RAISING ADVENTUROUS

How to encourage your child with anxiety to be more adventurous: You’re probably here because you want to know how you can encourage your child with anxiety to try new things and be more adventurous! You should know that even though your child has fears and anxieties when it comes to being more adventurous or trying new things, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to try new things. They do! Anxiety is a fear of the future outcome. They can try and do new things, they just need your help. So your child isn’t doomed. But how can you get them there? So here are the 5 steps to encourage your child with anxiety to try new things: In this episode of the podcast we cover the 5 steps, give examples and teach you how you can handle the situation. The struggles and journey to my own diagnosis of anxiety has helped me in helping my own child with her anxiety. She was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder last year at the age of 7. Learn the Signs – in order to be able to help your child feel comfortable to try new things, you have to know when your child shows signs of anxiety. In our case, tummy aches, self defense, aggression, and crying. Learn about other signs in the episode. Help your child feel more at ease – Avoid yelling and losing your patience. That only increases the anxiety. What makes your child feel at ease? For us, check pressure by hugging, as well as arms and hands massages or pressure squeezes. Validate their feelings – we all feel all types of feeling including anxiety. You just feel anxiety for the bills and the number on your paycheck. It’s okay to feel anxious or afraid. We all feel that way at some point. They hear stories and they watch things on TV, their anxious comes from the fear of outcomes. In their mind, if it has happened to someone, it can happen to them. Find the Root of the Anxiety – What unwanted thoughts are causing the anxiety? Maybe they are afraid of a park because they are afraid a dog will attack them. Maybe they are anxious about a birthday party because they are afraid their friends won’t like them for who they are and the choices they make. Help them face their fears, in baby steps – Our immediate reaction is to protect our kids from their fears. It’s okay to be afraid but they have to at least try. As long as it’s not harmful to them or others. The exposure therapy method is helping a child face their fear by exposing them to what they are afraid of. Take it in baby steps and reward them for the steps that they take. Some times their reward is their own feeling of accomplishment. More like 5 B – Give them a sense of control!!! Let them take baby steps on their own by letting them take control of how much they try. They do better with time when they know they are in charge of their own boundaries and limits. Bonus Advice: Make sure you don’t compare your child to others, and you never want to tell them how other kids younger or same age are doing more than they are. They are already comparing themselves. Your child may have anxiety but it’s all about the future outcome. It doesn’t mean they don’t want to try, they just need some help from you, their comfort and their cheerleader.

It is tough to get out and explore when you have a child with special needs but it is possible! It has taken us nearly 7 years to get to this point, going out and being more adventurous as a family. For nearly 7 years we thought that having a child with special needs was only going to keep us from becoming and achieving what we dreamed of, traveling and having adventures. Mini bucket lists, at least. The last year has been a turning point for us and it started with finding some solutions and then changing our mindset. Where can I start in order to become and achieve what I dream of, when I have a child with special needs? It all starts with what we focus on. It is important to know your limits. It’s important to set boundaries when you have a child that may be medically fragile. BUT don’t get too comfortable. Don’t make excuses. It takes time. Start little by little. Embrace your limits but explore the possible. There is plenty that you can get out and do. It may not be exactly what you dreamed of but don’t let that keep you home from doing what you CAN do. Focus on what adventures you can do as a family. Your family will love it! In this episode we talk about: We are born adventurous When we each knew we wanted to travel Our turning point. Casey took one meeting to change his mindset while Crystal’s turning point was more like layers of turning points. There is no such thing as bad weather. Get out and just explore!

How to get out of the house and the thoughts that keep us in our homes when you are a family with kids who have special needs. It is so tough to get out of the house when you have kids who have special needs, but it is possible! In this episode: We go over the thoughts that keep us in our home: We are prisoners in our home because of special needs. Our son is in a wheelchair, it’s impossible to go out. Planning ahead is just too much work. PTSD in special needs parents. Our experience. My (crystals) health. People judging in public. People stare. and other thoughts How can you get out as a family with kids with special needs? There is hope! You can go out. Know your limits. Start small. Compare yourself to yourself, not others. It takes time. Find a community who is only a few steps ahead of you. Find your tribe. Get out of your circle of people. You need others who can encourage you to take your time and progress to where you want to be. And some of the benefits we have seen in our kids with special needs from recent lifestyle changes: The kids ask for more outings!!! The joy, changes, and fun we have already experienced. Next episode: Embrace Limits Explore the Possible: Our turning point. How we changed our way of thinking and

