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Researchers Reveal How Often Men Cry (More Than You Might Think)

December 16, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

New research disproves the myth that “men don’t cry,” showing they shed tears more than women. They may not often put their emotions on display, but they still feel deeply. Men have a different way of expressing their pain and frustration.

Perhaps the stigma attached to men’s mental health makes them uncomfortable with vulnerability. Men have historically been viewed as the protectors and leaders of society, making them feel they can’t show weakness. Previous generations expected men to remain strong and stoic no matter what they faced.

Of course, if men feel they have to hide their feelings, it sets them up for mental problems in the future. While much progress has been made to dismantle toxic masculinity, men still suffer behind closed doors.

The Need to Destigmatize Mental Health Needs (It Is Okay to Cry!)

Men desperately need our support to normalize mental health treatment

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, men died by suicide 3.63x as often as women in 2019. White males accounted for nearly 70% of these deaths.

Mental Health America states that over 6 million men suffer from depression each year in the US. However, this number is likely higher as most cases go undiagnosed. Men tend to seek help far less often than women or underreport symptoms.

Tragically, men are more likely to die from alcohol or drug-related causes than women. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, about 68,000 men and 27,000 women die from alcohol abuse each year. Men also misuse drugs about 2-3 times more often than women, leading to fatal overdoses.

These statistics highlight the dire need to support and encourage male mental health treatment. Men shouldn’t suffer in silence just because they learned outdated ideas about societal expectations. However, it seems the tide is turning, and men are finally feeling more comfortable seeking help.

Researchers Reveal How Often Men Cry (More Than You Might Think)

Most people say they feel better after “crying it out” since it releases tension and emotions. Crying is a normal, healthy response to this crazy ride we call life. Luckily, it seems that more men agree with the statement than ever before.

A study of over 2,000 Americans asked both men and women how often they cry. The survey performed by OnePoll on behalf of Vida Health found that men cry about four times per month. Shockingly, women reported crying only three times a month.

That equates to 48 cries a year for men and only 36 for women.

What’s more, the men surveyed for the poll also sought professional mental services more often than women. Two-thirds of men have gotten help versus half of the women surveyed.

Even though men have made progress ending the stigma, they still feel guilty seeking treatment. Nearly twice as many men (63%) reported hiding that they got treatment for mental health than women (34%).

Males also admitted they’d feel embarrassed (50%), ashamed (40%), or afraid (39%) if friends or family found out about the treatment. This compares to female respondents, of whom 23% would feel embarrassed, 17% would feel shame, and 16% would feel fear.

Ending the Stigma About Mental Health and Men

The stigma surrounding men’s mental health may explain why men with mental disorders often turn to maladaptive coping mechanisms. The survey revealed that men turn to alcohol (49%), drugs (40%), or self-harm (35%) to numb their feelings. (Maybe a good cry could help avoid this!)

The survey results mirror the statistics cited by the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse. Women appeared far less likely to engage in these behaviors to cope. Only 27% reported abusing alcohol, 23% resorted to drugs, and 20% engaged in self-harm.

Only 32% of all respondents disagreed that men aren’t as emotional as women and don’t suffer from mental disorders as often. Furthermore, 55% said that women have more support than men, so they’re more inclined to get mental health treatment.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents agreed that society stigmatizes seeking mental health treatment – 61% of women and 69% of men. 40% of those polled said men face this stigma more often, while 34% believe women do.

Among baby boomers (57 years or older), 43% reported that men face stigma, while only 15% said that women are likely to.

Widespread Agreement on the Issue

Both genders seem to agree about where this stigma comes from. They often say it’s friends and family who shame them the most. Men, however, reported that friends stigmatized them more often (19%) compared to 13% of women.

Just remember, no matter what anyone says, it’s okay to cry and feel emotions. It’s healthy to seek treatment when feeling depressed, anxious, or any other distressing emotion. Don’t let others dictate your mental health. Whether you’re male or female, it’s important to advocate for your mental wellness.

Hopefully, this survey will help men, in particular, feel more comfortable seeking mental health treatment. Forget the idea that boys don’t cry because it’s toxic, outdated, and sexist. Men feel emotions just as deeply and often as women and deserve the same understanding about mental illness.

What the Experts Say:

“Over the past two years we’ve made tremendous progress in destigmatising mental health ailments, but there’s still so much work to be done — especially for men. So many men feel like they need to keep their feelings to themselves, tucked away and shielded, otherwise they’ll be labeled as weak and lesser-than. In reality understanding those feelings, embracing them, and seeking out the assistance that can help them feel better is just about the bravest and strongest thing a person can do.” — Vida Health Chief Clinical Officer Chris Mosunic, PhD.

Final Thoughts on a Survey Showing Men Cry More Than You Know

Men learn to sweep their emotions under the rug and take care of business. However, this attitude eventually catches up with them as stress takes its toll, and they never receive the tools to manage it. A survey by Vida Health revealed that men have begun to reject this toxic masculinity in today’s world. They feel more comfortable seeking treatment for mental conditions and cry more often than women!

As a society, we’ve made a lot of progress with holding space for men to express themselves openly and honestly. They’re humans, too, not unfeeling robots, and they deserve to have their voices heard and their mental health looked after.

Psychology Explains How PTSD Harms Interpersonal Relationships (And How to Heal)

December 16, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

Mental illnesses such as PTSD, while no fault of the person suffering, can strain interpersonal relationships. It’s difficult to manage an acute anxiety disorder such as PTSD, much less maintain healthy relationships.

PTSD typically occurs after experiencing a traumatic experience such as a war, natural disaster, terrorist attack, or sexual assault. The sufferer may have flashbacks, nightmares, and debilitating anxiety following the event. According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD affects about 3.5% of US adults each year. Women get diagnosed with PTSD twice as often as men.

Three ethnic populations, in particular, suffer disproportionately from PTSD in the United States: Latinos, African Americans, and Indigenous people. However, the disorder can affect anyone throughout their life, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnicity.

People with PTSD may have intrusive, troubling thoughts and emotions about their experience, even years later. They often relive the experience in flashbacks or intense nightmares. Due to their symptoms, those with the disorder often feel isolated and detached from others. Common feelings of those suffering include sadness, acute fear, or anger.

What Causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Depending on what triggers them, people with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the trauma. Loud noises like fireworks or guns may trigger a strong reaction in them. For example, those who have been through wars may appear highly sensitive and reactive to these stimuli.

Diagnosing PTSD requires symptoms lasting over a month which cause significant impairment in daily life. Most people start noticing signs within three months of a traumatic event. PTSD often co-occurs with other mental illnesses such as depression, substance use, and anxiety.

It’s also possible to have PTSD from indirect exposure, such as learning about a family member or friend’s death. It can also occur due to being exposed frequently to ongoing trauma. For example, police officers hearing about details of child abuse cases may suffer from PTSD.

As you can imagine, suffering from PTSD can lead to significant distress in daily life. These effects may carry over into interpersonal relationships, such as friendships, family, and romantic partners.

Psychology Explains How PTSD Harms Interpersonal Relationships

Studies have found that PTSD affects interpersonal relationships due to trauma. People with PTSD often experience the following symptoms, which can have a ripple effect in relationships:

altered view of reality, leading to negative self-image or outlook on life
depersonalization
loss of emotional regulation, leading to misplaced anger, panic, or depression
self-isolation
impulsive, risky behaviors
inability to handle stress
memory problems
personality changes
feeling numb or hopeless
substance use
losing trust in others, even people close to them

Since PTSD can cause people to shut down and isolate themselves, interpersonal relationships inevitably suffer. Keep in mind that your loved one doesn’t want to hurt you. They’re just trying to protect themselves from pain, even though you didn’t cause it. The impact of the trauma causes them to relive the experience, leading to confused or misplaced feelings.

