Create a vision for your life around these seven areas: Health, Spirituality, Career, Financial, Family/community, Intimate relationships, Emotional Intelligence. What do you want these areas to look like in 20 years? Now, work backward. What do you want these areas to look like in 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, 6 months, next month? Now become singularly focused on these areas, every day, all day, UNTIL THE DAY YOU DROP DEAD! The results will be amazing!

You see, these seven areas cover the most important areas of your life. When you get clear on exactly what you want these to look like 20 years from now and begin to set goals to achieve that, the distractions that so easily upset you today will begin to disappear. What does this mean? It means that checking social media multiple times an hour, coming home and binge watching your favorite shows, keeping up with the latest news - all of which remind you of how terrible the world is, destroying your faith in humanity, making yourself aware of what you don’t have and why, will go away! When you are no longer inundated by negativity, false positivity, mind numbing entertainment, and the temptation to compare yourself to everyone else that feels as insecure as you do, life gets better. Life becomes less problematic, less negative. It becomes more fulfilling because your focus is where it should have been in the first place...the things that matter! 

From coaching to therapy, the people that I see do not have issues stemming from biological disorders. They have mental health issues stemming from a lack of purpose, direction, vision, and habits that fill the place of healthy relationships and a life dedicated to a defined vision. This in turn creates fear, hopelessness, a decrease in self and other-acceptance, all leading to the labels we refer to as anxiety and depression. 

We have been taught that a “chemical imbalance” is the issue behind our depressed or anxious feelings. This isn’t true. According to researchers Jeffrey Lacasse and Johnathan Leo, “There is not a single peer-reviewed article that can be accurately cited to directly support claims of serotonin deficiency in any mental disorder, while there are many articles that present counter evidence.'' Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) contribute significantly to mental health issues, including bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and many others. If the pharmaceutical companies have sold us a bill of goods with the “chemical imbalance” theory and you grew up in a healthy home unaffected by adverse childhood experiences as defined by the research where does that leave you if you indeed suffer from depression or anxiety?

I would suggest you take a look at the vision you have for your life. Like I stated above, most of the people I see do not suffer because of a mental health issue. They have the issue because life is not what they think it should be. It isn’t going where they want it to, or it hasn't been what they hoped for. This leads to hopelessness and worry which we label depression and anxiety. It is a vicious cycle that can be broken.