Four Grounding and Breathing Techniques for Anxiety

If you didn't yet know, I am very open about telling people that I struggle with anxiety and depression. My depression is generally mild, but triggered by my anxiety which is moderately high.

The first time I went to a therapist at age 31, I told her I thought I may deal with some anxiety. Honestly I hoped she would just reassure me that I was wrong and "fine". It was important to me and my husband to be vocal about mental health, so I started doing just that.

Then, at 32 I had a therapist confirm my anxiety and depression and for some reason that was a big blow. For some reason the confirmation of everything made me immediately want to shut down and hide for self-preservation. I was suddenly afraid of people's well meaning but insensitive comments. I felt broken, although nothing had changed but someone confirming what I'd been thinking and saying for the last 6 months. But I knew I could not be silent.

My husband struggles with less anxiety but more depression that I do. Demystifing and normalizing conversations around mental health was important to us. I knew that if I stifled my own conversations around my mental health, then I would be feeding antiquated mental health beliefs. Do I still struggle with responses from people? Sure, I read far too much into their words and looks. But still I speak and share.

Being able to identify how anxiety feels in my body (which I will share more on one day), has been hugely helpful in identifying when I feel anxious. For me a racing heart or tightness in my chest is the most prominent bodily response. Once I am aware of how I'm feeling, grounding and breathing teachniques are key to helping me calm my body and my mind, so I want to share my four most used techniques below!

Have you used any of these techniques before or are these new to you?

Zero Waste with Lemons

A couple months ago my husband downloaded TikTok, and I mocked him for months. I refused to watch videos cause I thought it was too lame and goofy. Before I knew it, my Instagram feed was infiltrated with videos shared from TikTok and then....quarantine hit. I had already been through a week off of work for spring break when the schools in my state closed first for two weeks, then two more...and then through the end of the year. One day, I watched someone on Instagram post a Tiktok of them making cake in an adorable step by step video.

Cut to me downloading TikTok and creating a video. Listen, I am not one of those adorable or hilarious video creators. I can't dance or come up with silly ideas. I am instead using it to showcase all the things I love most--baking, cooking, sustainability, diys, etc.

As a nobody and a newbie, I was expecting 30 views and 2 likes for a few months, but my second video became somewhat of a hit.. But somehow I amassed 35 thousand views and 4 thousand likes within 3 days. So what exciting video was my runaway day one hit, you ask? It was about...lemons.

Yep, you read that right. My 35k view video was about lemons and using them with zero waste. My husband thinks it's hilarious.

I spent 60 seconds sharing how I use every part of a lemon so nothing is wasted and nothing goes bad. I zested the lemons, and froze the zest. I juiced them and put the juice in the refrigerator. Finally, I put all the spent lemons into jars and covered them in vinegar to make an infused cleaner. These seemed like a total "duh!" video to me. Just normal, useless information. I made it because I needed to use up an excess of lemons and I wanted to get to know the TikTok format, not because I thought it was in any way helpful information.

That video served to remind me of a couple of helpful things. That, 1. Everyone is into different things and just because something seems obvious to me, others may not have ever thought that way. 2. Everyone is also on a different continuum in their quest for information about their interests. I have spent a LOT of time over the past couple of years making my own...almost everything. I have worked to cut down on chemicals, single use papers and plastics, food waste, etc. I am no expert, I am still learning, but I can help others with their learning as well.

Food waste was a big problem in my life. I never thought twice about it--overbuying and watching things go to waste. Forgetting the food I had so something spoiled in the fridge. Throwing away citrus peels, carrot peels, celery bases, etc. I have worked hard to figure out how to get every bit out of food. I have also purchased large batches of the same vegetables through a zero waste food program. It's caused me to get creative when I have 40 pounds of tomatoes or 40 yellow squash.

I am passionate about these things. While they may seem silly to some, they are helpful and interesting to others, so with that in mind, here are some ways to use your excess lemon zest and juice!

Lemon zest
Wasting lemon zest should be a crime. Harsh, but true. Lemon zest adds an extreme punch of lemon flavor without changing the liquid content of your dish. Add them with poppyseeds to cinnamon rolls. Stir it into tomato jam to brighten the flavor. Sprinkle it (and goat cheese) over brown butter pasta.

A zester is a must-have on my kitchen items list. A normal zester is great, a microplane fine zester is even better. You can use these on citrus, nutmeg, coconut, even hard cheese.

