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Pink Corner

Donegal Woman Author - Sarah Barr


Latest Posts | By Sarah Barr
See all posts by our columnist Sarah Barr here. Got a question for them? Connect with them by clicking their social icons below.
Why ‘Me’ time is a necessity, not a luxury 5 years ago

Why ‘Me’ time is a necessity, not a luxury

By  •  Health

Life can be hectic, chaotic, noisy…

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by it all, no matter who you are or what your social media feed or stories say.


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5 ways to manage social anxiety this summer 5 years ago

5 ways to manage social anxiety this summer

By  •  Health

Social anxiety can impact on people in different ways. Some people will find that all social situations are stressful, while others will only feel the fear when they have to …
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How you can help care for a new mum 6 years ago

How you can help care for a new mum

By  •  Health

Statistics often say one thing about postpartum mood disorders and social media says another. Many new mums feel like they can’t identify with the happy messages being shared on social …
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Identity: Learning to like who you are 6 years ago

Identity: Learning to like who you are

By  •  Health

Your self-talk is one of the major factors in helping to shape your identity.

Studies show that self-talk can improve your memory, confidence and focus.

Show yourself some kindness


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Motherhood Unplugged – Why we need Maternal Mental Health Day 6 years ago

Motherhood Unplugged – Why we need Maternal Mental Health Day

By  •  Health, Mammy

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts April 29th – May 3rd. Maternal Mental Health Day is May 1st.

As many as 1 in 5 mothers experience some type of perinatal …
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Taking the first step into counselling 6 years ago

Taking the first step into counselling

By  •  Health

Visiting a counsellor for the first time is incredibly daunting and it can be really difficult. Many people will often think about making that first appointment for months before they …
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Have you seen my confidence? 6 years ago

Have you seen my confidence?

By  •  Health

Confidence is something that (mostly) everyone will struggle with, at least once in their lives. Whether it is your confidence in work, in college, as a mum, as a …
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Minding Me, self-care and CBT 6 years ago

Minding Me, self-care and CBT

By  •  Health

‘Minding Me’ is all about minding yourself.

The 5 week wellness workshop will focus on learning and developing self-care practices and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) techniques. This workshop is delivered …
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Think Positive – A guide to daily affirmations 6 years ago

Think Positive – A guide to daily affirmations

By  •  Health

Positive affirmations release you from anxiety, negativity, guilt, fear and pain. Here are some examples:

Affirmations are simple messages. Repeated over-and-over, they begin to worm their way into your mind. Slowly changing …
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Why social anxiety is more than just being shy 6 years ago

Why social anxiety is more than just being shy

By  •  Health

Social anxiety is more than just being shy.

• Social anxiety is all-consuming, slowly stealing your confidence and identity.

It is making you feel lost, unsure of …
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Don’t forget to love yourself this Valentine’s Day 6 years ago

Don’t forget to love yourself this Valentine’s Day

By  •  Health, Life

Valentine’s Day puts the emphasis on love for someone special in your life.

Yet YOU are the most important person in your life.

Why not make this day about loving yourself?


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Naming Your Anxiety 6 years ago

Naming Your Anxiety

By  •  Health

Whether you get physical panic attacks or mental mayhem, heart palpitations or cognitive chaos. If you feel isolated or watched,  terrified of a crowd or of interacting with one person …
Read More

Caring for yourself this New Year 6 years ago

Caring for yourself this New Year

By  •  Health

Living with a mental illness this time of year can be hard. There is so much pressure pouring in from social media, society etc to “start over” or change how …
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How to create new positive habits 6 years ago

How to create new positive habits

By  •  Health

Habits, we all have them, good ones and bad ones.

Firstly let’s define habits. Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. According to research …
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Motherhood and Me 6 years ago

Motherhood and Me

By  •  Health, Mammy

Being a mum in today’s world is no easy task, as amazing as it is, it is hard. With all the ‘normal’ duties of motherhood, mums today also have to …
Read More

5 ways to manage social anxiety 6 years ago

5 ways to manage social anxiety

By  •  Health

Anxiety is a part of everyday life for many people. Yet you may be completely unaware, as so many people put in a lot of energy and time in hiding …
Read More

20 self-care ideas for a bad day 6 years ago

20 self-care ideas for a bad day

By  •  Health

It can be so hard to practice any type of self-care when you’re not feeling yourself. Yet this is exactly when you need it the most.

