My Story:

Hello! Below is, lets call it a blurb? A few, major facts about me. What I have learned about myself & a few other things.

I am James, I am 33. Born In October.

I have struggled with Anxiety for as long as I can remember. I did not know it was Anxiety. I took the steps in 2016 and figured out what I was feeling was Anxiety! I am happy I figured it out. It meant I could do something about it-helping myself, Imagine that!

After discussing what I was feeling with a few family members, I made the choice to see an ND (Naturopathic Doctor). After a few years of trying different supplements for Anxiety I found the one that seemed to work the best. Medi-herb Withania Complex-it worked the best.

I have Suffered from Migraine headaches since I was in grade 9. I worked with my ND and started cutting foods out of my Diet to figure out what was triggering the migraines. Over the course of 4 years I cut out, Sugar, Dairy, Lactose, Soy, Gluten, and pork. I went from a migraine every 2 weeks to one every 3 or 4 months. This was a massive step.

I suffer from Depression, it feels to good to say that! When my stress & anxiety levels are high I slip into a depressive state. This is a horrible feeling. I feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, what ever I do I cannot get myself out of that funk. I am irritable, every little thing bothers me, I was snapping at people. I just wanted to be alone. I was depressed for 9 months. I am better now, but working on this is a never ending battle. I find I slip in and out as the weeks go on. I am not on any Medication for depression. Now that I can identify when I am getting depressed-I can do my best to catch it and put preventative measures in place.

My Family, MD, ND & Therapist All know I suffer from depression, I feel More confident in my ability to fight depression now that people in my life know about it. I do not feel alone anymore, People with depression should never feel alone because they are not alone. When you are depressed your mind makes you think you are alone and that is a scary feeling!

What are these preventative measures I use? Doing things that I would normally love doing and would bring me joy-the following: Kayaking, swimming, Doing anything with plants; watering, repotting, planting, camping, yard work, walking, running, or hiking.

On Mach 14th of 2023, in an appointment with my MD, he asked If I had considered going on something for ADHD. With hesitation, I said yes. I told him I did not want to be numbed, I still wanted to feel emotion. We talked about a light dose of Vyvanse. The best way to describe my beautiful mind was a constant explosion of thoughts, good and bad, ideas and a to do list that I always thought about. When I talked to people I was always cutting myself off and jumping to the next point to try and get all of the points I had lined up in my brain out. I felt like I rarely made sense, which was okay-I just needed to get the mental list out and into words to free up head space.

Now I am on a daily dose of 30mg, I feel better, my mind is not racing, I do still have bad days but it’s better. Each day I have a head full of thoughts=my day planned out. Before I had a week full of thoughts everyday, I would try to organize linearly and do what I could in a day, everything else would be pushed to the next. I had a back log which was not helpful. This made me feel unproductive as there was always something to do in my mind, it was tiring.

MOVEMENT! This word is wonderful and motivating. I go for a walk everyday usually 2km. On the weekends I do my best to walk down by the river or somewhere in the city. The weekend walks are up to 7 or 8km I am working my way up to 10km.

Stretching, I have a daily routine, this makes me feel good Physically & Mentally and helps me get prepped for walking

Therapy, what a beautiful thing. I wish I had the courage/financial means/benefits to see a therapist at least every 2 weeks. The power and relief that talking to a professional has given me has changed my life. I can vent, Talk about things that bother me, ask for advise. We talk about why I have the thoughts I have, where they come from, how to process them. We talk about my overactive mind and how to have less get stuck in my mind. Let the thoughts flow through and grab a few of the important ones to deal with. I believe that everyone should see a therapist. No matter who you are, what you do to live, thrive & survive (thank you Dan Aykroyd for that one) everyone has a story and their own unique issues, a therapist can help.

I am not religious, I do not practice anything on a weekly basis.

I am Dyslexic, I have the most trouble with numbers, 4 digits to be exact. My Brain gets the 1st and 3rd & the 2nd and 4th digits mixed up. When I started Reading My first book (that I finished) in 2012, about the “Gift of Dyslexia” I saw the words and letters on the page but they didn’t translate to a flowing story that I could follow or picture in my head. I never liked reading for this reason. This book changed that for me, it helped explain why my brain was doing the amazing things it did. Now I very much enjoy reading, I have read and finished 6 books now and am working on another 2.

Let me be clear! I do not see dyslexia as a flaw. Although it’s frustrating at times, I appreciate it! I see most things differently and from another perspective, that is wildly intriguing to me.

I am spiritual. I follow Angel numbers very closely. I believe that everything happens for a reason and the universe is a powerful thing that has a plan for each of us.

I’ll stop there, its getting long. Thank you for Visiting the site. Hop over to the channel to see what I am capturing in my life this week.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading this.

Made with love and likely poor grammar.

Love yeah!