https://adaa.org

ADAA Videos:

Managing the Roller Coaster of Emotions During COVID-19, ADAA Video – ADAA member Bethany Teachman, PhD
https://adaa.org/webinar/consumer/managing-roller-coaster-emotions-during-covid-19

Putting on the Oxygen Mask – How to Take Care of Yourself so You Can Take Care of Your Child, ADAA Video – ADAA member Rachel Busman, PsyD
https://adaa.org/webinar/consumer/putting-oxygen-mask-how-take-care-yourself-so-you-can-take-care-your-child

Experiencing Financial Stress Due to COVID-19? Learn Stress-Relieving Tips from Anxiety and Financial Experts, ADAA Video – ADAA member Debra Kissen, PhD and Financial planners Kristina Caragiulo and Nick Cosky from BDF LLC in Chicago
https://adaa.org/webinar/consumer/experiencing-financial-stress-due-covid-19-learn-stress-relieving-tips-anxiety-and

Managing Coronavirus Anxiety: Tips and Strategies for Families – ADAA Video – ADAA members Ken Goodman, LCSW, Debra Kissen, PhD and David H. Rosmarin, PhD, ABPP
https://adaa.org/webinar/consumer/managing-coronavirus-anxiety-tips-and-strategies-families

Quick Expert Tips and Strategies to Manage Coronavirus Anxiety – ADAA 5 minute Video – ADAA member Dr. Debra Kissen
https://youtu.be/xP14-Pc56xU. ADAA also has free peer-to-peer support groups. 

And last, but not least, here’s a great article from “Best Sleep Health”

How to sleep better if you have coronavirus-related anxiety or sleep disturbances.

More Resources You May Like:

Join the Free Email Survival Course:

Weekly lessons, strategies, and homework to start you moving forward

from the effects of hurtful or toxic relationships, dysfunctional thinkers, and Lemon Moms.

Private Facebook group included for members only.

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Announcing- I AM: A Guided Journey to Your Authentic Self, Workbook and Journal

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Available worldwide in any store (ask and they’ll order it for you!) and on Amazon US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, France, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and more.

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About the Author

As a result of growing up in a dysfunctional home, and with the help of professional therapists and continued personal growth, author Diane Metcalf developed strong coping skills and healing strategies. She happily shares those with others who want to learn and grow. 

Diane is an experienced advocate, speaker, and writer on family dysfunction and narcissism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Science in Information Technology. She has worked in numerous human service fields, including domestic violence and partner abuse.

She has authored four transformational books about healing and moving forward, including the highly praised “Lemon Moms” series. This emotionally supportive collection explains maternal narcissistic traits and teaches how to reconcile past hurts to begin self-nurturing, healing, and moving forward.

The Lemon Moms series, as well as her other books and articles, are an aggregation of education, insight, and personal growth resulting from childhood experiences and her subsequent recovery work.

She writes about strategies for recovering and moving on from hurtful people and painful, dysfunctional, or toxic relationships on The Toolbox blog.

See what’s happening on her author’s site: DianeMetcalf.com

Learn about the Lemon Moms series: Lemon Moms

This website is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional therapy.

The issue

I like data. Databases, writing queries to collect data, and informational reporting are fascinating activities for me. I have a degree in Information Management and it makes sense that I like information in all its forms; information is my thing. So during the time of self-quarantine, to feel safe, it was essential that I had access to accurate, credible, trustworthy information to help keep my family and me safe and healthy.

With news shows and social media, many times, “information“ is really an individual’s perspective or opinion. And when others don’t share that point of view, nasty disagreements can result.

I’m all for having disagreements. There’s nothing wrong with holding a different view or disagreeing with someone. I think sharing and discussing differing viewpoints is healthy and necessary for all of us to learn and grow. But these differences in opinion and perspective can absolutely be voiced in healthy, respectful, and productive ways. My husband and I have differences in opinion, and when that happens, we speak to each other calmly, using respectful tones and demeanor. Often we end up agreeing to disagree. We don’t intentionally hurt each other or try to change the mindset of the other simply because we have differing viewpoints. He’s entitled to his, and I’m entitled to mine. We don’t have to agree on everything. We are individuals.

Differences in perspective can inspire us to question, listen, and learn something new.

What’s not healthy is blatant disrespect, refusing to listen, judging, offering non-constructive criticism and unsolicited advice, adopting a closed mind, shouting, and name-calling. When those things happen on news programs or social media, bye-bye, I’m outa there. I don’t feel a need to be part of that chaos.

