Modern life can be very stressful. Work, family, and financial problems abound, putting stress on both the mind and body. This overwhelming pressure can sometimes bring about anxiety and even panic attacks.

The human heart can only take so much, and can be seriously affected by undue and overwhelming stress. The resulting anxiety can lead to poor eating habits and high blood pressure. Heart disease can follow, which usually means heart attack. Sleeplessness is also a symptom of anxiety. Insufficient sleep contributes to major health issues.

Panic attacks can accompany anxiety. This malady is the paralyzing fear that something awful may occur, and can be felt physically. Sweating, shaking or shivering, nausea, dizziness, and the strong desire to flee are some of the symptoms. This is the “fight-or-flight” response, multiplied, and is usually unfounded.

One very simple exercise you can do when an anxiety or panic attack threatens is to moderate your breathing. It is essential you learn to breathe correctly, as follows:

Begin by slowly breathing in through your nose through the count of 4; hold your breath for a count of 7, now slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of 8. (Some call this 4-7-8 breathing.) When you exhale, try to make a soft “whoosh” sound by holding the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth (or lightly clench your teeth) as you exhale slowly. Repeat this process three more times (for a total of four breaths.) Don’t do more than four breaths at first, as you may feel dizzy. With practice, you can work your way up to eight breaths. Try and do this twice each day.

There are exercises you can do to relax at home. Calming music is available in music stores or for download online. It is usually very soft and organic, and sometimes has a person speaking in a gentle and reassuring voice, guiding you through a mental and physical relaxation technique.

Talking to a close, personal friend or family member may also help. If you know that person is there for you, call them or visit. Talking things out with an understanding person can do wonders to relieve stress and anxiety that has built up over time.

Positive thinking is important. Assure yourself on waking that the day ahead will be great, and that you can handle it. Having a good attitude before setting out can be a buffer against whatever the world may throw at you.

Seeking counseling, without medication, is a another way to get relief. There are professionals who provide a variety of services to aid in the management of anxiety and panic disorders. Cognitive-Behavioural therapy has been around for many years and has been successful for millions of people. This treatment helps the sufferer to recognize that their environment and personal behaviours can bring about stress and anxiety. The aim is to help the person feeling anxious manage their lifestyle and behaviour to alleviate stress as much as possible.

There is no reason to suffer any more. There are techniques and treatments available for the anxiety and panic sufferer, without the use of medications. May your future be free of both anxiety and stress.

Perhaps I should have entitled this article ‘the challenges for parents of a child with ADHD’ but the two are so closely intertwined that either of the titles will do the trick. Parents may have the extra challenge of keeping their marriage intact while making sure that the child will learn to cope with his or her own challenges.

Parents will need to take time off for themselves such as making sure they get a few minutes rest for a walk, or just sending an email or unburdening themselves with somebody they can trust. Getting out of the house just one evening a week with your nearest and dearest will be important in many aspects.

The first challenge for both children and parents in coping with a child who has ADHD, is trying to prevent accidents. As ADHD kids are naturally impulsive and hyperactive, there is quite a high risk of accidents in the home and at school. There was a report in the British Medical Journal which reported following 62,000 children who had had suffered from head injuries or burns. Those kids were twice as likely to be affected by ADHD as accident free children. The researchers are not sure which comes first, the injuries or the ADHD. It is a sort of chicken and egg situation.

The second challenge is to know who your child and especially your teen is hanging out with. Make sure you have all his friends’ contacts on your cell phone. You may pop up on their contact list as an annoying parent but at least you can keep tabs on your teen and it makes arrangements so much easier especially as credit and charged batteries seem to be in scarce supply.

Thinking of emotional development and being aware that a child with ADHD is rather different will help you to deal with this better. The child with ADHD will mature and develop much more slowly than a normal kid. This figure can be as high as 30% so a ten year old ADHD child will have the emotional maturity of a seven year old. If you are a parent of an ADHD child, there is a much greater chance that you will have to deal with temper tantrums and verbal aggression. Some experts reckon that as many as 65% of ADHD kids have these problems.

Getting over these challenges will be quite a task but there is an easy solution in that ADHD behavioral therapy is a godsend. If you follow such a course, you can learn parenting skills to cope with aggression, verbal hostility and meltdowns: pills will not teach skills such as coping with life’s daily tasks and social relationships. That is the real challenge for a child with ADHD. The link below will help you to get through the jungle.

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. But there is no cure for curiosity.”  I’ve certainly lived this quote. I can say that I have never been bored because my curiosity has ridden over most all my other needs and emotions. I drove my parents crazy with the “What’s that? Where are we going? How was this made? Why do we do it this way?” questions; having to be quieted with the typical parental answer of, “Because.” 

I have spent my whole life living outside of the box looking at things different from others, trying to figure out why things have been done one way and why couldn’t they be done another way. For instance, when I saw a rusty toaster in a garbage can I thought, “what a great body for a doll!” Another example was a carpenter friend of mine had collected a large bin of specialty wooden pencils from lumber yards. I asked him if I could have them and turned them into a unique rustic frame for a wall mirror.

Luckily I share my mother’s artistic gift and had my fingers in different mediums of art all my life, i.e. batiking, candle making, acrylic painting, murals, graphic design, folk art design, collage, furniture making and fauxing, and sewing. However, being a single mother of two boys, I had to work in the corporate world to bring in a stable paycheck. This kept me from taking my creative interests seriously.

In 2002, at the age of 50 years old, I had some personal tragedies that caused me to have a stroke. I had to relearn to read, write, talk and walk. This forced me to slow down and reevaluate my priorities. My boys were always my top priority but they no longer lived at home. I had recently divorced so it was important to finally focus on me. I asked myself, “What would make you happy? What is your passion?”

Being unable to work again in the stressful, fast paced lifestyle of corporate business the answer was immediate. Art. Design. Humor. My father gave me his twisted ‘humor’ gene and it is a big part of who I am. Laughter and whimsy has always helped me shine inside. So the answer became humorous art, Whimsical Curiosities.

My Whimsical Curiosities creations are now my passion. I love being in my studio, serendipitously putting together found items in unexpected ways. I find myself working alone (with my faithful dog Tank), laughing out loud often. My dolls are made from antique porcelain heads and arms, vintage kitchen appliances, vintage machine parts, junk drawer items and costume jewelry. My mosaics are made from vintage toys, broken ceramics, and vintage hardware.      

My life no longer proceeds at a stressful pace and I am content and happy. I am also very proud of my curiosity and humor. Curiosity is the very basis of discovery, adventure and education, and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say the cat died gallantly!