Self Care

4 Effective Options To Straighten Your Teeth Safely

March 29, 2022 by Joi Leave a Comment

A straight and beautiful smile is often considered to be the best accessory. However, many people may not have confidence when it comes to the appearance of their teeth. Because of this, many teeth-straightening options have become available, such as metal braces. While they are known as the most effective treatment to straighten your teeth, the metallic look of conventional braces is not something everyone likes. As a result, other more comfortable solutions have emerged, which means you can have your teeth straightened without getting braces. Today we will discuss some of the most effective and safe options to straighten your teeth and achieve your dream smile.

Teeth Aligners

Teeth aligners are a popular choice among many people, as they can easily fit into any lifestyle. This revolutionary orthodontic treatment involves getting clear aligners, which are easy to maintain and remove when eating, drinking, or brushing your teeth. You can get a brand new smile with teeth aligners, provided by Straight My Teeth. This is a more affordable option, as patients can easily be assessed online and offered the best treatment. As opposed to metal braces, these aligners are designed to be smooth and discreet. The company will send customized teeth aligners directly to your door, ensuring any concerns and questions you have are addressed.

Tooth Contouring

Tooth contouring or tooth reshaping can help you fix minor imperfections and misshapen teeth. A dentist will use drills and lasers to remove some of your enamel during this procedure. This will ensure your teeth have the desired shape, size, and length. Once tooth contouring has been performed, your teeth will be polished, which will have a natural-looking effect. Although this treatment is non-invasive, it can still produce some effective results. In addition, it is also one of the fastest ways to straighten your teeth, as it only requires one appointment done in an hour or less. Remember to familiarize yourself with the process of tooth contouring, the risks and costs.

Dental Veneers

Dental veneers or porcelain veneers are thin, custom-made tooth-coloured shells, which aim to improve your appearance. They are used for a variety of different purposes and cosmetic concerns. This treatment may be ideal for someone with fractured teeth, crowded teeth or gaps between teeth. One of the most important benefits of this procedure is that it can be done in one sitting and thus results are immediate. Some people may consider getting more than one veneer so that they can achieve a more even and symmetrical smile. Depending on the type of veneer that you choose, they can last for more than a decade.

Palatal Expansion

Palatal expansion is another procedure that involves using palatal expanding devices to widen the upper jaw. This is done to fit the bottom and upper teeth better. The technique is best completed by an orthodontist before the jaw fully develops. Usually, this means the most suitable age range is between 8 and 18, but adults can also benefit from this procedure in the same way. Palate expanders are used to correct a range of dental problems including crossbites, underbites, crowded teeth, and impacted teeth. According to your unique situation, it is advisable to discuss different options with your dentist.

How to Develop a Body Neutral Mindset

February 20, 2022 by Joi Leave a Comment

Have you ever considered that the way you see your body can affect the way you view the world? When we see ourselves in a negative light, that often translates to how we view our opportunities, social life, and more. If you find yourself having negative thoughts about yourself, you’re not alone. In fact, roughly one-third of people feel anxious or depressed about their bodies.

Learning to develop a body-neutral mindset can improve the way you see yourself and the world around you. However, it’s important to keep in mind that viewing yourself in a negative way probably took years to master, so it won’t be easy letting go of the habit. To keep yourself motivated, consider setting goals with a friend or adopting a pet to help boost your mood when you get discouraged.

Body Neutrality: What is it?

Body neutrality is the act of viewing your body based on the ways it serves you, rather than the way it looks. With a body neutral mindset, instead of looking at your arms and saying “I love my arms, despite the fact that they aren’t as toned as they used to be,” you can look at yourself and think, “I love my arms because they help me cook, and cooking is my favorite thing to do.”

How to Develop Body Neutral Views

Overcoming negative feelings toward your body can take time and a lot of effort. Because of this, be careful not to criticize yourself for not doing so perfectly. There will be times you fall back into old habits, but it’s the choices you make after messing up that make the biggest difference.

1. Listen to Your Body’s Needs

Whether you’re one of the 57% of Medicare beneficiaries who suffers from high blood pressure or you’re out running marathons every weekend, listening to your body can help you develop greater compassion for what it can do. It can be tempting to feel the urge to work out in order to work off the calories you just ate, but if your body doesn’t feel well, you shouldn’t push yourself to do so.

Instead, practice listening to your body’s needs. When you feel the urge to get up and move, do so. When your body is craving a certain food, satisfy that desire without thinking about how the food will impact your weight.

2. Avoid Body Talk

Talking about your body (or anyone else’s) will only drive you to think about its physical appearance or inability to function in a way someone else’s can. To really establish a body neutral mindset, avoid participating in conversations focused only on the element of physical appearance.

3. Repeat Body-Neutral Affirmations

Repeating affirmations can help develop muscle memory in the brain that can be exercised when faced with a tough decision (like running another mile even if your body says it’s done for the day).

Print out the affirmation cards linked to below and hang them on your bathroom mirror so you see them often!

Printable Affirmation Cards

Developing a strong body-neutral mindset takes time and patience, but it’s not impossible. Taking the time and putting forth the effort to change the way you view yourself can help you stop being so hard on yourself and start living your life for yourself, rather than for what other people expect of you or your physical appearance.

