Summit County Therapy

"I'm going to start going to the gym and lose weight." "I'm going to read more." "I'm going to save up for a down payment." "I'm going to do better with self-care." New Years Resolutions. Some of them fail, and some of them succeed. What makes certain resolutions doomed for failure, while others are followed through and achieved? Honestly, it depends. I know that is a frustrating answer, but there isn't just one answer! Today will will discuss tried and true ways to set yourself up for success. These ideas go for all goals, not just New Year's Resolutions! Though there are lots of different tools to help you set and follow through with New Year's Resolutions, today we will talk about two: SMART Goals and Stages of Change. SMART GOALS  Setting our New Years Resolutions well can be a head start to meeting those goals. SMART Goals is an acronym, and following it is a way to ensure that you and others around ...

There are two kinds of things in this world. Things we can control, and things we cannot control. Today we will talk about anxiety and how it can be related to control. In this day and age, our anxiety can come from feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to start, or out of control. We find that our anxiety can be handled differently whether it is inside or outside our control. First, we must identify what is in our control and what isn't. Even when things seem to be sort of in and out of our control at the same time, we can break it down into pieces that are one or the other. For example, whether or not I get home safely is a mix of in and out of my control. Let's talk about how we can break our worries into manageable pieces. "Will I get home safely." What's in my control: my paying attention to road conditions, driving a reasonable speed, not taking mind-altering substances, responding to other drivers, etc. When I am able to determine the things in my c...

"A blog! Isn't that great, I get to share the things I know and help people!" "A blog? What if I can't think of anything to say, and isn't that a lot of work?"         This is the first blog post for Summit County Therapy! For today's topic, I chose to discuss self-talk and how important it is in our everyday lives; it influences things like working, relating to other people, and even starting a blog.  It's pretty clear that the two messages above about starting a blog will result in very different feelings. Depending on the message I decide to believe, blogging could be either exciting and uplifting, or scary and overwhelming.  If you have heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), you might already know that our thoughts about a situation impact our emotions, and these in turn impact our behaviors. If we change our thoughts, we can change the way we feel and act.         Thoughts can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Think a...