In interpersonal relationships, those with PTSD might display the following behaviors:

lash out at loved ones
avoid physical or emotional intimacy
fear abandonment
become overprotective

Suffering from PTSD means feeling a rollercoaster of emotions, depending on circumstances and mood. For instance, if you argue with your partner, it may trigger a robust emotional response. This outburst may shock your partner, who isn’t used to seeing you so angry. If this happens repeatedly, you might fear they will leave you, leading to clingy or overprotective behavior.

These hot and cold emotions may confuse your partner because they don’t know what to expect daily. This moodiness can considerably strain the relationship, even though this wasn’t the trauma survivor’s intention. While PTSD and its painful symptoms can create a rift in interpersonal relationships, it can heal. With time, patience, and understanding, you can have healthy, fulfilling relationships again.

Four Ways to Heal PTSD (and improve interpersonal relationships)

Any successful relationship requires sacrifice, commitment, and respect. When you have PTSD, it makes interpersonal relationships even more challenging. However, by healing from the inside first, you can enjoy your family, friends, and partner on a deeper level. Remember, the only way out is through, so you can heal by going within to deconstruct the trauma.

1 – Consider therapy.

Please don’t feel ashamed for seeking therapy; many people with PTSD benefit from discussing their struggles with someone. A qualified therapist can help you put things into perspective and heal from the traumatic experience. This counseling will also benefit your interpersonal relationships in time. Studies have shown that PTSD treatment boasts a high success rate – around 46% of people improve within six weeks.

2 – Open up to your partner, family, and friends.

If you isolate or withdraw from others, they can’t help you carry the burden of your pain. It may seem difficult, but try explaining what you’re going through with them. By opening up about your trauma, your loved ones can walk through the healing process with you. Lean on your support system because they want to see you heal. Being honest will also open the lines of communication again and help rebuild relationships.

3 – Practice self-care.

We can’t stress this enough. Feeling your best mentally, physically, and emotionally will foster healthy interpersonal relationships. Explain to your loved ones that you need time to recharge and heal from the trauma. Whether this means going on a backpacking trip once a month or joining a gym, nourishing your soul is essential. You can’t pour from an empty cup, after all.

4 – Join support groups for PTSD.

While your family and friends can provide support, they can’t fully understand what you went through. Someone who’s walked in your shoes may be better positioned to help you heal. The US Department of Veterans Affairs offers resources that those with PTSD can benefit from, such as peer support groups.

Final Thoughts on How PTSD Impacts Interpersonal Relationships

If you have PTSD, you might have conflict in interpersonal relationships. Please don’t feel guilty or blame yourself for it; it’s a common occurrence for those who have experienced trauma. Remember that there’s a path to healing from PTSD – therapy, self-care, leaning on loved ones, and finding a support group can help.

How to Make Sleep Gummies That Make You Feel Great the Next Day

December 16, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

If you’ve been tossing and turning at night lately, sleep gummies may help you out. Everyone needs their beauty rest, as sleep deprivation leads to physical and mental illnesses. Not to mention, feeling tired during the day makes you downright grumpy and uninterested in daily life.

Getting better sleep helps ward off illnesses and keeps you functioning in optimal condition. Unfortunately, millions of people today have insomnia and other sleep disorders.

Our modern world doesn’t nurture our biological needs, so illnesses of all kinds have become common. This category includes insomnia, with an estimated 50-60% of the global population suffering from it at any given time, according to research.

These figures are alarming. That means more than 3.5 billion people may have insomnia, a public health crisis indeed. What can we do to solve this problem plaguing society?

Enter sleep gummies. You won’t have to worry about daytime fatigue or insomnia with this sleep remedy. Made with all-natural ingredients that complement your body’s circadian rhythm, you’ll find yourself dozing off in no time.

Most store-bought sleep gummies have added sugar and other harmful ingredients to exacerbate sleep problems. Sugar spikes your insulin and increases cortisol, which doesn’t bode well for a good night’s rest. If you want to steer clear of the additives, make sure to follow this recipe for healthy, natural sleep gummies.

How to Make Sleep Gummies That Make You Feel Great the Next Day

Are you ready to try to get more rest?

Gather these tools:

Large bowl to mix ingredients
Spoon
Squirt bottle
Molds of your choice for the sleep gummies (bears are a solid choice)
Large pot

Ingredients:

2 cups tart cherry juice (not from concentrate)
1/3 cup honey or sugar-free alternative (monk fruit, stevia, etc.)
4 teaspoons magnesium powder
1/2 cup gelatin powder

Directions:

First, pour the cherry juice into the pot, then slowly combine the magnesium powder. The magnesium will create a foamy texture.
Next, turn the heat on low and add in the honey. Stir gently while the mixture warms.
Stir for about three minutes or until the magnesium completely dissolves.
Then stir in the gelatin, whisking until thoroughly combined. Heat on low until the gelatin dissipates as well.
Now, transfer the liquid into your squirt bottle. You could pour it right into your molds, but the bottle makes the process less messy.
Fill up the molds or a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 glass baking dish coated with coconut oil.
Place the sleep gummies in the refrigerator for about 2 hours to harden.
Once they’re firm, remove and transfer to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Sleep Gummies Recipe Notes

Before you begin, make sure to reread the label on your gelatin. Sometimes people confuse gelatin and collagen, but your recipe won’t turn out correctly if you use the latter. Gelatin makes the sleep gummies rubbery, firm, and, well, gummy. Collagen, however, merely dissolves in liquids and doesn’t harden when it’s cooled like gelatin.
Keep in mind that gelatin is an animal product. If you’re vegan, opt for one of these plant-based alternatives:
- Agar-agar. This vegetarian gelatin substitute comes from a variety of seaweed plants.
- Guar gum. It’s derived from a legume called guar beans.
- Xanthan gum. Perhaps the most popular veggie alternative to gelatin, it’s made from fermenting simple sugars with a certain bacteria.
- Carrageenan. This product also comes from seaweed, a red variety called Irish Moss.
Adults should have one to two sleep gummies about one hour before bed. Children should eat just one close to bedtime.
If you’re making these for children, make sure to ask their doctor first about the magnesium powder. You can still make the recipe as is without it.
Not a fan of tart cherry juice? The honey or sugar-free alternative will help lessen the tang a bit. You could substitute with a different liquid, but it’s not recommended. We’ll explain why below.

Nutrition and Benefits of these Sleep Gummies

Tart cherry juice. It’s not very publicized, but tart cherry juice can help immensely with insomnia and other sleep problems. Tart cherry juice naturally contains melatonin and the amino acid tryptophan, which induce sleepiness. Proanthocyanidins, the ruby red pigments in tart cherry juice, contain an enzyme that lowers inflammation and slows the breakdown of tryptophan in the body. This allows it to circulate in your body longer, promoting sleep. A 2014 Louisiana State University study found that tart cherry juice increased sleep duration by nearly ninety minutes per night in older participants.
Honey contains plentiful antioxidants and can help stave off colds, coughs, and respiratory illnesses. It’s also anti-inflammatory, which means it can ease any pain or discomfort and promote relaxation. (If you’re not using honey, feel free to skip this part. However, alternative sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit also have benefits).
This critically important mineral plays a vital role in a restful night’s sleep. Magnesium helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which enables you to feel calm and relaxed before bed. It also helps regulate melatonin levels, which govern sleep-wake cycles in the human body. Finally, magnesium binds to GABA receptors in the brain; GABA calms the nervous system and is used in many sleep medications like Ambien.
The last ingredient, gelatin, contains nearly all the essential amino acids. One of these, called glycine, can help you fall asleep faster and achieve deeper sleep by increasing serotonin levels.

