Seeking self, dropping anchor

It's a new year and a lot of families are managing an array of big changes including kids starting daycare/preschool/school/high school or kids moving into a new year with new teachers, classrooms and peers.  Change is just one of those things that naturally tends to produce some degree of discomfort for most people (the unknown is not a popular place to be) and this becomes even more complex when a parent is a bystander of their child facing change - cue anxiety!  A lot of parents (myself included) already begin preparing their child for the change well before it's even taken place. In the circumstance of school changes, the lead up is often filled with social stories, orientation visits, play dates, books, meetings with teachers, new backpacks, lunch box prep and so on. These are not bad things, in fact they can be really helpful, but can you see how much energy is already being directed towards managing the change for the child? Before the school year has even begun our min...

Have you ever experienced a strong emotion (e.g. worry) & have a thought (or several!) pop into your mind that causes you to behave/react/respond in a way that in hindsight you thought to yourself ‘I wish I had done that differently! That behaviour wasn’t reflective of who I want to be as a person!’ ? One helpful & simple way to slow this process down & give yourself an opportunity to behave differently is to ask yourself - is the thought I’m having based in fact or fiction? Is there real evidence for this thought to be true? Or is it my emotions taking control & making me believe something not based in reality? This question can help us to pause & interrupt our auto-pilot responses. When our thoughts are driven by strong emotions (as apposed to clear thinking) they often veer away from what’s actually true & real, causing us to behave in anxious ways.