The Final Assessment

I apologize for not delving deeper into what’s been going on with me and my quest for an anxiety-free (or moderately anxiety-free) life. I admit that some of my posts have been vague, and my methods unclear. The main reason for this is that my methods have indeed been unclear (even to me!)

The process of recovery from an anxiety condition is a largely individual process. You can have allies, companions, and aids, but no one can really share your experience. No one can point you to exactly what you need to do to get better. It really depends on your own personal needs. That’s why there are so many different methods psychologists, psychiatrists, and self-help gurus promote: each one works for certain people and perhaps not for others. Read More…

May 5, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Conquer Anxiety  No Comments

Honorable Mention vol. IV – Anxiety and Mental Health (Round 2)

Hello and welcome to Street Saint’s fourth Honorable Mention! As usual, I have chosen all of the greatest content from my submitting bloggers and have listed them here for your viewing pleasure.

This month, “Anxiety April” (sorry, couldn’t think of a better name), centered on the theme of Anxiety and Mental Health. Last month also had the theme of mental health, but I got so much good stuff, that I had to do it all over again! Hope you enjoy! Read More…

May 1, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Honorable Mention  5 Comments

New Goal Chosen!

Congratulations!!

You all voted for a new goal and it has been chosen!

My new goal is *drum roll*: To Learn a New Language!

A big thanks to everyone who voted! I’m going to let you know by the end of the week all of the details (including what language I have decided to learn). If you have suggestions, by all means, send them along!

I’m looking forward to taking on this new challenge and I hope you are too (after all, you chose it)! And remember that you are still able to cast your votes for the next goal starting now, so get to it!

May 1, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: General  No Comments

The Laundry List

As you may or may not have noticed, I have added a new section to the blog. It is titled the “Laundry List.”

The Laundry List is just a compilation of possible goals I can take on. They consist of both my ideas and yours. Using this list, you can see all of the different goals I may take on in the future. And if anything on the list is confusing to you or you just want to know more about what I’d be doing if the goal is chosen, head to the Laundry List Explanations Page to get the answers you want.

On the Laundry List you can also vote on a goal that you want me to take on next. The goal with the most votes will be the one I choose. Simple isn’t it? You get one new vote per day, so come back and vote again if there is something on there you really want me to do.

The Laundry List also has a segment where you can suggest new goals for me to take on. Just write in your suggestion and I will add it to the list (as long as it is somewhat reasonable/achievable).

The reason the Laundry List is not called a “bucket list” is because “bucket list” implies that I am trying to achieve all of these goals before I die. Though this is kind of true, I don’t like the idea that I have to be on my death bed in order to do what I’ve always wanted (and neither should you!)

Laundry List is a better term also because it conveys that this is something tossed together. These aren’t burning desires, just things that I think would be cool to try or do.

In any case, the Laundry List is going to stick around from now on and the votes are cumulative. This means that the goal you’ve been voting on that ended up in second place, moves to first place after I take on the previous first-place goal. Makes sense? In certain situations I may reset the vote count, but that will be a rare occurrence.

April 24, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: General  No Comments

Road to Victory

It’s extremely important, when striving for a new goal, to take time to reflect on your progress. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to see just how far you’ve come.

Lately I’ve been working on speaking up, initiating and maintaining conversations. I’ve also been trying to send more invitations. Each of these has become a lot easier, almost effortless!

However, I’m still finding it difficult to do all of these things with complete strangers. I still want to work on initiating conversations strangers and inviting acquaintances to do things (in other words, making new friends). Ultimately, I am on the right track. Read More…

April 2, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Conquer Anxiety  One Comment

Honorable Mention vol. III – Mental Health

Hello and welcome to Street Saint’s third Honorable Mention. Once again, I have received content from bloggers all over the place and chosen all of the best and most relevant articles and placed them all here. In fact, I received so many submissions this time around that I wasn’t able to go back through and provide snippets like I usually do. :(

This month is “Mental Health March,” so all of the articles were on the topic of mental disorders, depression, anxiety, and everything in between. And since there were so many great submissions this time around, I’m going to have the same theme for April as well! I’ll have to think of a catchy alliteration for it. “Anxiety April,” sounds too depressing…

In any case, my picks are bellow! Enjoy! Read More…

April 1, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Honorable Mention  4 Comments

Look What I Found!

So I was rummaging through my bag the other day, minding my own business when what do I stumble upon but a loose piece of paper. I wasn’t sure what it was or how it got in there, but I decided to open it up and see what it said.

It said, “You are Wonderful!” There was also a little heart drawn in on the side.

At first I thought, “Hmm… that’s odd. Must be a note I wrote to someone during my Random Acts of Kindness weeks.” At that point I was going to discard it. But then I took another look. Read More…

March 31, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Random Acts of Kindness  No Comments

Goal Suspended: Cure for Boredom

As much as I hate to do this, I have to be completely honest with you all.

Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances (mostly the fact that we both now have jobs), Moe and I are unable to continue our goal of having fun every weekend. Not that we won’ have fun, but we won’t be able to plan it as… well, planned.

Truthfully, I never really had a clear plan for when the goal would end, so in a way, I could just say I achieved it and move on. However, this is not like me.

Instead, I have determined to have one last hurrah, so to speak. Though I don’t know what it will be or when it will happen, I will let you know when it does.

I think the worst part about suspending the goal it that the reason is because we are both too busy with work. The whole point was to escape from work life! Alas, life happens…

I will continue to work on anxiety. In fact, one way to do this is to invite people to do fun things with me each week! :P

We’ll see what happens.

March 26, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Cure for Boredom  No Comments

Push Ups: Mission Complete!!

After performing my final push-up workout in February, I resolved to continue with the program until I was able to do 100 consecutive push-ups, even though I had gone over my time limit.

And it brings me great joy to say that, after seven hard weeks, my goal has been achieved!!

To be honest, I did cheat a little bit. I was supposed to perform 100 push-ups consecutively, without breaks. I ended up having to take a few breaks in order to get to 100; though, each one was only about 5 seconds long. Since the breaks were only seconds long, and since I would have never been able to even get close to 100 prior to the work-out, I’m going to go ahead and call that success. Read More…

March 22, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: 100 Push Ups  No Comments

Spring Break Reflection

As a result of my recent spring break excursions, I’m really starting to feel huge improvements on the social anxiety front. I’ve begun to realize after conversations with people how calm I’ve been. I haven’t freaked out when in uncomfortable situations and I haven’t felt the usual discomfort of not knowing what to say.

In terms of my anxiety goals, I already seemed to have knocked out 1) Speaking audibly and 3) Holding conversations. I have also noticed that I am more comfortable greeting people (though this is still a struggle), so I figure I can continue to focus on goal #2. Read More…

March 16, 2010  Author: Street Saint Posted in: Conquer Anxiety  2 Comments