The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   This time of year is filled with lights, laughter, and loads of activities.   From the week of Thanksgiving through the end of New Year’s celebrations, this is the most active/busy time of the year for many people.   Though many regard this as a time of happy celebration, there is no doubt it is also a demanding time of the year.    Between decorating, holiday parties, shopping, wrapping, food preparations, family visits, etc., it can be stressful to navigate the expectations that come along with the holidays.   Sometimes the stress is enjoyable.   For some people, the stress is more anxiety provoking than pleasurable.   There is certainly an added social pressure to “enjoy” the holidays.   After all, why would anyone be anxious or depressed when everyone else is partying and enjoying the festivities of the season, right?     We are “supposed “ to be happy during the holidays. ...

By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   I remember driving down the road a few years ago, coming to a stop light behind a car that bore the bumper sticker that read “Mean People Suck.”   I remember thinking “wow, I hope my kids can’t read that…how crude!” My secondary thought was “wow, that’s just so true. Mean people really do suck.” Though I probably would have chosen a less direct, less crude phrasing such as “Mean People Are An Unfortunate, Unpleasant Reality We Must Deal With.” I guess I could never make a living coming up with clever bumper stickers, but I can make a compelling blog argument for why mean people really do suck and you aren’t required to be around them just because it’s the holiday season.   In a perfect world, everyone would get along nicely, and treat each other with respect.   But inevitably, we run across those people in our social circles, sometimes in our own gene pool, who are deeply miserable and seem to lack the capacity...

  By Laura Hull, LMFT   Coping Coach     I remember life before “the diagnosis.” It’s been over 15 years now, but I remember the cold chill that ran down my spine when the doctor told me that I had an autoimmune disease that would challenge my life going forward. Life changed that day. It was day one of a journey in the re-defining of “me.” Priorities changed, perspective changed, and I found out quickly that the volume of stress, much of it self inflicted, that I had allowed in my life up to that point had contributed, as least in part, to the situation I found myself in….it cost me something in terms of my health. I hope what I will share challenge you to consider the risk and potential consequences of unrecognized/unmanaged stress.   I counsel people to consider the consequences of stress on both their physical health and emotional health.   While no one can avoid stress completely, I think most of us, at times, blindly sign o...

    By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   Disillusioned? Disgruntled? Doggone tired of worrying about financial issues, both of a personal nature and for the country as a whole?   You are not alone…. There’s a choir of worrying handwringers waiting to join hands with you, while singing of the plight of “Gina and Tommy” in a verse of “Living on a Prayer” (80’s hair and all).   As much as songwriters like to write songs about the romantic notion of “all you need is love” and “we’ll live on love”, the rest of us who live in the real world know all too well about the financial pain many are experiencing and the worry and fear that go along with it.   A government shutdown created by the bickering of those some would argue are fat cat politicians does not conjure up positive feelings or hopeful sentiment from a large population of people who are struggling financially in their day to day lives.   While 800,000 government workers are seeing their...

    By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach     I might as well disclose upfront that I am the proud mother of six wonderful kids.   My two oldest sons started college last fall on the same day my youngest child started Pre-Kindergarten.   It was the first time in 18 years that a school year had begun and I had an empty house for a few hours per day.   I am not ashamed to admit to you that I was in the throes of a “woe is me” pity party.   I am not one of those mothers who count down the days of summer vacation, eagerly anticipating and then rejoicing as the summer break comes to an end.   I always miss my children when the school year begins.   I miss them terribly.   But last fall was particularly harsh.   The realization that my first babies were in college and my last baby was not a baby anymore was like a cold smack of reality right in the middle of my mother worrying, stress-lined face.   Friends, let m...

Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   I borrowed part of the title of this blog from a song made popular by a famous group in the early 1990’s.   It was a contagious little ditty, if not blunt and to the point.   Songwriters throughout modern history have made a lot of money writing songs about broken hearts and broken dreams.   Alas, broken dreams are a common experience; perhaps even a common thread in the human experience that binds us together like a stadium wave, with lit smartphone flame in hand.   At one point or another, we all have ideas that are born in the form of a dream.   We invest ourselves, if not physically (or financially) at the very least emotionally, in the making of those dreams coming true.   I am a big believer in dreaming big.   I am also a big believer in having a “dream big, plan B” and a “dream big, plan C”.   I will explain why later.   Before I dive into the meat of this article, ...

  By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   If you’ve read enough of my blogs, you probably will find a common thread among them that starts with “if I had a buck for every time…I’d be writing this from _____” (fill in the blank with some exotic location).   So in an effort to maintain continuity, here you go: if I had a buck for every time I heard someone give a misguided reason for not going for counseling at a time when he/she really needs it, I’d be writing this blog from the sunny beaches of Australia . Here are three of the top reasons I have heard:   Myth 1:   Counseling is too expensive .     Truth 1 :   Divorce is more expensive. Medications are often more expensive.   Losing relationships are more expensive (emotionally).   Losing your ability to experience joy is more expensive.   Times are tough for many people right now.   When people are living paycheck to paycheck or are between jobs, it can ...

By Laura Hull, LMFT Coping Coach   When we think of or speak of divorce, most often we are talking in terms of firing a spouse.   The dissolution of a marriage is heartbreaking, as assumingly former best friends are choosing to walk away from a life commitment to each other.   As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I could write a lengthy blog describing the ripple effect of divorce and the fact that it changes the fabric of that person’s life forever.   But you could read that same type of blog in many places on the Internet.   I want to challenge you to consider a different kind of divorce…when a long term, close friendship ends.    Of course, a friendship divorce is not a legal act, in the way that a divorce ends a legal marriage contract.   But an emotional divorce is a parting of ways between two people who were once very bonded and the feeling of loss can be profound.   If we accept the statistics as true, that 50% of...

  4 Ways to Survive (and Thrive) During the Kids’ Summer Break   By Laura Hull, LMFT  Coping Coach   As the mother of six children, (4 boys, two girls) ranging in age from 19-5, I frequently hear the bewildered comments of dumbfounded others who look at me like I have three heads when I mention that I have six children.   I always look forward to summer break with my kids, and experience a short period of mourning when the school year resumes in August.   If I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me over the years, “you must dread the summer break when all the kids are home at once,” I would have the money to write this blog from the sunny beaches on the south of France.   I love having my kids home for summer break.   However, there are reasons why it works.    Chaos is not allowed to reign and boredom is not allowed.    Not every minute of summer break needs to be structured, but time should n...