NewsBreak Original

Introverts often feel like they’re bothering someone by starting up a conversation. You hesitate to introduce yourself because you’re worried about annoying or boring them. And you might even feel like you’re holding them hostage.

When we reach our forties and fifties, many women go through a powerful and profound change process. By this point in life, a lot of us have succeeded in creating a good life. We’re living comfortably, making a substantial income, and thriving in our careers. We’ve launched our children; they’re in college or finishing high school. Our relationship is solid, or we’re okay without one. We’ve done everything we were supposed to do, and gotten everything we were taught to want. But deep down, we’re just getting started.

Here’s a conundrum: The part of you that tries to improve yourself is the part that most needs improving. Hmm… So, that would imply that trying to improve yourself is a waste of time. How could that be?

Collagen is a protein present throughout the body, from the skin to the tendons. It is responsible for providing the body with structure and support. A person's body produces less collagen as they age, resulting in wrinkles and other signs of aging. Collagen supplements have become increasingly popular as a method of preventing these effects.

Another sign of Grassroots demand for Personalized Healthcare. Self-care is the practice by which an individual manages their health without the assistance of a medical professional. It is about any human regulatory function which is under an individual’s control, deliberate and self-initiated, for the sustenance of health and wellbeing.

Taking Care of Your Mental Health is More Important Now than Ever BeforeShayda Windle. A decade ago, mental health was not something discussed within the workplace primarily due to the stigma attached to it. However, this has changed in recent years, and mental health is now an open topic of conversation among businesses of all sizes around the world. Whether you are a small business owner or a Fortune 500 company, business leaders are prioritizing the discussion around mental health. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, we thought it would be beneficial to share a few tips we have learned the past few years about taking care of our own mental health and finding that balance that entrepreneurs so desperately need.

I sleep with a bear-duck; a dead-eyed teddy bear dressed in a kitschy duck suit. I found it on sale at Aldi after Easter one year, in a huge bin of other bear-ducks, plus some bear-rabbits, and even a few bear-flowers. I didn’t necessarily need a teddy bear, but I did. I was fresh out of a breakup and I’d gotten rid of my teddy bear because it was a gift from my ex. The bear-duck appealed to me because it wasn’t steeped in nostalgia or feeling. It was purely utilitarian, and it were cheap ($3.99). Nearly three years later, I still sleep with the thing.

**This blog post is totally based on my personal experience, opinion, and thinking. Life is a series of choices. Sometimes the choices we make impact our lives in many ways, but often it's challenging to know just how much a decision will impact us until years later.

SAMHSA’s Eight Dimensions of Wellness WheelSAMHSA. A few years ago, I took a wellness workshop based on SAMHSA’s Eight Dimensions of Wellness Wheel and it was life-changing. It had a self-assessment that asked us to write down what we were doing to maintain wellness in each category and if we weren’t we had to write an action step.

One of the hardest parts of self care is finding time to give yourself the care that you need. Self care can feel like a luxury when you are busy and life gets in the way. If you can't quite find the time for a full meditation or yoga session, try these self care rituals for when you only have 30 minutes.

Gwen was a working comedian when I first met her. She wasn’t famous yet, but it seemed that she was on her way there. I had never met an artist who pushed herself so hard. No matter how tired she was, she showed up at every audition and never said no to any possible opportunity. For her, that just might be the one that would launch her. When Gwen wasn’t auditioning, networking, or exercising (to keep herself camera-ready), she was writing material, making videos, and submitting them. And when she wasn’t doing that, she was waitressing and bartending to pay rent on her tiny studio apartment in a bad neighborhood.

People exercising - Charles Park, Vero BeachAbbe Chane. Most of us start the day with a routine. We wake up, make the bed, put on a pot of coffee, wash our face, brush our teeth, shower and dress, check our email inbox, have breakfast and head out to work.

The mind is a fascinating thing. It can be our worst enemy or our best friend. A person's mind can make them successful or miserable, happy or sad, and everything in between. In the end, a person's life is determined by what they do with their thoughts.

The Four Agreements is a book by Don Miguel Ruiz that provides life advice to help readers live a happier life and reach a sense of freedom and enlightenment as they go through life. In a second companion book, we learn about the Fifth Agreement.

woman in black and white sweater sitting on a chairkevin turcios/unsplash. Many of us know challenging moments in our lives when we've difficulty controlling our own thoughts and feelings. Imagine coming home after a hard day at work, taking a nice hot shower, eating a good dinner, having some chocolates, and starting to watch your favorite show on TV - nice, right? But we may have noticed that during these happy activities, our thoughts were thinking about project deadlines at work, the nagging boss, unfair colleagues, or the rude stranger we met in traffic that morning. These intrusive thoughts distract us from our present moment. Even as we go about our daily activities, we may be physically in one place, but mentally in another. For example, eating dinner at home and thinking about your rude boss will not help you to have a peaceful time.

Wellness - it’s a global problem; people don’t practice enough wellness or anyat all. Wellness, self-care, living well or wellbeing, are different words that have the same meaning — looking after yourself.