We could have been childhood or high school sweethearts, but we weren’t. It’s a funny love story. Find out how Casey and I: met at age 8 grew up together avoided each other went to homecoming together stop talking to each other ended up in the same city in a different state 4 years after graduating and got married after nearly 4 months of dating. Find us at: OUR BLOG OUR VLOGS on YouTube OUR FACEBOOK PAGE ON INSTAGRAM

Tune in to Season 1 Episode 02 Do you believe in Manifestations? I do. Casey might, but that’s the way I ended up married to him. Welcome back to the Raising Adventurous Podcast season 1 episode 2 where we talk about our 2020 Manifestations or New Year Ideas, as well as go over 19 things that happened in 2019. Get some ideas unless you already have some then send them our way! Don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know what ideas you have for 2020 or manifestation stories, we’d love to hear about them! In this episode we cover: 20 Manifestations for 2020 Sell our things – now is not really the time to talk about it but we are abundantly drowning in things, for a purpose. More on that later. Live intentionally Grow spiritually Be an example – I always do my best but I always feel like I could do better. Volunteer Follow our passion Live a healthier lifestyle – especially for health like my autoimmune Learn something new Make a new family friend. Spend more time with the people we love. Spend more time outdoors – we are participating in the 1000 hours outside challenge. Be more adventurous and try things that scare us. Make a bucket list. Travel to a state we haven’t been to. We have been to Utah, Texas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Make a Utah Bucket List to do things around the state we live in. Visit more National Parks since we have a free pass for having a child with a disability. Working on our relationships with each other within the family. Being more active. Be more organized with our content. I usually just vlog, blog, post as I go without thinking ahead. And finally, I hope to be able to provide some help in some way to some one through our blog. Whether that has to do with special needs or not. I know that alot of the things that I will be posting about I wish I had found information to help me. As well as: 19 Things that Happened in 2019: We were able to avoid a feeding tube for Liam! Close call. One of my grandmas passed away. Less than half a year after my dad, her son, passed away. I was diagnosed with autoimmune diseases. Casey surprised me with the best birthday gift! A trip to (1)Las Vegas and (2)California! Mandalay Beach baby! So realxing. Wish I could go back. This one has(3) four total (4)videos. Liam broke his foot. He also got his crocodile walker. Best thing! He learned to walk with his walker with alot of work and help from therapists and teachers. We moved. We learned Liam loves to shoot baskets! The kids and I got a small part in the Light the World Campaign 2019 The Christ Child. The Book of Mormon Videos came out, which they are great, but Eliana and Adam were in it so it was fun watching them work in that environment and fall in love with acting. The 3 oldest kids started school. They go to the same one and we could walker to it if it were wheelchair friendly passages. We started Wink Naturals and CBD oil and they have been a lifesaver for me. Adam and Liam lost some teeth. I got to attend CVX Live and meet other youtubers but I was more interested in the classes they offered. We surprised the kids with guinea pigs Jack and Luna. Sadly Luna passed away shortly after we got her. Jack is healthy as can be. We had our first family photos since 2013. Eliana chose to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We made it a goal to be more outdoors in nature and to be more adventurous! So on the last day of the year … I started a new blog! This blog. The Raising Adventurous Blog!

Hello! Welcome to the Raising Adventurous Podcast! In today’s episode we introduce our new family blog raisingadventurous.com and what it stands for, an adventurous life. What does it mean to be Adventurous and what stopped us and kept us prisoners from living our best life? It’s not just about traveling, but about learning new things, trying things that scare us and following our passion which happen to include traveling and outdoor family fun. Are you Adventurous? What does it mean to you? Are you leading the life that you want? Did an unexpected event happen that changed that for you? Are you affected by your child’s health or a diagnosis? What’s you story? Reach out and tell us your story below! In today’s episode: About us and our family. 10 years of youtube and blogging. How we use to live a more adventurous life. What stopped us and kept us prisoners from living our best life. How being parents to a special needs child can feel confining. Imprisoned. The meaning of adventurous to us? About the Blog. From our “second” first date and every day that Fall and Winter seasons of 2010, we did a lot of adventurous things. Making it a point to not go on typical dates, we went to the movies twice and only ate out one time when Casey proposed. We spent nights talking under the stars, enjoying each others company in long (miles long) walks, and hiking. We cooked new things and backed almost daily. When we had our first baby we continued to do our best to maintain that lifestyle. But it all changed when our second born was three months old. 7 Years later it’s time to change that. Find us and follow us at: Raising Adventurous Blog Family Vlog on YouTube on Instagram on Facebook Email us at [email protected] Next Episode on the Raising Adventurous Podcast: Reviewing 2019 New Year 2020