Marianna Jaross 1.) It can feel clumsy. You can take a step forward and then back. Old thoughts, habits, and behaviours may resurface. Your routines might slip, you may fall into old ways of doing things, or life throws you a new challenge. Being on the path of being a person that you like and can be proud of is a process. Keep going. 2.) ‘Tests’ may pop up. Sometimes we are tested, accidentally or not. We may be tempted back into a previous way of being that was not helpful,

Marianna Jaross We have to come back to what lit us up when we were younger. Often, we try to squeeze ourselves into society’s version of acceptable: A square peg in a round hole. We absorb our family’s conditioning, our school conditioning, the norms that dictate who we should be, milestones that we are ‘meant’ to have reached. We put ourselves in boxes. Truly and deeply living in our alignment can mean getting out of surivival mode and addressing the following: We undo the

Marianna Jaross Have you been on a self-development journey? You read the books, listen to the podcasts, understand your attachment patterns, and resolve that you understand yourself. You try to eat nourishing food, move your body, understand your spiritual side, connect with others. If you are regurgitating what you already know, have reflected on, or changed, you are ready for the following step: That is doing the thing. The thing is the dream in your heart. Your most meani

Marianna Jaross We can strategise, plan, and do our best to steer our ship in the direction we want. Sometimes life has other plans. Whether this occurs in the form of a relationship ending, a redundancy, or some other form of change; we can be left spinning. You know the saying: We make plans, and God laughs. Here are some steps to support you: 1.) Grieve. It’s expected to feel disappointed, sad, scared, worried, and confused. You are grieving the path that you thought you w

Marianna Jaross I had entered 2024 full of hope. With a new job lined up, business ideas, and personal goals that were well ‘on track’ to happening, I thought that 2024 would be my year. The job didn’t work out, my businesses were slow to get off the ground, my apartment was being sold, and pivoting my career was taking more effort than I’d anticipated. This year was mainly focused on surviving and keeping my head above water whilst also trying to achieve my goals. Here is wh

Marianna Jaross This year has been the ultimate mixed bag for me. I have also found that lifestyle interventions and practical activities have helped me navigate the storm. These are not all the answers to our challenges and life’s suffering, or meant to serve as a replacement for mental health interventions. Rather, these ideas are here to help lighten your load. 1.) Declutter. Decluttering can be supportive in that it helps us prioritise what we need, what we use, and w

Marianna Jaross The more I meet people — both in a clinical and non-clinical space — the more I notice the bittersweetness we deal with in our daily life. In a recent episode of The Diary Of A CEO, guest Dr Alok Kanojia highlighted that the more we accept and engage with the concept of life as bittersweet, the more content we will be. He aptly states: “There is piss and there is sugar. And that’s just what it is.” Life is often about balancing tensions. We yearn for safety ve

Marianna Jaross ‘Limerence’ is a term that was coined by Dorothy Tennov in her book Love and Limerence (1979). The Attachment Project highlights that limerence can be described as having an uncontrollable desire for someone. It is described to take over a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Two people are required for this dynamic: The person who desires the other, and the desired person (the limerent object or LO). The limerent person will typically focus on someone

Marianna Jaross Healing from pain can include identifying opportunities and experiences where we can shift into hope and possibility. Our job in healthcare is to create systems that support stabilisation and healing, and our work individually is to identify windows of hope, healing, and change that are personalised to us. This is not to paint over harsh realities or circumstances. I am aware that people are often under-resourced by a system that doesn’t adequately support the

Marianna Jaross Trauma-informed care means we have an awareness of how trauma can impact a person’s sense of safety, experience in their body, ability to form connections, and behaviour. It can include moving away from pathologising behaviour or diagnostic criteria in favour of a humanistic understanding that if we've experienced trauma and hardship; there can be ripple impacts of this. Recovery looks different for everyone. My perspective personally is that ‘recovery’