Final thoughts on these sleep gummies that will knock you out cold

Sleep medications and supplements don’t hold a candle to these potent sleep gummies. Containing calming ingredients like tart cherry juice, magnesium, and gelatin, they’re the perfect antidote to insomnia. Plus, they only take a few minutes to make and last for one or two weeks. Not to mention, it will seem more like eating candy than a sleep supplement!

If you decide to make these sleep gummies, let us know if they help you get more shut-eye!

How to Validate Your Partner’s Feelings in 5 Easy Steps

December 16, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

Validation is one of the most critical aspects of casual and complex communication in a partnership. It communicates understanding, acceptance, respect, and genuine care for your partner’s thoughts and feelings.

But if you don’t know how to validate your partner correctly, knowing how to start is tough! If you do it incorrectly, you could drive them away instead of closer to you. Don’t fret, though – we’re here to help! Here’s how to validate your partner’s feelings in five easy steps.

1. Step 1: Listen Well

To acknowledge emotions and validate them, you have to be listening well. No one is going to feel validated if you’re barely paying attention. Stronger relationships can emerge when both parties are willing to take the time to listen to the other truly. If you want to validate your partner’s feelings, listen well. You can do this by:

·Giving Full Attention To Them

Turn off your devices, put aside anything and everything else, and focus on your partner 100%. That’s how you listen well! If you’re currently unable to provide full attention to a partner, tell them that and ask if you can speak later. Express that you want to fully devote yourself to listening and explain that this is the reason for the rain check. You can also indicate presence by holding their hand, rubbing their back, or performing another form of appropriate physical contact.

·Using Micro Validation

To validate a partner, you start from the very beginning. When you listen, please encourage them to continue with micro-validation. This involves using small, appropriate phrases and words of acknowledgment to show you follow what they’re saying. It also gives them the sense that you’re really, genuinely listening. They’ll start to feel validated already!

·Matching Their Energy

When your partner approaches you, start by trying to match their energy. This will help validate them before they’ve even gotten to the heart of the matter. If they seem to be a little sad, be sympathetic and gentle. If they seem excited, happily and curiously match their hype. If they’re nervous, be comforting and welcoming. Try to adapt your energy as you go and avoid making assumptions about the energy they want from you. It’s important to match and mirror, not make your own thing!

·Turn To Face Them

Use your body language to show your partner that you’re listening. Turn your whole body or head towards them and make comfortable levels of eye contact. If you happen to be doing something else during this time (with your partner’s statement of comfort with that), this is extra important. Turn to look at them often, give attention cues, and do even more micro-validation.

·Paying Attention To Nonverbal Communication

Research shows that 70% of human communication occurs nonverbally. That’s why listening to your partner’s feelings can involve observing their body language and taking note of their tone and expressions. This will allow you to understand them on a fuller scale.

·Do Not Interrupt Or Interject

The goal for this first step is to listen. Do not ask your questions until there is a natural lull or your partner is waiting for your response! This is the time to focus on listening and understanding, not what you’ll say next.

2. Step 2: Clarify and Ensure Your Understanding

You’ll want to ensure correct understanding to validate your partner’s emotions. This will allow them to elaborate, correct a miscommunication, or at least feel understood by you. You can do this by:

·Asking Questions To Clarify

Encourage your partner to elaborate on their feelings by asking clarifying questions. You validate them by showing that you’re interested and are listening. It also gives you the chance to ensure that you have things right. You can also initiate further discussion with these questions. Your partner will feel more encouraged to open up.

·Identifying The Emotion and Acknowledging It

Being able to state the emotion that your partner experiences shows you’re not shying away from identifying it. You can ask for their confirmation of the feeling or repeat their prior statement of the emotion. This works even before a partner has begun talking to you. If you notice your partner’s strong emotions, commenting on them with kindness can be a helpful start for a conversation that will validate them. For example, saying, “You seem nervous. Is that what you’re feeling?” can kick things off nicely, clarifying their feelings and your openness for discussion.

·Mirroring Their Statements

Mirroring is a common sign of empathy, according to studies. The process involves repeating your partner’s words back to them in your own words. This allows you to validate them by clearly conveying your understanding of their words. They’ll feel heard and understood. It can feel a little weird when you first try it, but mirroring is a big deal for validation and reinforcement of that validation!

3. Step 3: Fully Acknowledge and Validate The Feeling

When your partner has expressed themselves and the conversation has paused, you can validate them. It is crucial to Fully acknowledge and express your understanding of their emotions and experiences. Your partner came to you for support, and you can validate their feelings by doing the following:

·Normalizing Their Feelings And Reactions

“Normalizing” in this context means assuring your partner that their behavior or emotions aren’t “crazy.” You want to clarify that they’re valid in your eyes and that you think there is some justification for their actions or emotions. This can help a partner who may be afraid of overreacting or being “weird.”

·Admitting It If You Can’t Relate

It’s strange, but sometimes, a great way to validate a partner is by admitting when you can’t relate to them. Saying that you can’t imagine how hard something is can be super validating for them. It’s you using your empathy to show that you’re there for them even if you can’t fully understand their exact predicament. It sets the tone for future discussions by offering your capacity to walk a mile in their shoes.

·Genuinely Walking A Mile

Since we mentioned walking in their shoes, it’s worth noting that you must genuinely do that! This means acknowledging your partner’s personal history and experiences contributing to their feelings and actions. Reflect on the experiences shaping their emotions and validate and normalize their links.

·Not Letting Disagreement Drag You Down

Even if you disagree with your partner, you should seek to validate them! Express your understanding of their feelings, and they’ll become more open to you. After all, loving your partner means hearing their different and unique perspectives! Plus, the created openness may present opportunities for you to offer a differing view in the future, but don’t do that unprompted! You shouldn’t lie that you agree when you don’t. But acknowledge truths, assure and comfort them, and stick to validation first.

·Communicating Acceptance

When you validate someone, you show them that you accept their thoughts and emotions. You don’t need to relate or agree to abide. That acceptance is part and parcel of having a partner! It’s also important when your partner expresses their emotions regarding you and an action you performed. Instead of reacting with a defense, clarify that you accept and understand their perspective before stating yours. This leads to healthier discussion and conflict management.

4. Step 4: Offer Help, Feedback, Or Encouragement, If Applicable

Your partner will not always want their encouragement, help, feedback, or advice. Remember, you shouldn’t be giving unsolicited advice to anyone, much less your partner! But sometimes, they will want that help.

If you don’t have feedback or advice, you can communicate this to your partner and focus on encouragement. But there are times when you will have something you can offer. In those situations, it’s essential to continue the validation while providing this assistance. Here’s how to do so:

·Lead With A Statement That Validates

Before you get into the feedback session, lead with validation. This sets a positive tone and ensures that your partner knows you think they’re valid, regardless of your opinion or advice. This means you should avoid using the word “but,” which can quickly invalidate your partner after your positive statement. Use “and” instead!

·Don’t Use Absolutes

Absolute statements like “you always” or “I never” are pretty much always untrue. They can also quickly put someone on the defensive. Using “often” or “rarely” instead will be much more accurate, and you won’t get shields put up.

·Use “I” Language

“I” language involves focusing on communicating your opinion without dragging your partner down. Sentences that start with “I feel…” or “I think…” are great ones to try using.

