What caused my anxiety?

People who come to see me about their anxiety often want to know what caused their anxiety to start in the first place.

If you struggle with anxiety, you may have wondered why you have the anxiety. Where did it come from? And how can I say goodbye to the anxiety so I can start feeling better and getting on with my life?

In my experience there are two broad types of anxiety.

The first is anxiety brought on from a specific (usually traumatic) event. For example, suppose you are driving along quite happily one day in the same way you have for years and then ‘bang’ you are involved in an accident.

It’s possible (although by no means certain) that you may have been a bit shaken up or even injured. You may find yourself thinking about or re-living the incident in your mind. And you may start to feel anxious about driving (whether as a driver, passenger or even just linked to certain roads).

And the more you experience your anxiety and avoid situations that make it worse, the more the anxiety can take hold and limit your choices.

The second type of anxiety can often be

The strangest thing about weight loss

I’ve worked with hundreds of people to help them achieve weight loss in a way that allows them to reach their target weight and dress size – and then keep at that weight for year after year.

And many people who come to see me tell me similar things about their experiences with weight loss, such as:

1) I’ve tried every diet out there – and I lost loads of weight but then put it all back on again (and more)

2) I suffer (or used to) with anxiety, depression, stress or something else and use food to help me feel better

3) I’ve always had bad habits around food (maybe even since childhood) and can’t seem to change them on my own

Whichever one or more of these applies, there are things we can do to change it for the better to improve that relationship with food, your emotions and your health.

However, that isn’t all of it.

The strangest thing about weight loss is this:

How to succeed with New Year’s Resolutions

What happened to last year’s resolutions?

According to various studies, somewhere between 40% - 95% of us make New Year’s Resolutions.

Yet around 75% of people will have given up, given in or lapsed within just ten days.

Will you be joining them by January 10^th 2013?

And this year, about 60% of people will make the same resolution that they made last year (and maybe the year before too).

So what goes wrong with

This is your life…well, your year anyway

As we approach the end of 2012 (where did the year go?!), and before deciding what you want from next year, it’s a useful idea to carry out a brief review of what happened over the last 12 months.

Up and down and round and round…

If you are like most people, then the year will have had its high points, some not-so-high points and all those moments in between.

And often people (not you because you’re reading this) just turn up to their lives and go through each day pretty much like the one before. And it’s a bit late on your death bed to wonder what happened to your life.

So take a few minutes to review 2012 before asking what