Counting Down From 10

Because sometimes what you need most is to be reminded that dogs and cats can be best friends. Meet Raven the Tamaskan Dog and Woodhouse the cat, a pair of interspecies BFFs who first met when Raven was just a one-month-old puppy and Woodhouse was a kitten.

“I had always wanted a dog and a cat to grow up together. It’s been like a life goal,” her owner Christina tells The Dodo. “I wanted them to be able to get along well,” Christina explains. “So I wanted her to actually meet the cat and have the cat get along with the dog as well.”

They went to an animal shelter in Lubbock, TX where Raven was presented with four kittens. Three of them paid no attention to the puppy, but Woodhouse was immediately smitten. The new pair went home together and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

You can follow their adorable lives together on Instagram.

- In one of her FOIA’d emails, she refers to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as “mittens” and “grinch” 

- in another, she asked an aide to remind her to bring more teacups from home

- and also please tell her what time parks and rec is on. 

- She calls some of her most loyal supporters her “sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” 

- She nicknamed her secret service van the Scooby Van 

I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you! Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe. 

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Distractions;

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts. 

-Draw something

-This website translates the time into colours.

-Create your own galaxy.

-Play flowing.

-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like. 

-Listen to music.

-Calm.

-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.

Sleep issues; 

- 8 hour sleep music.

-Rainy mood. 

-Meditation.

-Coping with nightmares.

-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

-Calm

-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively. 

 Uncomfortable with silence; 

-Rainy mood.

-10 hours of rain and thunder.

-3 hours of rain and thunder.

-Human heartbeat.

-Rainforest.

-Sound of rain on a tin roof.

-Autumn wind.

-Rain on a tent

-Traffic in the rain.

-Soft traffic. 

-Fan.

-Train.

-Simply noise.

-My noise.

-Rainy cafe.

Anxiety; 

-How to stop worrying. 

-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques. 

-Self-help strategies for anxiety. 

-Helping a friend with anxiety. 

-All about worrying.

-8 myths about anxiety. 

Sad, angry and depressed/depression; 

-“I’m always sad”

-Feeling sad.

-Going through trauma.

-“I’m always angry”.

-Anger management. 

-All about anger.

-National helplines and websites.

-Self-help strategies for depression.

-Dealing with depression at work.

-Dealing with depression at school.

Isolation and loneliness; 

-Pets and mental health.

-All about loneliness. 

-“I feel so alone”

-10 more ideas to help with loneliness. 

-How to deal with loneliness.

 Self-harm;

-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

-146 things to do besides self-harm.

-More alternatives to self-harm.

-Self-harm alternatives.

-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

-Getting rid of scars.  

Addiction; 

-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

-What is addiction?

-All about alcohol and addiction.

-The facts about drug addiction.

 Eating disorders; 

-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

-Eating disorder treatments. 

-Support services for eating disorders. 

-Self-help tips with eating disorders.

-Eating disorder recovery. 

-Recovering from an eating disorder. 

-100+ reasons to recover. 

-Understanding and managing eating disorders. 

 Dealing with self-hatred;  

-3 ways to ease self-loathing. 

-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

-Self-hatred resources.

-10 step plan to deal with self-hate. 

 Suicidal; 

-International suicide hotlines (1)  (2)

-Preventing suicide. 

-Reasons to stay alive.

-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

-Coping with suicidal ideation.  

 Schizophrenia;

-All about schizophrenia.  

-Helping a person with schizophrenia.  

-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.  

-Delusions and hallucinations.  

OCD;

-Managing your OCD at home. 

-Overcoming OCD.

-How to cope with OCD. 

-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments. 

Borderline personality disorder; 

-Helping someone with BPD. 

-All about personality disorders.

-Treatment for BPD.

Abuse; 

-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships. 

-Emotional abuse

-Overcoming sexual abuse. 

-Hotlines services. 

-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship. 

-Domestic violence support. 

-Signs of an abusive relationship. 

-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship. 

-Surviving abuse. 

-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed. 

-Sexual assault support.

-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused. 

 Bullying;

-How to stand up against bullying.

-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.

-How to help stop people bullying you. 

 Loss and grief; 

-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

-Grieving for a stranger. 

-Common reactions to death. 

-Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

-Moving away from friends and family. 

-Coping with a breakup.

 Getting help; 

-Seeking help early. 

-All about psychological treatments. 

-Types of help.

-All about age and confidentiality. 

Things you need to remember; 

- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not. 

- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this. 

-You are not alone. 

-You are enough. 

-You are important. 

-You are worth it. 

-You are strong. 

-You are not a failure, 

-Good people exist. 

-Reaching out shows strength. 

-Breathe. 

-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you. 

-Give yourself credit. 

-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones. 

-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend. 

-Focus on the things you can change. 

-Let go of toxic people. 

-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do. 

-Try not to beat yourself up. 

-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next. 

-You are not a bother.

-Your existence is more than your appearance. 

-You are smart. 

-You are loved. 

-You are wanted. 

-You are needed. 

-Better days are coming. 

-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright. 

-You have more potential than you think. 

- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

What I actually look like:

After having a nice conversation with a speedskater preparing to train with us, I thought it would be a good to make a post here for others to reference when preparing for selection. Selection is a 2-week course to weed out the weak, uncommitted, and unprepared and keep only the strongest skaters who are then paid to play with the National Roller Derby League. You should be in shape and be able to meet these minimums before ever attempting to train with us.