You can see how that wouldn’t benefit me in a time of needing and wanting information. I didn’t want only information that aligned with what I already knew or believed; I wanted everything. I wanted to consider other viewpoints and opinions outside of my own and decide for myself which are the most credible or applicable. That meant I had to develop the intestinal fortitude to sit through some of the challenges and emotional triggers I mentioned above.

Practice makes perfect

Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that suddenly I’m extremely comfortable witnessing situations that feel threatening. Nope, not at all.

What has changed is my willingness to go out of my comfort zone and stay. At least for a while.

News and social media can absolutely instill fear in some of us more than in others. If you’ve grown up in a scary, threatening, or traumatic home environment as I did, you know what I’m talking about. I purposefully sought out and identified some of my emotional triggers a while ago, and intentionally worked to alleviate them. I recognized that viewing inflammatory news and social media content was another opportunity for me to de-sensitize and alleviate that trigger.

Differences in points of view can inspire us to question, listen, and learn something new.

Having the opportunity to see issues from another’s point of view, and to learn something new, became more important to me than staying in my comfort zone.​ So I began sitting through the chaos and feeling the triggers, forcing myself to remember that I’m in my home, that I’m an adult, that I’m safe. Slowly, I began to hear and learn things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. My tolerance for witnessing heated differences of opinion eventually increased. Angry arguments between others began to feel less threatening. That, in itself, broadened my perspective. I found myself more willing to sit through what used to feel intimidating or scary. 

Real life doesn’t happen in a bubble. Sitting through these uncomfortable moments has helped me understand that I’m stronger and more resilient than I realized.

What about you?

What have the pandemic and the isolation and quarantining taught you about yourself? What have you learned? If you want to share your experience, go to DianeMetcalf.com/story to send me your story!

Tools:

Learn to recognize potentially dangerous people

Learn about setting boundaries.

Learn about codependency and other maladaptive coping skills

Take the Adverse Childhood Experiences quiz

Learn about C-PTSD

Practice Ferocious Self-care: We can choose to focus on and be responsible for ourselves, our own thoughts, actions, and behavior. We can take responsibility for getting our needs met instead of waiting for someone to change or meet our needs for us. We are in control of ourselves, and no one is responsible for us but us.

More Resources You May Like:

Join the Free Email Survival Course:

Weekly lessons, strategies, and homework to start you moving forward

from the effects of hurtful or toxic relationships, dysfunctional thinkers, and Lemon Moms.

Private Facebook group included for members only.

There’s an App for That!

Get THE TOOLBOX APP

for instant information, support, and validation!

WORLDWIDE AMAZON LINKS

US

UK

Germany

India

Brazil

France

Italy

Japan

Canada

Australia

Netherlands

Poland

Sweden

Mexico

Spain

---

Amazon US,  Amazon UK,   Amazon Germany,   Amazon India,  Amazon Brazil,  Amazon France,   Amazon Italy,   Amazon Japan,   Amazon Canada,   Amazon Australia,  Amazon Netherlands,  Amazon Poland, Amazon Sweden, Amazon Mexico, Amazon Spain

U.S. LINKS

B&N

Kindle

Audible

Amazon

Nook

Google

Apple

Author Site Free Shipping (US)

Announcing- I AM: A Guided Journey to Your Authentic Self, Workbook and Journal

A step-by-step method to learn how to write the highest vibrating, most powerful affirmations to manifest love, positivity, peace, self-confidence, motivation, success, and other wonderful things.

Available worldwide in any store (ask and they’ll order it for you!) and on Amazon US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, France, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and more.

Quick US links:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Affirmations Swag

Author Site Free Shipping (US)

Get the TOOLBOX articles twice monthly to your inbox!

About the Author

As a result of growing up in a dysfunctional home, and with the help of professional therapists and continued personal growth, author Diane Metcalf developed strong coping skills and healing strategies. She happily shares those with others who want to learn and grow. 

Diane is an experienced advocate, speaker, and writer on family dysfunction and narcissism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Science in Information Technology. She has worked in numerous human service fields, including domestic violence and partner abuse.

She has authored four transformational books about healing and moving forward, including the highly praised “Lemon Moms” series. This emotionally supportive collection explains maternal narcissistic traits and teaches how to reconcile past hurts to begin self-nurturing, healing, and moving forward.

The Lemon Moms series, as well as her other books and articles, are an aggregation of education, insight, and personal growth resulting from childhood experiences and her subsequent recovery work.

She writes about strategies for recovering and moving on from hurtful people and painful, dysfunctional, or toxic relationships on The Toolbox blog.

See what’s happening on her author’s site: DianeMetcalf.com

Learn about the Lemon Moms series: Lemon Moms

This website is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional therapy.