the media.  Most of us don't understand something until we actually go through it. The amount of FOMO and drama that it feeds you with is unimaginable.  Social Media    fuels the need to present yourself in a particular manner, follow a particular regime, and overall be this " perfect person ". It takes a terrible toll on your mental health, often leading to various repercussions. A few of which include: HORRIBLE amounts of anxiousness...