I just want to mention some things that have been very helpful for me during my journey. In addition to journaling, these items are things that I’ve started to include in my daily regimen to help me deal with cravings, anxiety and depression.

I receive daily mantras in my email after I signed up with http://www.iammantra.com. Just click on the link and you can go to the site and sign up for daily emails. They are very inspiring daily quotes and it’s amazing how many times I go in and read them and they are exactly what I needed to hear that day. It’s totally free, by the way.

Although I don’t do meditation daily, I have noticed huge benefits when I do a minute or two of meditation when I’m feeling stressed out. Studies have shown that if you participate in daily meditation or mindfulness 1-5 minutes has many more benefits than doing it say once a week for longer periods of time. I use the mindfulness app on my iWatch which has daily reminders to participate (as I’m sitting here writing this, my watch just sent me a reminder to do my mindfulness!!!). Some other apps I’ve heard good things about are: Calm, Ten Percent Happier and Insight Timer.

Lastly, yoga. I’ve started and stopped trying yoga for years! With my back issues, I had so many professionals tell me that I should really try yoga. As I mentioned before, I have tried my entire adult life to get into a daily exercise program and would end up doing it for about a month (at the most) and stop. I am finally doing a daily exercise program, which includes yoga exercises at least 4 times a week.

All of these tools have been and continue to be instrumental in helping me through this journey. It might sound like a lot to add into your daily routine, but it really hasn’t interfered with my schedule and, honestly, now that it’s become part of my daily routine, I look forward to each and every one of them.