Self-care can be a wonderful thing. And it’s become an increasingly popular trend, especially as the conversation about mental health awareness and wellness has spread. Maybe you gave it a try, and it did help reduce your worry and stress. But maybe it didn’t really seem to do much. Or maybe it seemed to make things worse. Is that even possible, you might wonder - can self-care actually increase your anxiety in certain cases? If this has been your experience, there are a few reasons why you might be having this reaction. And yes, there are some changes you can make in order to have self-care be more effective for you.

The small “little” things which stress us each day, throughout our day, often seem deceptively innocuous. After all, they’re “little.” Yet, taken all together, they can cause us hours of stress every single day. So how do you combat the stress brought on by the “small” stuff?

A lot of people who come to me for counseling experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Some have been told the root cause is a biochemical imbalance. However, I have discovered that, most of the time, this simply isn’t true. Usually, we come to agree that one or more of the following 8 habits is usually contributing to their distress:

Everyone is expecting you to be merry and thankful. And while you may certainly experience joy during the season, you may also be feeling a lot of other emotions - everything from worry to grief to anger. It’s suddenly not the most wonderful time of the year.