Rooted In Wellness Counseling

12/25/2025

The holiday season can evoke a variety of emotions. Rooted In Wellness extends warmest wishes, hoping you find peace, comfort, and warmth!

12/23/2025

10 therapist approved, brain based ways to protect your mental health this holiday season.

1. Slow your body down on purpose
Your nervous system responds to pace. When you move fast, your brain reads danger. When you slow your breathing and movement, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for calm and restoration.

Why it helps: Slow breathing reduces cortisol and quiets the amygdala (the brain’s alarm system), lowering anxiety and irritability.

2. Lower expectations (especially perfection)
Your brain does not benefit from “shoulds.” Perfectionism keeps the brain in threat mode and raises stress hormones.

Why it helps: Letting go of perfection increases psychological flexibility, which is protective against depression and burnout.

3. Get sunlight and move your body, even briefly
Winter reduces sunlight, which affects serotonin and melatonin levels. Even a 10-minute walk matters.

Why it helps: Movement boosts dopamine and serotonin, key chemicals involved in motivation, mood, and focus.

4. Say no without over-explaining
Boundaries calm the nervous system. Over-explaining keeps your brain stuck in social threat and people-pleasing mode.

Why it helps: Clear boundaries reduce cognitive load and emotional exhaustion, common contributors to anxiety and depressive symptoms.

5. Eat regularly (not perfectly)
Skipping meals spikes cortisol and blood sugar swings, which directly impact mood and emotional regulation.

Why it helps: Stable blood sugar supports the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for reasoning and emotional control.

6. Put your phone down on purpose
Constant notifications keep the brain in a state of hypervigilance.

Why it helps: Reducing screen time lowers dopamine overstimulation and helps reset attention, sleep, and emotional balance.

7. Normalize mixed emotions
You can feel grateful and sad. Joy and grief. Your brain is capable of holding more than one truth.

Why it helps: Emotional acceptance reduces internal conflict, which lowers stress and prevents emotional suppression, a risk factor for depression.

8. Protect your sleep like it matters (because it does)
Sleep is when your brain processes emotion and resets stress hormones.

Why it helps: Poor sleep increases anxiety sensitivity and lowers frustration tolerance the next day.

9. Connect with one safe person
Your brain is wired for connection, not crowds. One meaningful conversation is more regulating than ten surface-level ones.

Why it helps: Social safety increases oxytocin, which counteracts cortisol and reduces feelings of loneliness and despair.

10. Practice self-compassion, not self-criticism
Your brain hears your inner voice as real input. Harsh self-talk keeps the threat system activated.

Why it helps: Self-compassion activates brain regions linked to emotional regulation and resilience, protecting against anxiety and depression.

A therapist reminder
You don’t need to “do the holidays right.”
You need to stay regulated, connected, and human.

Mental health during the holidays isn’t about adding more, it’s about protecting your nervous system from overload.

If you’re struggling this season, that’s not a failure. It’s a signal. And support helps.

Be gentle with your brain. It’s doing its best.

11/25/2025

So grateful for the people, connections, and moments that fill life with warmth. Wishing you a gentle, nourishing Thanksgiving. 🧡”

10/31/2025

The Courage to Let Go

Sometimes the bravest thing you’ll ever do is loosen your grip.

Not because you don’t care—
but because you finally understand:
not everything is yours to carry, change, or hold together.

Letting go isn’t weakness.
It’s strength.
It’s trust.
It’s choosing peace over worry, presence over pressure, and self-respect over exhaustion.

Courage looks like breathing instead of forcing.
Releasing instead of clinging.
Saying: I’ve done my part. The rest isn’t mine.

And in that surrender,
you make room for clarity, healing, and what’s meant to stay.

Let go.
Not because you’re giving up—
but because you’re growing. 🌿✨

10/12/2025

🍁 The Quiet Power of Letting Go

Letting go isn’t about giving up—it’s about making space.

It’s forgiving someone, not because they deserve it, but because you deserve peace.
It’s accepting the past for what it is, and allowing yourself to move forward.
It’s loosening your grip on control and trusting that life can unfold without constant managing.

Sometimes letting go means walking away from what hurts, even if it once felt right.
Sometimes it’s releasing the need to be perfect, or the story that keeps you small.
And sometimes, it’s simply taking a deep breath and saying—
“I don’t need to carry this anymore.”

Letting go is not loss.
It’s freedom, and it’s the beginning of something new. 🌅

09/23/2025

08/20/2025

Observing our emotions is like watching waves rise and fall on the ocean’s surface. Instead of getting swept away, we can pause, notice what’s happening inside, and name it: “I feel tense,” “I feel excited,” “I feel sad.”

By simply observing—without judgment—we create space between ourselves and the feeling. That space gives us an opportunity to respond instead of react. Emotions are visitors; when we notice them, we learn from them instead of being controlled by them.

08/01/2025

Only a few more days to vote. I appreciate your support♥️

07/30/2025

Only 5 more days to vote. Remember ypu can vote daily.

https://www.boonvilledailynews.com/cr-dep-best-of/?event_token=7f74433e960e2759

07/29/2025

Just found out I was nominated Best of Boonville 2025. What a pleasant surprise. Thank you to whomever nominated me. You can vote daily and it ends in 6 days.

05/03/2025

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Let’s take time this month to check in—with ourselves and each other. Mental health matters every day, and there’s no shame in asking for help or taking a break when you need it.
Together, we can break the stigma and create space for healing, support, and open conversations.

03/27/2025

Rooted In Wellness is in the Windy City! Ready to learn more about Attachment and Somatics! I first need to reover from Chicago deep dish!