Box Breathing is an anxiety management technique that helps calm your nervous system and lower anxiety and stress. Follow the below easy steps the next time you're feeling your anxiety and worry spike.

Perfectionism is often a fuel for anxiety, shame and mental health struggles of all kinds. Despite this, it is is often seen as a positive quality or a sign of someone who is a hard worker, or who does things really well in our culture. Brene Brown, author, social researcher and social worker who studies shame and vulnerability, says that Perfectionism is "the 20 pound shield we carry around to avoid being hurt, when in actuality it keeps us from being seen." I would add that it also keeps us from meeting our own needs for rest, self care, connection and creativity. It can lead to procrastination; not starting new assignments or projects for fear of not doing well, not enjoying creating and learning anything new, and exhausting ourselves in the pursuit of an unattainable goal of "perfect" that does not exist.

If you have ever experienced going down a rabbit hole of negative thinking, you are not alone. Too often, our minds take us to the worst possible scenario, fueling anxiety as we imagine how something could go wrong, why we will fail or why we should fear taking the next step in our career, school work or personal life.