Hi, beauties and cuties!! I’m Dana, and I’m a recovered bulimic/binge eater.

I’ve been milling about for too long trying to figure out the best way to introduce myself as a mindset coach that can help you manage depression and stop stress-eating your face off. Guess what? The best way doesn’t exist! So here I am…diving in, stream-of-consciousness style. If you’re reading this, welcome to the inside of my tangent-addled brain. Make yourself comfy, you’re going to be here a while.

So you know those moments in your day when you feel that panic rising in your chest that you’re running out of time to finish whatever tasks you’ve insisted you finish TODAY and suddenly you start thinking about cookies? Yeah…wanting to scarf down an entire bag of chocolate chip (or insert your cookie of choice - mine is the pillsbury white chocolate macadamia nut ones you get in the refrigerated package that I bake in my toaster oven) isn’t uncommon. This is something sooo many of us default to because hello, that shit is DELICIOUS. And cheaper than therapy, you know?

But what if we stop for a minute and ask ourselves…why exactly am I so stressed right now? Like, yeah…life is busy and the kids are being extra and work sucks and I can’t deal with making dinner and and and

STOP.

Breathe.

Okay, welcome back. If you’re anything like I am, just the word “stress” evokes visions of spinning down a rabbit hole of “have to dos.” My chest gets tight and this idea of rooting through the pantry for cookies feels like exactly the fix I need.

But what if I offered you something to think about instead? Could you shift your thought from the overwhelm to this: “It’s okay to feel like this. It’s okay to feel like I have too much to do and not enough time to do it”? Go ahead. It’s really okay to take a minute for yourself in those moments. If it helps you feel even a tiny bit better, what have you got to lose?

So close your eyes. No wait, open them and read all of this first, then close them and do the thing I’m writing here.

Visualize your favorite place. It could be your bed. Your shower. Your patio. Make it someplace familiar and safe, someplace you spend a lot of time. (So even though you may be tempted to picture sitting in Chris Hemsworth’s lap, now is not the time. We’ll bookmark that and circle back, okay?) Wherever it is, stop fucking judging yourself for thinking about it and go to it. Settle in.

Mel Robbins tells us to put our hand on our heart before we start the breathing, so do that. (It does help.) Get nice and cozy in your mind while you breathe in 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 and hold for 1 - 2 and breathe out 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8. Hold that space and keep breathing at that pace five more times.

Then open your eyes and come back to me.

Okay, you’re back. So do you feel a bit better? 1%? That’s what we’re going for here. Just a smidge calmer. I wanted to help you break that spiral for a minute so that you can reset and refocus. And maybe - hopefully - avoid the cookies this time.

We just engaged in a breathing technique that engages the vagus nerve. What’s the vagus nerve? I’m not writing a term paper today (or ever again, if possible), so go ahead and read about it here if you’d like to know more: Why Your Breath Is Connected To Your Well-Being.

We whirl around in our busyness and self-judgment all day, don’t we? So taking a minute to depart from it is self-care. That’s what actual self-care can look like. It’s not self-indulgent, it doesn’t take time away from your kids, it doesn’t make you a bad employee or boss. It’s just giving yourself a fucking break that you more than deserve. And hey, best part? It’s FREE!!

Until next time…

Love and hugs, Dana