·Relate to a Similar Experience

If you have a similar experience to share, now is the time to do it. This can validate a partner by showing that you’ve been here before and that you understand. Don’t insinuate that you know exactly how your partner feels. Just build a connection off of shared knowledge. Also, don’t spend the whole time on yourself! Use your experience anecdote to check back in with your partner again, returning the focus to them and connecting you closely.

5. Step 5: Re-Validate The Feeling Again

Remind your partner that you still find their emotions to be valid. This helps to reiterate your complete understanding and kindness towards your partner. The reinforcement helps to end the dialogue positively and healthily. This can emotionally uplift your partner and remind them you’re on their side.

This is especially true because, for many, sharing feelings can be a frightening experience. You must be open and vulnerable and may face hurtful backlash from someone you love. That’s why re-validation is so crucial! Thank your partner for trusting you, validate how difficult it may have been to talk about, and make sure they know you appreciate them for it.

If your partner feels especially validated, they may decide to continue the conversation and open up even further. If this happens, that’s awesome! Re-state your readiness to discuss the topic further. Just repeat the steps once more to continue perpetuating the positive cycle of validation and happiness in understanding.

Final Thoughts On Some Effective Ways To Validate Your Partner’s Feelings

Validating a partner can take practice, but it’s easier when broken down into steps. Listen, clarify, fully validate, acknowledge, offer feedback, and revalidate. It’s that simple!

Australians Reveal How They Can Build Roadways Out of Recycled Waste

December 15, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

In Australia, construction companies have begun building roads from recycled waste, adding to the country’s arsenal of climate adaptation tools. It leads the way in sustainability, generating more solar power than anywhere globally.

Currently, Australia produces eight times the global average of rooftop solar per person. Now, its citizens have something else to feel proud of in the fight against climate change.

The concept of plastic roadways began in 2018 with the local Tasmanian government. It wanted to recycle single-use plastics and other waste cleverly. After some deliberation, they came up with the idea of creating roadways from soft plastics and glass. It’s the first road of its kind in Australia.

The 500-meter (1,640-foot) road outside the city of Hobart consists of around 173,600 plastic bags and packaging. Workers repurposed 82,500 glass bottle equivalents that would’ve otherwise been sent to a landfill as well.

In addition, construction materials included toner from approximately 5,900 used ink cartridges and over 33 tonnes of recycled asphalt. These combined materials created the 330 tonnes of asphalt used for road construction in the town of Snug, supplied by reliable crane hire companies known for their professionalism and ability to handle complex lifting tasks safely and efficiently. Their expertise ensured the smooth transportation and placement of heavy equipment and materials throughout the project. Experience exceptional crane sales with Boom & Bucket, where quality equipment is available at competitive prices.

The council decided to build the road to help the environment, Kingborough Councillor Richard Atkinson told Australia’s ABC News. While the product costs more, Atkinson said it would save the council money in the long term. It’s estimated that the road will last fifteen percent longer than a typical asphalt roadway.

Other roads made from recycled waste already exist in other areas of Australia. South of Perth’s business district, the government recently added extra lanes to Western Australia’s Kwinana Highway. This wouldn’t stand out in normal circumstances; however, this stretch of the road consists of untraditional materials.

Australians Reveal How They Can Build Roadways Out of Recycled Waste

Two stabilizing layers beneath the asphalt consist of 25,000 tons of recycled concrete. 90% of these materials were derived from the demolition of a football stadium in Perth.

While Australia sets a great example to the world, roads comprised of recycled waste are still rare. Under the National Waste Policy, federal, state, and territory governments aim to recycle 80% of building and construction materials by 2030. However, currently, only about forty percent of these materials get recycled.

Of the 74 million tons of waste, Australia produced in 2020, about 22.9 million tons consisted of masonry items. Plastics, on the other hand, comprised only 2.5 million tons. Of the 61.5 million tons of waste managed by waste recovery companies, 44% came from construction materials. Meanwhile, households and local governments contributed only 20% of waste.

Much of the concrete, steel, timber, asphalt, concrete, drywall and other materials could become recycled waste. Unfortunately, the majority sits in landfills because of economic policies. It costs less to buy new items and throw them out compared to reusing or recycling them.

In addition, choosing mix on site concrete can significantly reduce waste. Since the concrete is mixed exactly as needed, there’s no excess, which not only helps your budget but also minimises environmental impact. Explore more about how mix on site concrete delivery works in practice to see how this approach could be beneficial for your project. Federal contracts over $150K require performance bonds for completion.

While this practice makes companies more profitable, it robs the Earth and its inhabitants. People and ecosystems end up paying a high price for our economy centered around limitless growth. However, you can’t have infinite profits on a finite planet. That’s where a circular economy would come into play–making entirely new products from recycled waste,

Methods to Reduce Carbon Footprint from Construction

As construction and building activities account for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, it’s vital to enforce more sustainable policies. The United Nation’s International Resource Panel found that countries could reduce these emissions through several significant avenues.

Martina Otto, the head of UNEP’s Cities Unit, cites the following strategies for slashing emissions in the construction industry:

Sustainably managing and harvesting timber. This action could reduce carbon emissions by between one to eight percent in G7 nations by 2050.
Designing buildings using fewer materials. This change could save eight to ten percent of emissions by 2050.
Consider passive cooling and heating, along with natural light. Reducing energy use in this way would lower the carbon footprint of buildings.
Construct buildings using sustainable products. For example, a 2020 study found that agro-wastes such as sugarcane bagasse, rice husk ash, and bamboo leaves could bolster construction processes. The study found that these materials boost durability, reduce costs and improve sustainability.

According to the panel’s models, eco-friendly practices could reduce emissions from residential building construction in the G7 nations and China by at least 80% in 2050. They estimate it would slash emissions by 50-70% in India.

Other Countries Building Roads from Recycled Waste

It’s not just Australia that’s hopping on the plastic road bandwagon. Countries such as India, Mexico, the Philippines, Ghana, the United States, and the United Kingdom have adopted them also. In fact, the first plastic roadway appeared in India about twenty years ago. About 60,000 miles of roads have been constructed from recycled waste.

In Ghana, only 23% of roads are paved, so there’s a huge opportunity for development in the small country. In 2018, Ghanian President Akufo-Addo announced the ambitious plan of creating a completely circular economy by 2030. Then, much of the 1.1 million tons of plastic produced each year could serve as material for paving roads.

By diverting waste before it enters landfills, it reduces the amount of plastic pollution in the environment. Expanding roadways in Ghana using green technology would create jobs and boost the economy. It’s a win-win for both people and the planet.

Final Thoughts on How Countries Are Building Roads Out of Recycled Waste

Countries like Australia, India, and Ghana have proven the old saying that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. In this case, they’ve used recycled waste to build roads, helping to reduce emissions. Laying asphalt for roadways and other construction activities contributes about forty percent of yearly carbon emissions worldwide.

In addition, Chapman’s Construction says that using already existing materials to construct roads significantly reduces emissions since no production or manufacturing is required. The only emissions would come from machines used to lay the asphalt. Hopefully, more countries around the globe will follow suit and build roads with recycled waste. This collective effort would mark a massive step in beating climate change.

15 Gratitude Quotes That Will Make You Happy All Day

December 15, 2021 by Sarah Barkley

One of the first things children learn is to say thank you and show appreciation. This polite expression is beneficial in many ways, and you might not realize how great it can be for your life. These gratitude quotes can help you remember to be more thankful, promoting happiness in your life.

Gratitude is a universal idea, crossing all genders, ages, and nations, and it can make you happier. Not only does gratitude bond people, but I can make those around you feel better, too. When they know that you’re thankful for them and what they do, they’ll feel good and want to keep doing those things.