On days …
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How counselling can help treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 6 years ago

How counselling can help treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

By  •  Health

What is OCD?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental illness that creates negative thoughts. These thoughts lead you to believe that if you do not carry out a certain …
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5 signs you are suffering from workplace burnout 6 years ago

5 signs you are suffering from workplace burnout

By  •  Health

Working in a stressful, high-pressured or demanding job can negatively impact on your mental health. This, coupled with issues at home, arranging child care throughout the summer holidays …
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How to rebuild confidence after becoming a mum 6 years ago

How to rebuild confidence after becoming a mum

By  •  Health, Mammy

Researchers found that most mums experience a significant dip in self-esteem after having a baby that can last up to three years.

 

This is regardless of the mother’s relationship …
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Are you stressed? 7 years ago

Are you stressed?

By  •  Health

We all know how important self-care is for our mind and body. However it is very difficult to practice self-care if we are stressed and do not recognise that we …
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How to calm your anxious thoughts 7 years ago

How to calm your anxious thoughts

By  •  Health

We all have anxious thoughts from time to time but sometimes these thoughts can be all we think about. They are intrusive, frightening, repetitive and hard to stop.

It …
Read More

Let’s start the conversation Donegal Mammies – World Maternal Mental Health Day 7 years ago

Let’s start the conversation Donegal Mammies – World Maternal Mental Health Day

By  •  Health

Today is World Maternal Mental Health Day, May is Maternal Mental Health Month.

This is a serious health matter, that needs more awareness and acceptance. We need to be …
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How to stop letting other people control how you feel 7 years ago

How to stop letting other people control how you feel

By  •  Health

By personalising other people’s negative thoughts or opinions we are allowing them to control how we feel.

Q. So how can we stop this?

A. By changing the way we …
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Labels – For Jars or People? 7 years ago

Labels – For Jars or People?

By  •  Health

We grow up with labels that are used to define us. These labels can be attached by other people and even by ourself at times. Society, family, social media, work …
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5 ways to deal with rejection when feeling anxious 7 years ago

5 ways to deal with rejection when feeling anxious

By  •  Health

Rejection is hard for most people. Since childhood, we have looked for acceptance from our friends in school to our parents at home. Sometimes doing whatever we can and …
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Be kind to yourself 7 years ago

Be kind to yourself

By  •  Health

“You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head, be kind to yourself”

When we are living with low self-esteem, it …
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Don’t think about the Pink Elephant 7 years ago

Don’t think about the Pink Elephant

By  •  Health

Let’s do a thought experiment:

  • Close your eyes.
  • Imagine a pink elephant
  • What shade of pink is it?
  • Is it happy/sad/indifferent?
  • Think about the pink elephant for 60 …
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Weekend Depression – it’s a thing 7 years ago

Weekend Depression – it’s a thing

By  •  Health

Weekend Depression: It can start to sneak up on you without you knowing it. During the week you’re busy with work, children, schedules and activities. Yet when Friday or Saturday …
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The 5 best ways to beat the January Blues 7 years ago

The 5 best ways to beat the January Blues

By  •  Health

So yesterday was ‘Blue Monday’ supposedly the most depressing day of the year.

We look forward to winter, the cosy nights and the lead up to Christmas. The parties, the …
Read More

Why worry? 7 years ago

Why worry?

By  •  Health
  • What are worries?

Worries are just thoughts and thoughts are not fact. They have no reality. Worries begin when we ask, “What if…” then the mental …
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Visualise your 2018 7 years ago

Visualise your 2018

By  •  Health

As we all know from experience, making a New Year’s resolution is easy. Sticking with it and actually achieving your goal is not so easy.