Find Your “Relaxing Place” (It could be the smartest thing you do this year!)

December 31, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

Great Quote About Relaxation

My weekdays are incredibly busy – so much moving, thinking, and schedule-busting I must sometimes look like a bumble bee going from flower to flower. And, frankly, I couldn’t be more grateful. One of the greatest blessings of my life is being able to watch three grandbabies when their parents are at work.

I might mention the fact that they’re currently 1, 2, and 4.

Buzzzzzzzzzzz from flower to flower…

I’m also an avid cook, voracious old movie fan, love flower gardening, am an avid reader, and web publisher with a food blog, old Hollywood blog, cat blog, Kentucky travel blog, and (obliviously) a self help blog! Obviously, my grandbabies always come first, but suffice to say I stay busy on weekends, before and after they arrive, and when they’re napping.

After cooking and eating supper, cleaning up the kitchen, taking my shower, and putting on so much girly smelling lotion that I smell like the flowers I bounce around, I glide into my favorite den chair and…. ahhhhhhhhhh! Two things can be true – you can be completely in love with what you do from 8:00 to 6:00 AND be completely in love with the stillness from 6:00 to bedtime.

“It is nice finding that place where you can just go and relax.” ~Moises Arias

My den chair represents relaxation to me and, after reading the wonderful quote above by Moises Arias, I’ve begun calling it my relaxing place. The mind stays active (most of the time anyway) when I’m in my relaxing place but the body takes the opportunity to simply relax and unwind. I sip hot tea, watch tv with my husband, catch up on Twitter (my old Hollywood Twitter page is so fun I always love seeing what people have to say!).

I find that this period of time to be fun, enjoyable, relaxing, and in many ways healing. The body can go through a lot during a busy day, I’m convinced relaxing times such as this give your body time to catch its breath, unwind, and kind of get in touch with life.

Sounds as flowery as I smell after a shower, but sometimes flowery words can also do a body good!

Carving out a period of relaxation in your relaxing place each evening also helps with sleep. If you try to go instantly from busy mode to sleep mode, your body and mind are going to be too stunned to cooperate! You have to give them time to rewind… to change the pace from day to night. Trust me, it works miracles.

An extra benefit of having your own special relaxing place and relaxing time is that it gives you something to look forward to. A few days ago, even though (unfortunately!) none of my precious grandbabies were here, I stayed busy from around 9:00 to 4:00 – packing up Christmas, boxing, cleaning, doing maintenance on my blogs, catching up on e-mail, etc. Several times throughout the day, I’d think about my relaxing place, my hot tea, tv and conversation with my husband, and every single glorious ahhhhhhh that comes with the evening. It gave me something to look forward to through all the business and it was glorious.

I often sign my Self Help Daily posts with the words, “Make each moment count double,” but today, I have a different sign off in mind….

Make each relaxing moment count triple! ~ Joi

New Habits, New Years Resolutions, and a New Way of Looking at Both

December 4, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

“Good habits are worth being fanatical about.” ~ John Irving

I recently went down the rabbit hole-searching everything I could get my eyes on about new habits. Not to be confused with breaking old habits.. presumably bad since one wants to break their legs! That’s a whole other subject. I wanted to research the daylights out of new habits and I did just that.

I sought out information, opinions, quotes, graphs, and even infographics about new habits…

how they form
how long they take to become almost “automatic”
what gets in the way of forming positive new habits
how to set yourself up for success with your new habits
etc etc etc!

What got me on this kick? The first thought I entertained about New Years Resolutions. I happened to be thinking about getting yoga back into my life. Long story, short… For over 20 years, I did yoga daily for at least 30 minutes, usually more. Then I developed a hiatal hernia and quickly learned (the hard way) that many yoga poses and hernias do NOT play well together. I just stopped doing yoga altogether instead of wisely ditching the problematic poses and continuing with the rest.

What can I say… the fear of aggravating the hernia was greater than my common sense. Fear always, always, always trumps common sense when you let it.

Recently, I researched the subject and found that doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, and other experts actually believe certain poses not only won’t hurt a hiatal hernia but may actually help by strengthening the region. So I began doing some poses that don’t involve rousing the sleeping beast (Lady Hernia) and fell in love with yoga all over again.

It’s been hard to incorporate it into my life, which is odd because it used to be as much of a habit as brushing my teeth. I found that some poses that I used to be able to easily hold for the count of 45 seconds made me as wobbly as a newborn colt after a mere 5 seconds. I thanked God, above, at that moment for making me a hardheaded gal who isn’t easily discouraged. Combined with always being up for a good challenge, I didn’t get discouraged (although it would have been easy to). I simply thought, “I’m making it a resolution to do at least 15 minutes of yoga each day… then build from there.”

Initially, I was thinking about this being a 2022 resolution, but then I thought, “Why wait?!”

I’ve been doing carefully selected yoga poses for a few weeks and can already hold most of them twice as long as when I restarted. Hey, that’s something!