Additionally, expressing your appreciation will make you feel good about yourself and your life, too. Being thankful allows you to bring joy, meaning, and clarity to all situations in your life. It can positively change everything in your life, including your career and personal life.

Fifteen Gratitude Quotes That Will Make You Happy

Spend your time and energy focusing on all you have right now rather than on the things you want. If you wish to experience joy all day, remembering these gratitude quotes can help you. They’ll inspire you to express gratitude, and you won’t forget about all the good things in your life.

1. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward

With gratitude, you can make every day into a day of thanksgiving, as Ward explains. It makes every task more joyful and makes every opportunity seem like a blessing. With these benefits, you’re sure to experience happiness all day because you see the good in your life.

2. “Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.” – Deepak Chopra

You also experience power, wisdom, and creativity when you express gratitude. The only way to open these doors is by giving thanks whenever you have the chance. Don’t miss out on living the best life possible by not appreciating what you have right now.

3. “Stop thinking of gratitude as a byproduct of your circumstances and start thinking of it as a worldview.” – Bryan Robles

Your circumstances in life don’t make you appreciative because it is all about your mindset. As Robles explains, you must think about gratitude as a worldview. When you think of it this way, it becomes a natural way of thinking, allowing you to experience happiness all the time.

4. “Gratitude unlocks all that’s blocking us from really feeling truthful, really feeling authentic and vulnerable and happy.” – Gabrielle Bernstein

With gratitude, you’ll experience truthfulness and authenticity. Additionally, you’ll experience joy as you stay true to yourself and stay open to stronger bonds in your relationships. Spend time each day giving thanks for all that you have, and you’ll unlock so much in your life.

5. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

You can’t simply say that you’re appreciative of something and now show it, too. Vocally express your gratitude, and then live by the words you say. As Kennedy explains, showing that you appreciate what you have is the best way to express yourself.

6. “Develop an attitude of gratitude. Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for you.” – Brian Tracy

Every person you meet brings something to your life, whether good or bad. If you think that someone didn’t add value to your life, you still learned something from them. You might have realized that spending time with negative people isn’t a good idea, or you may have learned that not everyone can be trusted.

However, you’ll typically learn positive things from the people you meet. They might teach you something, help you, or support you in your endeavors. Whatever people bring to your life, make sure to express gratitude.

7. “The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.” – Robert Holden

Gratitude can help you feel joy because it allows you to become more present. When you live in the present, you’re more aware of the good things and people in your life. You’ll focus on spending time enjoying and loving everything you have right now.

With this positive mindset, you’ll not only feel happier, but you’ll feel more appreciative, too. The more often you express gratitude, the more you will experience. It’s a cycle of positivity that promotes feelings of fulfillment and meaning.

8. “Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

Showing gratitude does more than show others that you appreciate them. It also goes further than being appreciative of what you have right now. Gratitude can help you find happiness by adjusting your mindset to view your past, present, and future accurately.

When you express gratitude, your past will start to make more sense. You’ll begin to understand why things happened the way that they did, and you’ll learn to accept it. Additionally, gratitude helps you find peace within and determine which path is right for your future.

9. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” – Epictetus

It doesn’t matter how many things you have in life or how expensive your possessions are. When it comes to being appreciative, all that matters is that you have few wants in life. Don’t spend your time wishing you had more.

Instead, spend your time appreciating what you do have right now. Even if you don’t have a ton of material possessions, you still have plenty. When you realize that and start living a gracious life, you’ll become much happier.

10. “When gratitude becomes an essential foundation in our lives, miracles start to appear everywhere.” – Emmanuel Dalgher

The more appreciative you are, the more positive things you’ll notice all around you. Miracles always happen if you have the right mindset and know to look for them. Practice gratitude each day so that you don’t miss out on the wonders happening in the universe each day. Reading this list of gratitude quotes is an excellent place to start!

11. “Gratitude is one of the most medicinal emotions we can feel. It elevates our moods and fills us with joy.” – Sara Avant Stover

When you express gratitude, you’re sure to feel better overall. You’ll experience a boost to your mood, and you’ll be filled with joy, as Stover explains. This gratitude quote will help you remember the importance of expressing your appreciation for everything you have right now.

12. “Happiness cannot be traveled to owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

Many people spend their lives searching for happiness without realizing they can’t find it that way. If you want to experience happiness, you must stop trying to earn it, own it, or consume it. It’s not something you can buy or track down, as it is something you must experience every day.

You can only find happiness if you live each day with a positive attitude. Spend every minute of your day expressing love, grace, and gratitude. Once you start living this way, you’ll quickly experience joy every day.

13. “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” – Dale Carnegie

When it comes to finding happiness, it isn’t about materialistic things. As Carnegie explains, it isn’t about who you are, where you are, or what you do that determines your joy. Instead, the only thing that can bring happiness to your life is your mindset.

Things won’t always go the way you hoped they would, but you must express gratitude anyway. With this mindset, you’ll find happiness unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

14. “Today I choose to live with gratitude for the love that fills my heart, the peace that rests within my spirit, and the voice of hope that says all things are possible.” – Unknown

This gratitude quote is one of the best ones to write down and put in an area you’ll see often. It reminds you to live graciously, embrace love, and find peace within. Additionally, this gratitude quote also serves as a reminder that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

With all of the positivity in this gratitude quote, you’re sure to experience feelings of thankfulness. As you start to show more appreciation for what and who you have in your life right now, joy is sure to follow. With gratitude, love, peace, and hope, you’ll begin to see the beauty all around you.

15. “In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy.” – Albert Clarke

You can’t spend your life searching for joy, thinking it’ll finally make you feel appreciative. If you live with that mindset, you’ll always be unhappy because you’ll continually search for something you can’t find. You must experience gratitude first, and then happiness will follow.

If you aren’t happy with what you have right now, you won’t be content with more, either. Material possessions won’t bring you the joy you desire, but gratitude will. Plus, when you express gratitude, you’ll find that more good things come your way.

Final Thoughts on Gratitude Quotes to Help Have Happiness All Day

Feeling and expressing gratitude is the only way to find happiness. If you want to be happy all day, you’ll want to keep finding things to express gratitude about. It isn’t hard to find something to appreciate, as you have good things and people in your life.

Additionally, you can express gratitude for the world around you. The world is full of beauty, and all it takes to experience it is walking outside. Once you start expressing gratitude daily to help you find happiness, you will see all the great things around you.

If you ever struggle with appreciating what you have, return to these gratitude quotes. The words of wisdom will inspire you and remind you of why you must be happy.

10 Ways to Celebrate Life’s Small Successes (And Why You Should!)

December 15, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

People often focus a lot on tremendous accomplishments. While that’s a beautiful thing to do, one must remember that big wins aren’t highly frequent. However, small successes occur with greater frequency. This means that if you only want to focus on big, obvious wins, you might miss out on all the small but beautiful victories you have under your belt.

It’s natural to have some trouble celebrating things that feel small to you. If you’d like to start, there are many ways to help yourself enjoy those victories. Here are ten ways to celebrate life’s small successes and three reasons you should!

10 Ways To Celebrate Life’s Small Successes

You deserve to take a moment now and then to pause and be proud of your accomplishments.

1. Write Down Your Successes

Many people journal as a tool for reflection, expression, and progression. It’s also commonly used for writing down goals, aspects of gratitude, or memories from the day. Why not do the same for your successes, too?

Studies have shown that writing things down in handwriting is beneficial to memory and brain function. When you record your successes through writing, you engage your brain to remember better the win and the methods you used. You’ll also be giving your brain a nice boost in learning and reflecting on that small success! Writing down small successes also lets you:

Look back on your accomplishments when you need inspiration or motivation.
Keep track of your progress towards various goals.
Learn and commemorate various lessons from your progress and victories.