Kettle Core:

Time: 12 Minutes Work: 25 Seconds Rest: 15 Seconds Exercises: 3 Rounds: 6

Lunge & Twist

Clean & Press

Oblique Crunch x3/side

I wanted to demonstrate some common Kettlebell movements that can help work the core. @mousiessisden used a kettle bell while I used a gallon of water in the modified version. The water jug can be filled or emptied as needed according the weight desired for the workout, and they’re a super cheap weight alternative to an actual kettlebell. 

If you are not comfortable or able to use any weights, then you can still perform these movements without weights. They will still work out your core enough to obtain results.  

PLEASE DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO DO ANY MOVEMENT YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH. YOU CAN FIND ALTERNATIVES TO THE EXERCISES, SKIP OVER THE EXERCISES, OR YOU ARE WELCOME TO CONTACT ME FOR SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS.

How to begin a workout regime when you aren’t sure where to start:

We’ve all been there: With so much info floating around online about health and fitness, it’s tough to figure out who you should be listening to. But by asking yourself a couple questions and figuring what you want out of a fitness regime, you can start exercising without feeling too overwhelmed.

Just follow these steps:

1. Clearly define your goals. You need to know what you’re working towards. Things like “Get healthier” and “Like myself more” are both very admirable, but they’re also very vague. Start thinking about specifics. Do you want to run a mile in under 9 minutes? Lower your cholesterol levels? Climb a big-ass mountain? Squat your body weight? Set something more definite and tangible.

Are you having a tough time with that? It’s okay - Instead, think about your most impossible, fantasy fitness dream: Run an ultramarathon? Become a professional ballerina? Swim the English Channel? Deadlift your car? Once you have a huge, kinda ridiculous long term goal in mind, it’s easier to break it down into manageable chunks. “I want to run an ultramarathon,” for example, can start off as “I want to run 1 mile without stopping” and might eventually turn into “I want to run a 6 minute mile and maintain that for 5 miles.” Even if that original goal seems completely inappropriate and unachievable, that’s okay: the key is in the baby steps.

2. Take a look at both your abilities and the resources available to you. The sort of exercise equipment that you can access is going to affect the sort of workout you can do, as will your fitness limitations. You can’t run if you don’t have a safe environment to run in, for example, and you can’t do intense cardio if you have respiratory difficulties. Acknowledge both the things that you have and the things that you don’t.

And most importantly, think about what you enjoy. Exercising should be fun, so don’t ignore the activities that you like the most and force yourself towards the ones that you absolutely loathe. Is there any particular kind of exercise that you’re dying to try? Do you play sports and like competing? Is it a team effort kind of thing that appeals to you, or do you prefer going solo? Keep all of this in mind. 

3. Start researching the types of exercises that fit within the above parameters. You want something that will help you move towards your goals while still existing within your pool of resources. Google is going to be a big help in giving you ideas here, as will fitness websites like Bodybuilding.com, Fitocracy, FitSugar, Shape and tumblr here. Talk with your doctor and a potential trainer in your area. Educate yourself about what you’re getting into and how you can do so safely.

4. Make some flexible plans. Any routine that you create right now is just a guess - You won’t fully know what you’re capable of until you jump in. The first couple weeks will be an experiment to see whether or not the new plan suits you. If it’s too difficult, don’t feel bad about dialing it down. If it’s a breeze, feel free to increase its intensity. Play around with the number of days you exercise (just include at least 1 rest day per week and don’t exercise the same muscle groups 2 days in a row), play around with intervals and intensity, and play around with exercise types. Give yourself 1-2 weeks before drastically changing your plan. This will give you enough time to try it out properly. If it’s working and you enjoy it, then you will have done it for just long enough to create a habit.

After all, you have time. There’s no rush here. Even if you’re 60, you’ve got ages to work on your fitness goals. Fiddling around with your fitness plan is okay, you don’t have to settle on one right away and see immediate results. Have a little patience when it comes to figuring out what’s best for you and your body. 

And remember - Just because a plan worked for someone else does not mean that it will work for you. Copying another person’s workout routine may provide you with a place to start, but don’t be afraid to make your own adjustments. You are a unique individual with your own needs and goals, so don’t feel pressured to take on a specific workout routine just because someone else achieved positive results from it.

5. Ask for help when you need it. People make their living off of planning workouts. If you don’t know what you’re doing and aren’t even sure of where to start, seriously consider joining a gym or hiring a trainer. They can at least get you started. If you can’t afford that sort of commitment, then start browsing through online workouts that suit your needs. There are plenty of graphics floating around that you can choose from and read through. Use them as a guide. Just be aware that, if you don’t have any expertise or experience, trying to plan your workout alone can be dangerous and time consuming. Talking to a professional is really the best choice for complete beginners.

6. Have fun. Always have fun. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Try something else. Not every single workout will be filled with rainbows and unicorns, but you shouldn’t dread exercising. It should leave you feeling happy and fulfilled. If your workout is just breaking you down, then step back and reconsider. Start back at the beginning and figure out exactly what you want from this. Unless “be miserable” was listed as a goal, you shouldn’t actively force yourself through workouts that you hate.