Once your lemon is zested, store it in a reusable bag or tupperware in your freezer, and sprinkle as needed. Any lemony recipe you make should have zest sprinkled in to punch up the flavor!

Lemon juice

Speaking of lemony flavor, let's use all that lemon juice! If you juice a batch of lemons, the juice should be kept refrigerated and used within 10-12 days, so here are some quick lemon juice uses. Lemon is one of my top 5 favorite flavors, so I could share recipes for days but I'll try to keep this round-up short!

Lemonade is the quickest way to use up a large quantity of juice (and nearly any type of cocktail can be enhanced with lemon juice):

Easy Homemade Lemonade

Rosemary Rhubarb Lemonade

Anytime I have fresh lemons I always make lemon curd, and always with David Lebovitz's recipe:

Improved Lemon Curd

Tart lemon desserts are always the way to go:

Classic Lemon Bars

Yellow Squash Lemon Bread

Vanilla Chai Lemon Ricotta Muffins

Lemon is great for dessert but it is an amazing savory flavor as well. You can use it for anything, including:

Lemon Feta Dip

Lemon Vinaigrette

Lemony Lentil Soup

 (This soup is amaaaaaazing)

Lemon and Herb Shrimp Spaghetti Squash

Lemon Chicken

Garlic White Wine Spaghetti

In just a few days I will share ways to use the zest and juiced lemons left behind for zero waste. In the meantime, drop a line below and let me know your favorite lemony dishes so I can add them into my rotation!

First Quarter Favorites: Books

When I left my career last spring, I had 3 months off in the interim. I made a point of spending time reading—something I used to thrive on but had become non-existent in my life. Reading is enjoyment, growth, expansion of my mind and the world around me. In the last 6 months of 2019 I was able to read 17 books, so when I created a Goodreads account, I made 36 books my goal for 2020. Three books a month sounded completely doable, right?

By early March, I had already CRUSHED the three books per month goal, and had finished 26 books. TWENTY-SIX. Eventually I knew 36 was going to be too easy, so I upped my 2020 goal to 100 books! Many of my reads have been through Hoopla and Overdrive--audiobook apps that are free through my local library. So ironically, my time at home has decreased my audiobook reading and I'm now only at 32 books read. You can follow me on Goodreads, I LOVE to see what people are reading. Some were mediocre, and one I chose not to finish, but I’m here to share some books that completely knocked it out of the park for me! You can also see a few of my 2019 favorites here.

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Educated

I know this book was hugely popular when it came out two years ago. I never made time to read it, so when I renewed my library card this was immediately on my holds list. I love a memoir, no matter how thrilling or mundane someone’s life—and Tara Westover’s life was anything but mundane. Raised without formal education (and bare minimum home-schooling) by survivalist parents, Educated is Tara’s story of life with her family in Idaho, and her quest to move beyond the education imparted by her parents and find herself.

Where the Crawdads Sing

I was able to read my grandma’s copy of this book, the final book she was reading before she passed. I devoured the easy prose of the book, eager to solve the murder mystery.

The Good Immigrant

Like I said, I love a memoir, and Good Immigrant is basically a compilation of 26 mini-memoirs. Told by first and second gen. immigrants in the US and UK, these stories weave together the tension of their cultural identities and lives in the West. It is honest and often heart-breaking.

Grief Works

I have read several books about grief since the passing of my grandma. I found Grief Works through the author’s episode on my favorite grief podcast, Griefcast. The author is a therapist so she her episode was completely different from most others, but I really connected with her therapeutic message, and her book was the same. The book is broken down into case stories by type of loss—parents, partner, child, etc. She shares the stories and grieving journeys all through her lens as the therapist in a way that was incredibly gentle and validating.

Health at Every Size

This book is a well-educated look at the way America equates size and health. The author has led research and case studies, so she is not simply talking form a place of passion, but quantitative truth. She encourages readers to change their relationship with food and their views on their body vs. dieting as a misguided way of being “healthy”.

The Hate U Give

Here is another example of a book I was way behind on. Apart from Netflix and Amazon Prime, my husband and I don’t have any tv channels in our home. I rarely know about upcoming movies unless I see a trailer in theatres (and I rarely go to the movies). A friend of mine had recently watched this movie and suggested the book, but I was completely clueless about the content. When the characters friend is murdered by a cop in front of her in the very first chapter, I was shocked. The book is a powerful and relevant look at race in America.