2. Share Your Successes With Others

People often don’t want to share their successes with others because they feel they are bragging. They may also feel ashamed about a minor victory, thinking it’s not worth sharing.

But that’s not true at all! Sharing your successes with the people around you can help you condition yourself for even more significant future victory. You surround yourself with positive people and fuel yourself with pride and support, making you more motivated to achieve even more! You can share things with:

Friends
Family
A partner
A support community
Colleagues
Social media

3. Get Yourself A Small Gift

What better way to celebrate a small success than with a small gift? It’s like buying yourself a congratulatory present! It doesn’t have to be expensive or even very grand. Picking up a new clothing item, a lovely book, or going out for a yummy meal can all be good gifts for your success.

But you also can give yourself a small gift that isn’t shallow or material! For example, you might:

Pamper yourself with a self-care night at home
Spend a weekend watching a series you want to binge
Sign up for a hobby group or class to further invest in yourself
Put aside some money for retirement, savings, or emergency fund

4. Reflect On Your Successes

A great, productive way to celebrate a small success is by reflecting on it. After all, what more amazing way is there to congratulate yourself than by showing yourself what you’ve learned?

Set some time aside to think about your accomplishment. You’ll gain some good, unique insight into your achievement and yourself and build confidence. Ask yourself questions to get yourself going, like:

What skills did I gain from my efforts?
How did I overcome the challenges I faced?
What did I enjoy most about the journey here?
What strengths of mine shone through?
Did I handle things OK?
What would I like to improve on next time?

5. Be Grateful

Successful people are often grateful people. There’s a lot of positive thinking that is born from genuine appreciation. For each small success, don’t forget to celebrate through gratitude! You can be grateful for:

Those who supported or encouraged you.
Those who provided assistance, advice, or feedback.
Your skills, capabilities, and talents that brought you here.
The circumstances and privilege of your life.

If there are people you’d like to thank in more detail, why not write them a thoughtful thank you note? You can even give them a small gift or take them out for a drink or meal! The more gratitude you express, the happier your life outlook will be.

6. Do Things That You Love

Sometimes, the most delightful way to celebrate a small success is simply by catering to yourself. Take some time to do the things that you love! When you do so, you’ll be refueling your mind, body, and energy. Taking a moment to cheer for your wins helps facilitate future victories by boosting motivation. You can do things like:

Buying yourself a gift, as previously mentioned.
Playing games, sports, or instruments.
Take yourself out on a date.
Entrenching yourself in time for a hobby.
Going somewhere new.
Spending time with loved ones.

7. Let Yourself Get Excited

Adults are often looked down upon for expressing excitement in a big way. But remember what it was like to be a child who could be thrilled by even tiny wins? That childlike wonder keeps your heart young and your mind fresh! The longer you do while denying yourself this enthusiasm, the harder it’ll be to develop that trait again.

Why limit the depths of excitement and happiness? You can celebrate a small success by simply being happy about it. Jump up and down, cheer for yourself, and smile as wide as you like! Why hide the feelings you have when you can share them with the world and yourself?

8. Take Time Off

There’s so much guilt in today’s hustle culture about taking time off for yourself. But it’s a great way to celebrate a small success! It allows you to recharge and refresh yourself to perform even better when you return.

Taking time off is a crucial factor in reducing symptoms of metabolic syndrome, including high stress levels, says research. So you’ll be doing both your mental and physical health a huge favor! There’s nothing wrong with taking a vacation day or two, whether you opt to travel or relax at home.

When you do not constantly focus on your big or small goals, you give your mind the chance to be free. The break is crucial in returning concentration and creativity to you when you return. So go ahead and treat yourself to a short holiday!

9. Acknowledge Them

A small success is often overlooked. It’s hard to remember to acknowledge something that seems trivial. That’s why one of the most important things you should do to celebrate life’s small successes is to recognize that success.

Pat yourself on the back. Take note of what you’ve accomplished. Don’t downplay the things you’ve been able to do. You deserve to celebrate!

10. Shift Your Mind To The Positive

Human beings naturally tend to focus on negative things, even when a big or small success is present. As you bask in the glory of victory, it’s easy for your brain to start thinking about failures or ways you could have done better. That sort of reflection is acceptable, but it shouldn’t be your primary focus.

Shift your mind to positive things and consider all the little steps you took. Remember that this is a moment that you should be celebrating! By accepting your wins, no matter how flawed they are, you’re opening yourself up in a healthier way to future improvements.

3 Reasons Why You Should Celebrate Life’s Small Successes

1. It Keeps The Success Cycle Going

The success cycle is an expert-proven phenomenon that illustrates how people can burn out and lose drive when a small success isn’t celebrated. The process works as follows:

You perform an action that leads to a successful result. You feel good about yourself because you celebrate or acknowledge that success. This motivates you to perform more action for more results, and so on.
You perform an action that leads to a successful result. You don’t celebrate or acknowledge the success, so you don’t get the fulfilling, rewarding feeling of success. Thus, you become tired and perform less action, leading to fewer results, and so on.
You perform an action that leads to an unsuccessful result. You celebrate it as a small success, considering it a step of learning towards progress. This motivates you to perform more action for more positive results, and so on.
You perform an action that leads to an unsuccessful result. You beat yourself up over it and don’t see the upside. So you become tired and perform less action, leading to fewer results, and so on.

That means the trick is to maintain a positive success cycle – and you can do that by celebrating life’s small successes!

2. It Improves Confidence

When you celebrate a minor success, you boost your confidence by congratulating yourself for your capabilities and strengths. This confidence allows you to continue your trend of progress and forward momentum.

If you don’t believe you can do something, chances are you’ll be unable to do it. Focusing on small successes instead of so-called “failures” or obstacles prevents you from feeling powerless. It maintains confidence, so you don’t feel defeated. This allows you to face harder and harder challenges with high self-esteem continuously. That confidence also won’t be too overly dependent on big, evident success but any step taken towards small goals.

3. It Makes You Happy

When you celebrate life’s small successes, you feel happy. And, to be honest, that happiness in itself is a pretty good reason to keep celebrating! Instead of focusing so much on seeking sources of joy, you can create it yourself by finding meaning in your work. Each success can bring you more purpose, which fuels your life satisfaction.

Happiness is a by-product of various factors in our lives. It’s also something you have to choose to have in your world. It doesn’t simply appear out of nowhere. Engaging fully in your life and celebrating each step helps create that by-product. Keep cherishing your progress, and you’ll find that this can be a catalyst for genuine happiness. That sort of thing is so hard to find!

Final Thoughts On Ways To Celebrate Life’s Small Successes And Why You Should

Life is full of small successes, and each one is worth noticing and celebrating. Even if the celebration is relatively small, what matters is that you’re proud of yourself and your progress!

6 Reasons Why Thought Suppression Harms Your Mental Health

December 15, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

Anyone who’s ever tried to manage an emotion or thought will have attempted to simply not think about it. But somehow, that never seems to work out the way it should! Even if it seems to have positive effects at first, that suppression always comes back to bite you. It could be minutes, hours, or days later, but sometimes the effects are more long-term.

All of those thoughts stewing in your head can crowd your brain. You might think you’re doing your mental health a favor by shoving your negative feelings aside. But you’re not, and if anything, you’re likely just exacerbating them to extreme levels. Don’t believe us? Here are six reasons why thought suppression harms your mental health.