New Year’s resolutions is …
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How to step into Christmas… and away from social anxiety 7 years ago

How to step into Christmas… and away from social anxiety

By  •  Health

With Christmas getting closer, many of us will feel a mixture of excitement and worry. However, for those of you who live with social anxiety, Christmas can be a very …
Read More

Get rid of guilt and make self-care your friend 7 years ago

Get rid of guilt and make self-care your friend

By  •  Health

How many times a day do you allow yourself to stop, take stock and breathe?

Or do you carry on, listening to all those ‘mustabations’ (I should be doing this, …
Read More

Are you feeling SAD? 7 years ago

Are you feeling SAD?

By  •  Health

“There once was a girl whose happiness was tied to the sun. As it rose, so did she, and her smile was like beams of light. As it set, so …
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Facing your Fear 7 years ago

Facing your Fear

By  •  Health

“Fear is nothing more than an obstacle that stands in the way of progress. In overcoming our fears we can move forward, stronger and wiser within ourselves.”


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Find your Mama Squad 7 years ago

Find your Mama Squad

By  •  Health, Mammy

How are you?

“I’m grand, yeah fine, I’m good”.

How many times a day do we tell ourselves this, do we tell other people this?

Have you perfected your mask?


Read More

Mindful or Mind full? 7 years ago

Mindful or Mind full?

By  •  Health

“Mindfulness, being present in each moment, without judgement”

So mindfulness is quite the buzz word at the minute, but what exactly is mindfulness?

It is defined as being …
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How to mind your mental health at work 7 years ago

How to mind your mental health at work

By  •  Health

Today is World Mental Health Day. The 10th of October each year is dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and bringing together efforts which support …
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The season of letting go 7 years ago

The season of letting go

By  •  Health

“October is about trees revealing colours they’ve hidden all year. People have an October as well” – Jm Storm.

Autumn is the season of letting go. I absolutely …
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Think your way to positivity 7 years ago

Think your way to positivity

By  •  Health

Positive thinking focuses on the positive side of life.

To use positive thinking in your life, it is more than being aware of it, it is about adopting it …
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Social Media Me vs The Real Me 7 years ago

Social Media Me vs The Real Me

By  •  Health

We live in a social media frenzied world.

So creating and maintaining an online presence is now a priority for many of us, whether it is for social or …
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Empty Nest? It’s time to spread YOUR wings 7 years ago

Empty Nest? It’s time to spread YOUR wings

By  •  Health, Mammy

In last week’s article I focused on students moving to university and dealing with homesickness.

This week my focus is on the parents/guardians who are left behind. As a mother …
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Going to University? – Ten tips for managing homesickness 7 years ago

Going to University? – Ten tips for managing homesickness

By  •  Health

Moving away for university is a big transition, whether you’ve come from the other side of the world or down the road.

If you’re suffering from homesickness, just remember you’re not the …
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What your dreams are trying to tell you 7 years ago

What your dreams are trying to tell you

By  •  Health

 “Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.”- Sigmund Freud.

Through analysing our dreams, we can get a “glimpse” into the inner workings of our subconscious.

Dreams can …
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Do you feel under ‘Mammy Pressure’? 7 years ago

Do you feel under ‘Mammy Pressure’?

By  •  Health

Today mums feel enormous pressure to be the ‘perfect mum’. It can feel at times like a competitive sport. This coupled with social media and the pressure intensifies, as social …
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The myths and fears we have about counselling 7 years ago

The myths and fears we have about counselling

By  •  Health

In today’s article I am focusing on some of the main myths/fears that are associated to attending counselling.

With the hope of quashing them or at least offer a different …
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Are you an Introvert? 7 years ago

Are you an Introvert?

By  •  Health

“I am not boring or shy. I am an introvert. an artist. a lover. a dreamer. a fighter. a seeker”.

Introverted people tend to be more focused …
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6 steps to improve your mental well-being 7 years ago

6 steps to improve your mental well-being

By  •  Health

Mental health describes how we think and feel about ourselves. Which impacts on how we cope with stress, face challenges, build relationships and move on from difficult experiences.Our mental well-being …
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Why loneliness isn’t about being alone 7 years ago

Why loneliness isn’t about being alone

By  •  Health

At some point or another, most of us will have had or have experiences of feeling lonely.

Being alone can be difficult as it may trigger feelings of sadness.


Read More