Category: Family & Parenting

Anxiety is often likened to an elephant in the room affecting millions of people worldwide and what many don’t know is that it is the number one mental health struggle across all age groups. From teenagers grappling with the issues of adolescence to adults juggling the overwhelming demands of modern life, people often feel alone as they wrestle to manage the symptoms and challenges of anxiety.

Caris Snider is an anxiety advocate, speaker, and author of the groundbreaking series of books, Anxiety Elephants, that provides a roadmap for understanding the complexities and burdens of dealing with the symptoms of this common mental battle. Drawing from her own struggles with anxiety, she shares, “When I first started dealing with symptoms, it felt like I had an elephant on my chest. I also thought I was all alone and, as a person of faith, I didn’t think I was supposed to have these problems. When I found a way through the darkness, I wanted to share what I discovered to help others dealing with anxiety and that led me to write my first book, a 10-Day Devotional on stomping out Anxiety Elephants.”

Snider’s first book was so well received that she saw a need to create a series on the topic that would help moms, children, and teens through their daily struggles and shared some of the coping techniques for confronting their fears while also embracing a future filled with promise.

The beginning to understanding how to conquer anxiety is awareness. “Some people don’t even realize that they’re experiencing signs of anxiety,” according to Caris. “Symptoms have many forms and can include having a rapid heart rate, feeling breathless, having sleepless nights, being overly emotional to the point of bursting into tears, or even being afraid that something really bad will happen. I want you to know that you have the power to take back control and that’s why I’ve written this series of books.”

One of the features that makes the Anxiety Elephants book series unique is that Caris Snider has included action steps for readers to take in each book to help them conquer the problem. Here are three things she suggests to do when someone is experiencing symptoms.

1.    Deep Breathing Helps Calm the Anxiety.  Caris says that, “When fear grips you, take a moment to pause and engage in a deep breathing exercise. This simple practice helps shift your focus from the emotional part of our brain to the thinking part,” and provides a soothing effect similar to a massage for the mind.

2.    Focus on Gratitude. When anxiety hits, think about good things to activate positive emotion. “Cultivating a mindset of gratitude helps reframe your perspective and fosters a sense of positivity even in the midst of anxiety,” Caris shares. It sounds simple, but it can be a game changer.

3.    Dump the Negativity from the Brain. For anyone struggling with anxious thoughts, Caris has a brain dump exercise. “Take post-it notes and jot down negative thoughts, then tear them up and discard them. Then, you want to replace these negative thoughts with positive truths. You may want to keep post-its handy, like in the car, so you can write them down whenever you have anxious thoughts.” This exercise helps rewire the brain to almost physically let go of anxious thoughts by tearing them up and then take control of the mind and emotions replacing negative ideas with positive ones.

With a degree in Child Development, Caris Snider is a Speaker, Anxiety Advocate, and Author, who is on a mission to confront the number one mental health struggle with her transformative Anxiety Elephants book series. This includes the best-selling children’s book, There’s An Elephant on My Chest that she uses as an ice-breaker and tool to engage with children and teens when speaking at schools to share her practical solutions on how to shrink those “elephants” as well as ways on how to talk through anxiety with trusted adults.

Beyond school settings, Caris is dedicated to making a lasting impact and speaks at community groups and women’s conferences to give insight and support for moms struggling with anxiety or helping them understand how to help their children navigate it. She loves connecting with parents on Instagram and directly through her website since she is committed to help moms, children, and teens find freedom from fear in the fight against anxiety.

The teen years can certainly be difficult and over 80% of teenagers struggle with confidence and motivation that often results in having few close friends and a lack of drive to achieve their goals. Dr. RJ Jackson (Dr. RJ) is on a mission to not only help teenagers tackle some of their toughest challenges, but also create a bridge that allows parents and teens to communicate effectively.

According to Dr. RJ, the two biggest problems teens face are confidence and motivation. He explains, “Most parents believe that this is caused by social media, but this has actually been a problem for teens long before social media existed. For example, if your child is shy and maybe has a resistance to try new things, it’s most likely a confidence issue. Or if your child procrastinates and you have to force them to do things, it’s most likely an issue with motivation.”

Parents and teachers may think that this is typical or normal behavior for a teen and that willpower is the answer to get their child to do their chores or homework, but as Dr. RJ shared on a recent interview with We Are Austin, willpower doesn’t work. “Willpower doesn’t work because what we’re asking a child to do is to overcome something that is painful. You see, all humans are wired the same – they want to avoid pain and pursue pleasure,” he says. “For example, you have a child who hates school and homework so that’s in the pain category and then you’re expecting this child to do something they don’t like. And when they do the thing they don’t enjoy, it brings more pain. This is why willpower will never work and will never be sustainable.” 

Dr. RJ Jackson says that the number one way he has found to flip the switch for an unmotivated teen is conditioning. He takes the two categories of pain and pleasure and helps the child decide how to sort it effectively, “For example, when we have a child who wants to make friends, but all the things required to make new friends include meeting new people and trying new things that is in their pain category, they naturally won’t do it. Conditioning is when we take those activities that cause pain and show them how to move them into their pleasure category so they’ll naturally re-condition their mind and that’s how we flip the switch.”

As a leading authority in teen development, Dr. RJ Jackson has coached over 10,000 teens in the past decade and is dedicated to helping teenagers maximize their full potential. In his book, Parenting Happy Teens: It’s An Inside Job, he helps parents understand the reasons why teenagers make self-destructive choices, experience so much stress, worry, and unhappiness, and he shares how they can overcome these challenges. He loves connecting with parents and teens on Instagram and directly through his website since he is committed to making a lasting impact on the next generation.