1. Suppression Increases Pain

The emotions that you feel in life can be painful, especially when they involve negative thoughts. It’s only natural for human beings to try and avoid this pain by suppressing it. But according to studies, such suppression only increases the experience of this pain. In short:

When you experience pain, trying not to think about it makes you more likely to try and escape it.
Suppressing feelings of pain can cause increased feelings of distress, including physical symptoms in blood pressure and heart rate.
When you use coping techniques or simple acceptance, you’re able to withstand more pain for a longer period of time.

The fact is that life is full of negative events and potential suffering! You’ll experience pain no matter how much you try to avoid it. Learning to accept that pain is part of your living experience can be central to preserving emotional health.

If you want to build resilience to various forms of physical and mental pain, work with that suffering. Understanding that this is where you are and learning to cope with it is better than pretending you’re not there at all. After all, you can’t deal with something you refuse to look at.

2. Suppression Rebounds Thoughts

Have you ever tried to make yourself not think about something? As it turns out, the second you tell yourself “Don’t think about that”, your brain immediately thinks about it! That’s how useless thought suppression is, and there’s a pretty famous study about it. It’s commonly referred to as the White Bear study. In the study:

Half of the participants were asked not to think about a white bear for five minutes. When they thought about the bear, they had to ring a bell. The other half was a control group.
All participants were then asked to think about a white bear for five minutes. When they thought about the bear, they had to ring a bell.
Throughout the process, all participants had to vocalize their thoughts.
While trying not to think about the bear, participants still thought of it at least once per minute.
Participants who tried to suppress their thoughts at first ended up ringing the bell twice as much as the control group.

This study makes us see just how counterproductive thought suppression is. The more you try not to think about something, the more powerful it becomes later. It’s like the thought fights back! This is commonly known as “thought rebound”, which means everything you try to push away just bounces back to you like a boomerang.

When applied to white bears, this effect of suppression just seems amusing. But what happens when it’s applied to feelings and more serious thoughts? What about negative thoughts that you attempt to suppress? This is a serious and concerning problem! It’s easy to see how your mental and emotional health can be harmed through thought suppression when you look at these facts.

Worse still, this effect still occurs even when the suppression isn’t as directly instructed. When you’re encouraged not to think of something via manipulation, studies show the same rebound effect still occurs. As such, even small methods of suppression can be harmful and deplete your positive thoughts!

3. Suppression Affects Your Sleep Negatively

Have you ever noticed that negative thoughts tend to reign supreme when you want to sleep? It’s in the dark, wee hours of the morning that your mind scrambles and you toss and turn. And, according to research, the more you try to suppress your thoughts, the harder it’ll be to sleep!

As it turns out, the more desperately you try to sleep, the harder it’ll be for you to actually do that. You’d actually have a better chance of falling asleep if you listen to music that’s loud and stressful! So you should certainly be approaching bedtime with a more relaxed, spontaneous perspective. If you don’t care if you sleep or not and just let things happen, you’ll be able to drift off despite your feelings.

But that’s not all that suppression effects. It can also infiltrate your dreams! Remember the white bear rebound of thoughts? Sometimes, that rebound can sneak up on you in your dreams. Those nightmares you’ve been having can be a result of the things you don’t want to think about. That’s supported by studies!

The good news is that dreams can be useful in dissecting your suppressed thoughts. Lots of people suppress things subconsciously and your nightmares can be an informant of those unintentional feelings. Keeping a dream journal to log what you experience at night can be beneficial to unpacking more complex and buried suppressed thoughts.

4. Suppressing Emotions Preserves Them

When you suppress how you feel, what you’re really doing is bottling them up. And what happens to things that you bottle? Well, they’re preserved. Studies show that trying to suppress thoughts and emotions can allow them to fester. This makes them stronger, more powerful, and much more detrimental to mental health. You can put yourself at risk of depression and anxiety when you continually bottle everything up.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should constantly complain about every single minor gripe you have. You still need to work on reframing your mindset to be full of gratitude and positive thoughts. But when you do feel sad, it’s okay to let those feelings out. Cry, rant to a good listener, write in a journal, or express yourself through creativity. You’ll be better off for it!

The trick is emotional acceptance instead of suppression. This means that, when you consider your emotions, you have to welcome them and validate them, even if you don’t dwell on them. As such, you should:

Be kind to yourself without passing judgment or critiquing yourself for your emotions.
Take the time to sit with and fully experience your feelings without intellectualizing or evaluating them.
View your emotions through a realistic lens, so you don’t distort or constrict them to be different.
Appreciate both the negative and positive aspects of various emotions and experiences.
Not focus on getting rid of your emotions, instead allowing them to naturally come, go, and pass.

5. Suppression Decreases Awareness Of Action

Managing mental health well can often be about developing a better awareness of yourself, your actions, and your roots. In other words, if you want to increase positive thoughts, you have to be more in tune with yourself. That’s why mindfulness is so effective for mental health!

When you don’t understand your behaviors, you can feel like you’re spinning out of control, and you may be confused. Awareness combats that, and suppression is the enemy of awareness. Research shows that when you suppress your thoughts, you develop a separation between your behavior and yourself. This manifests by:

Unlinking your thoughts with your behavior, preventing you from properly analyzing the roots of your issues.
Feeling like you are not the direct cause of your own actions, decreasing accountability and capacity for reflection.
Forming a deadly cycle; you need to be aware in order to notice the effects of thought suppression. But thought suppression makes you less aware, which makes you suppress thoughts more!
Making you feel out of control because you don’t feel like you’re the one living your life or performing various actions.
Damaging your ability to give yourself credit where it is due, as you don’t perform actions willfully.

6. Suppressing Feelings and Thoughts Causes Emotional Explosions

In today’s ever-advancing social climate, people are constantly having to revisit old beliefs that they were raised with. Realizing that you have a problematic set of beliefs can be difficult. In order to unlearn them, you have to do so much soul-searching and confrontation of inner, subconscious negativity!

But many people choose to handle their unintentional emotions and prejudice by simply putting them aside. If they suppress their negative thoughts, surely that’ll make them go away, right? Wrong! Research shows that suppression of such feelings can actually make you more likely to act upon them. Worse still, the way you act on them can be extreme, resulting in lashing out and personal dislike.

As it turns out, accepting your way of thinking can be beneficial to managing your reactions. This even counts for situations where you like your set of beliefs and have to be around people you dislike because of it. By allowing yourself to feel your emotions without suppressing them, you don’t have all that bottled-up rage waiting to blow up.

Feelings need an outlet in order to be safely expressed. If not, the pressure continues to build until you diffuse it or it has to diffuse itself with a huge reaction. In more minor forms, this can make you irritable. In more major forms, poor management of emotions like these can lead to abusive, toxic, and dangerous behavior. Think about all the serial killers who had so much anger inside them! It’s an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. You can handle your feelings when they’re simmering, not when they’re boiling and about to blow up.

Final Thoughts On Some Reasons Why Suppression Harms Your Mental Health

Given their intent, a lot of thought suppression’s effects are quite ironic. They always seem to make things worse, never better. Facing your feelings and negative thoughts head-on is a much better way to deal with them. If you don’t do this, your mental health could suffer tremendously.

Do you suffer significantly from negative thoughts and thought suppression? Remember that there’s no shame in reaching out for help! A mental health professional can guide you through your thoughts and teach you better coping and management techniques than suppression.

6 Reasons Why Putting Things Off Only Makes Life More Difficult (How to Fix It)

December 15, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

Do you often procrastinate? Are you always putting things off until the last minute? Do you feel stifled by poor time management? Are there many things you need to do – so much so that you feel rushed and overwhelmed and don’t do any of them?

Putting things off this way can damage your career, health, and life experiences. You might think that it doesn’t matter as long as you get them done in the end, but it does! Here are six reasons why putting things off only makes life more complicated – and how to fix it!