I knew (from previous readings) that most people agree that it takes around 3 weeks to build a new habit successfully. So, with that reasoning in hand, it occurred to me – wouldn’t right NOW be the time to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, as opposed to New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day? If we start trying to form positive, healthy, new habits now, by the time the new year rolls around, we will have an absolutely beautiful head start.

Even if we only tackle one of our resolutions right now, if we make it a daily habit, it’ll free up more time and energy for other habits.

It also give us a healthy dose of much-needed confidence!

Make each moment count double! ~ Joi (“Joy”)

Why Practicing Self-Care Is More Important in Today’s Internet Age + Dos & Don’ts

November 14, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

UnPlugging is a Vital Part of Self-Care

by Nicole McCray

In today’s internet age, feeling run down, overworked, and tired 24/7 is the norm, rather than the exception. Burnout has become the official term used to describe this state of chronic stress and mental exhaustion.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and emotionally drained and you’ve lost interest and motivation for activities you used to love, there’s a good chance you’re suffering from burnout. Sometimes, just thinking about the word stress makes you feel stressed!

Let’s take a deeper dive into why self-care is more important now than ever, plus some actionable dos and don’ts you can apply to your daily life.

Why Practicing Self-Care is so Important in the Internet Age

Thanks to modern technology and the internet, many of us are working our day jobs plus a side-hustle or two. And while we may be passionate about what we’re doing, practicing self-care often falls to the back burner when we’re always hustling.

On top of that, our phones have become a source of entertainment. They’re full of games, videos, news, and social media. It’s so easy to lose sight of yourself. You feel drained without really knowing why. Emotions pile up and relationships get pushed aside without even realizing it.

In a nutshell, spending so much time on the internet creates a disconnect from one’s feelings, thoughts, and sense of individuality. And when you’re consumed with work day and night, it’s no wonder your mental state begins to shift. There’s just no energy left for you.

If this sounds like you, it’s time for a serious change! When was the last time you treated yourself to dinner and a movie, read a book, or took a long walk in nature? The fact is your mind and body need downtime away from work and the internet to recharge.

Self-care is an investment in yourself. Unplugging for a few hours to connect with others and reconnect with yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. It will recharge and rejuvenate you so that you can be present in your daily life.

The Dos and Don’ts of Self-Care

Self-care isn’t a new concept, but it has certainly become a buzzword in recent years. What does practicing self-care really mean? There’s so much information coming at you all the time, it’s hard to even know where to begin. Here are some tips to guide you down the path of self-care in a healthy way.

Don’t neglect the basics.

Don’t underestimate the value of basic self-care. Eating a healthy meal, getting a quality night’s sleep, exercising, spending time outdoors, and taking a shower every day is essential for your mental and physical health.

But, taking a few minutes to apply the best primer for makeup and foundation, a little concealer, some mascara, and a bit of blush or lip color before you head out the door can have powerful effects on your mood, too. It’s like telling yourself you’re worth it, and nothing is more important than that.

Do practice self-awareness as part of self-care.

You can’t take care of yourself if you don’t know what you need. Building self-awareness means checking in with yourself every day. Are you getting enough sleep, healthy food, and exercise? Are you feeling anxious, sad, or bored? Why?

Remember that you are a dynamic individual. Your needs are constantly changing. Spending some time every day assessing your thoughts and feelings will help you reconnect with yourself and feel cared for.

Don’t use self-care as an excuse to be irresponsible with your money.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with treating yourself once in a while, but don’t use self-care as an excuse to overspend. Taking care of yourself doesn’t require buying something new.

Avoid using retail therapy as a way to avoid dealing with your relationships, problems, or emotions. And don’t buy something you can’t afford because you think it will make you feel better. Creating a budget and sticking to it will make you feel much better in the long run.

The best things in life are free! You don’t need to blow your paycheck on a fancy dinner out to practice self-care. Journaling, meditation, yoga, tidying up your personal space, great conversations, and practicing gratitude are completely free and excellent examples of self-care.

Do ask for help when you need it.

You can’t do everything yourself and acknowledging that is a huge part of self-care. There’s no shame in enlisting the help of a babysitter, a family member, a friend, or even a therapist if that’s what you need. Many times, your loved ones will appreciate the chance to be there for you.

Don’t forget to unplug.

We’ve already touched on this, but the importance of unplugging regularly can’t be overstated. It’s easy to end a long day with a few hours of mindless scrolling and binge-watching, but that’s not always what’s best for you.

Comparing yourself to the “perfect” images of influencers or celebrities on TV and the internet is terrible for your self-esteem. And, getting lost in the plethora of depressing news stories coming out every day is also terrible for your mental health. Making a point of unplugging at least one day every week should be a top priority.

And finally, do remember that self-care isn’t one size fits all.

While a rose-scented bubble bath may sound amazing to many, maybe the thought of soaking in the tub until your fingers turn wrinkly just doesn’t appeal to you. That’s ok! Be honest with yourself. If something is supposed to feel good but doesn’t feel good to you, don’t force yourself to do it anyway. You’re unique and your self-care routine should be too!

4 Effective Options To Straighten Your Teeth Safely

How to Develop a Body Neutral Mindset

Body Neutrality: What is it?