Hope +Wellness Blog

little snippets of advice for everyday challenges many people share

Tending to Plants for Better Mental Health
Personal Growth, Mindfulness Hope+Wellness Personal Growth, Mindfulness Hope+Wellness

Tending to Plants for Better Mental Health

Have you ever considered the benefit of taking care of something else as part of your own self care process? 

It may sound counterintuitive, but it’s true: creating routines where you tend to something else (a pet, a garden, a community project) benefits not just what you’re tending to, but your own mental wellness. Today we’re going to look at tending to plants specifically, but many of the benefits can come from making space to tend to other things (pets, community spaces, etc.) as well. 

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Developing Self Compassion While Living with Chronic Illness
Hope+Wellness Hope+Wellness

Developing Self Compassion While Living with Chronic Illness

In order to develop compassion for your limitations, you need to understand what they are. Instead of waking up and trying to get done what you could at an 80% day no matter how you’re feeling, it’s important to learn what different energy/pain level days look for you practically. 

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What Does it Mean to Take Care of Yourself? 7 Blogs to Help You Practice
Personal Growth, Resources Hope+Wellness Personal Growth, Resources Hope+Wellness

What Does it Mean to Take Care of Yourself? 7 Blogs to Help You Practice

 Self care requires a lot of skills we aren’t necessarily taught, and it asks us to patient and compassionate with ourselves and others as we develop those skills. Some of them are easier than others; it’s easier to get yourself to stretch or go for a walk when you feel your body to start to ache than it is to figure out how to express an unpleasant emotion to someone you care about. To help you practice, we’ve gathered 7 of our favorite posts that cover skills you may not even realize are self care practices.

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Managing Conflict in Friendships
Relationships, Communication Hope+Wellness Relationships, Communication Hope+Wellness

Managing Conflict in Friendships

In all long term relationships, conflict is normal and expected and nothing to feel shame or fear about. However, that doesn’t make it easy to manage! It can feel scary when conflict comes up–no matter what type of relationship you have. But if we’re willing to do a bit of uncomfortable work, we can find ways to repair the relationship, and likely make it stronger as well. 

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Are Your Boundaries Too Firm?
Relationships, Vulnerability, boundaries Hope+Wellness Relationships, Vulnerability, boundaries Hope+Wellness

Are Your Boundaries Too Firm?

Think of them less like a fence surrounding and protecting you, and more like pillars holding up a structure. They are crucial to the stability of your relationship, but they leave space open for others to come in. And when a boundary is violated, it is less like the fence surrounding you has been smashed, leaving you completely vulnerable, and more like one of the pillars holding up the structure of your relationship has been damaged. The entire thing doesn’t have to come crumbling down if you can work to repair what was hurt. 

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Understanding Grief and Chronic Illness
Chronic Illness Hope+Wellness Chronic Illness Hope+Wellness

Understanding Grief and Chronic Illness

Thousands of people in the US are newly dealing with chronic illness as a result of Long-COVID. It’s more important than ever to understand the reality of living as a chronically ill person, what that can look like, and how to cope with the emotions that come with diagnosis.

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