Learning to Ground Oneself

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.

As someone with anxiety, I have learned, and maybe you have too, the tool to help you when you are feeling a panic attack. It is to think of five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch, two you can smell, (and one maybe taste). This act of bringing yourself to the present moment can be classified as grounding oneself. While very useful, I find that this is sometimes not enough. When my head is spinning, bringing myself to the present moment is only the first step. Continue reading Learning to Ground Oneself

Does Your Child have a “Song of the Summer?”

It can be a little painful to do so now, but try to think of the memories you have of last summer, the summer before that, and maybe even summers from 20 years ago. Think of the fun, cliche summer memories you have had throughout your life, whether it be in the car listening to the radio, hanging out by the pool, or watching fireworks and lighting sparklers during the muggy nights. Do you have songs attached to them? Continue reading Does Your Child have a “Song of the Summer?”

Helping Your Family Stay Hydrated

As we discussed earlier this week, staying hydrated is not just important for your physical health, but can have substantial benefits for your mental health and your mood too. This is especially important now during the summer, where the heat and humidity can make it even easier to get dehydrated. The sluggishness of the summertime along with the lack of motivation that can come with mental illness symptoms can make it difficult to get enough water throughout the day, making the dehydration effects even worse. Continue reading Helping Your Family Stay Hydrated

This Doesn’t Have to be the Worst Year Ever

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.

I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I’m honestly starting to feel like 2020 is the most horrendous year I have ever experienced. It just feels like everywhere I turn things are going worse than usual and nothing seems to be improving any time soon. The largest fault in that kind of thinking, however, is that it is based on external situations. All this craziness is much crazier on a national level than it is on a personal one. I believe this year, and every single day of it, can be whatever you make of it. Continue reading This Doesn’t Have to be the Worst Year Ever

Stress Cleaning

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.

It’s often late at night when my mind is racing between the items on my to do list and the upcoming day that I find myself on a mission to clean. Continue reading Stress Cleaning

Mental Health Checklists

Sometimes, we need a physical, tangible option to help us accomplish our goals and put the things that we want to work on into words instead of having them just floating around our heads. One way to visually organize our minds is through checklists. You may associate checklists with to-do lists and things that you want to accomplish, but they can also be used as a tool to see your progress about something or help you understand how you’re feeling. Continue reading Mental Health Checklists

Do Notifications Heighten Your Anxiety?

It could be a notification about anything: a text from your child, an email, or a message on Facebook. No matter what it is, getting that alert via vibration and/or ding! can send a wave of brief panic through your body, even if it’s a trivial random news notification about five new recipes to try this week. Continue reading Do Notifications Heighten Your Anxiety?

My Daily Journaling Experience

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.

About a year and a half ago, I started a morning journal. I had no clue how to structure it, or how it even came into fruition. I do love To Do lists, so I would have small journals that would contain my daily To Do’s. From there, I have progressively grown and evolved what has now become a crucial part to my morning routine, so much that when there’s no pen on paper for that day, the day is definitely off. Aside from figuring out what tasks I am to accomplish for the day, my journaling in the morning provides me with the mindset that I need to make it through. I wanted to share my key parts to my current journaling, in hopes that it may encourage you to start your own unique version! Continue reading My Daily Journaling Experience