Six Reasons Why Putting Things Off Only Makes Life More Difficult

Consider these six reasons why you should stop procrastinating.

1. Putting Things Off Ruins Productivity

Few people who put things off all the time are just putting off one task. Usually, multiple items get built up, further adding to their ever-growing to-do list. This cycle ruins productivity completely and even decreases your energy for the task, say the experts.

Indeed, some people work better under pressure. But someone with a habit of putting things off isn’t just working under pressure – they’re multitasking, avoiding, and delaying things under pressure. All of that combines into an amalgamation of chaos that zaps productivity and progress!

2. You Could Be Misestimating Difficulty

Putting things off can only produce better-than-negative results if you accurately know how much time you need for the task. But until you get started, you won’t know how tough it is, and that false estimation can cause a lot of time management problems. Here are some ways you might be misestimating and how that affects your procrastination:

· Underestimating

You may think it’s a task you can do last-minute since it’s so easy in appearance. But when you begin, you find that it’s way more complicated than you initially expected! This surprise means the quality of the work will be even worse, and you may not even be able to complete the task.

· Overestimating

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when something seems very difficult. This could trigger your desire to start putting things off. But you could be overestimating how challenging that task is! If you just got started, you may realize that there’s no reason to procrastinate.

· Not Learning To Estimate At All

The fact is that all overwhelming things become progressively less overwhelming when you stop avoiding them. A task that seems impossible will become more and more manageable the longer you spend performing it. If you only ever put things off, you’ll never learn from that positive feeling of whittling something down.

3. There’s No Time For Relaxation

Those who are constantly putting things off never give themselves time for rest and fun. You’re also caught up thinking about the things you should be doing. Even when you’re procrastinating so you can have fun first, the knowledge of what you have to do looms in the back of your mind. It’s sure to kill any enjoyment and add to stress!

Putting things off means focusing on instant gratification even when the long-term effects are worse. Instead of toughing it out quickly for big rewards, you suffer for longer for a small, barely-there benefit. And when you’re finally done with whatever you’ve put off, you then have new things to do. The cycle repeats itself because you’re tired now and want to avoid the new task even more!

4. Putting Things Off Never Produces The Best Results

Some people can procrastinate and still have satisfactory or even good results. But the fact remains that putting things off always means you’re forfeiting the very best results you could have achieved. This is because:

· Rushed Work Is Subpar Work

When you’re rushing, you get sloppy. You make more mistakes and don’t have time to properly review and check over your work. You can’t ever really be proud of the results of something rushed. Instead, you feel merely relieved that it came out okay. And that’s not a good benchmark to set! No one works well under intense time pressure.

· Putting Things Off Might Lead You to Making Bad Decisions

Putting things off means, you don’t have time to properly think about that and update your thoughts as you go. As such, you make questionable decisions that can affect the result of your task.

· You Don’t Have Time To Polish Things When Putting Things Off

Having a little bit of extra time to review and sharpen your work can work wonders. If all you want to do is complete a task at a bare minimum, sure, you can try rushing them at the last minute. But if you want to stand out among a crowd of others doing similar work, you need time to apply some polish!

5. The Unexpected Can Occur

Putting things off until the last minute means you have zero time to make necessary changes and adaptations. Any unexpected event can occur that throws a wrench in your attempts to get things done.

These can be adverse events, such as a sudden emergency, a forgotten issue that comes cropping up, or even getting stuck in traffic for too long. But these can be positive events, too, such as getting the good news that distracts you or making new research discoveries. Regardless, the bottom line is that you want to have time and space for potential unintended events. You need to make room for these possibilities!

6. Putting Things Off Can Damage Your Health

Putting things off is a habit. The more you do it, the more you’ll keep doing it – and then the more there will be for you to do! It’s a vicious cycle, and it has numerous damaging effects. Worst of all, though, is the fact that procrastination of this kind can damage your health. According to research, it does so because:

· It Creates Stress and Anxiety

It’s obvious how putting things off can affect your mental health. You’ll get more stressed out the more stuff you have sitting on the backburner. You’ll be more anxious when you know you’re running short on time to complete things. And when you do get them done, you’ll have cut it so close that you don’t have the chance to bask in the relaxing rewards. That’s not good for anyone’s well-being!

· It Increases Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Individuals who procrastinate have a higher risk of developing various cardiovascular diseases. This is due to increased blood pressure from various forms of stress. Putting things off can also predispose you to further difficulties in adapting to life with these types of diseases, worsening mortality.

· Putting Things Off Stops You From Seeking Help

When you notice a health-related issue, you need to speak to a medical professional about it. But if you’re constantly putting things off, nothing will stop you from doing the same with your health! You’ll be more likely to brush off various issues, which can exacerbate health problems to worrying levels.

Other research into procrastination and health is still ongoing, but experts believe that putting things off also:

Increases digestive issues
Causes insomnia
Worsens headaches and headache frequency
Damages immunity and heightens illness risk
Worsens various mental conditions

How To Fix Your Habit of Putting Things Off In 3 Effective Ways

1. Set Goals

Studies show that setting goals can increase performance. If you’re trying to stop putting things off, try to set goals that can help push your progress forward. To do so:

· Visualize Action

Having a clear picture of what you want to accomplish and how you want to do so is enormous when setting goals. It allows you to have a defined game plan and desire that’s easy to follow and map your way through. If you put things off because you feel you lack direction, this can already solve that problem!

· Set A Realistic, Measurable Plan

When setting goals for productivity, make sure they’re realistic and reasonable. You should also be able to measure your progress as you go and check in with yourself with ease.

· Optimize and Expand

Once you get into the swing of setting goals and following them, reflect on your progress. See what goals need to be changed or better adapted to suit your needs and expand on each one. You’ll soon have the perfect plan for yourself!

2. Manage Distractions That Cause Putting Things Off

What things distract you most when you’re trying to get things done? These tools help you put things off time and time again. They might be the following:

Social media
Games or hobbies
Shopping
Chores and errands

These things can be better managed to fit into your schedule. You can use software or apps that prevent you from going on specific sites and social media platforms. You can delegate more significant tasks to those who can help you or share your responsibilities. If needed, you can even completely block out time on your schedule dedicated explicitly to things you tend to put off!

3. Be Kind To Yourself

The reason that so many people keep putting things off is often rooted in more profound issues. You avoid performing tasks because you’re afraid you can’t do them well. You fear failure or inadequacy, so you try not to engage with things that worsen those feelings. Being kind to yourself can show you that you don’t need to avoid tasks! Here are some tips for that:

· Don’t Demand Perfection

Perfection is impossible to achieve, and you shouldn’t be aiming for such unrealistic, lofty goals! Getting things done with flaws is better than not doing them at all. View your mistakes and errors in your tasks as a chance to learn and grow!

· Celebrate And Reward Progress

Each step you take towards productivity is a reason to pat yourself on the back. Each goal you meet is a reason to reward yourself with something fun, enjoyable, or wanted. These types of rewards help to keep you motivated for plans and allow you to acknowledge your positive steps forward!

· Start Your Day With Self-Care

If you often put other people’s desires above yours, try changing up your routine. Every morning, start your day with something that makes you feel good. Train yourself to love, appreciate, and value me-time and self-care for long-term productivity improvements!

Final Thoughts On Ways To Stop Putting Things Off To Make Life Easy

Putting things off certainly makes life more difficult! By learning how to fix that habit, you’ll be able to enjoy more free time, better peace of mind, improved health, and improved performance.

Weekly tips, affirmations, and small actions to feel your best.

Every day is a day to shine. Shine on!