3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Beat Anxiety with Dr. Ellen Vora

Community Building

Social isolation can have profound effects on mental health, but building a sense of community can mitigate these impacts. Ellen Vora shares her approach to fostering community in New York City, emphasizing the importance of informal gatherings that prioritize connection over formality. She highlights the need to lower social engagement standards to maintain frequent connections, stating, "There's something very disarming about an informal setting so that we can really just show up and authentically connect and be goofy and get real."

There's something very disarming about an informal setting so that we can really just show up and authentically connect and be goofy and get real.

--- Ellen Vora

This approach helps bridge divides and fosters empathy and understanding, crucial in today's polarized world 1.

   

Support Systems

Creating support systems is essential for mental well-being, and Dhru Purohit and Ellen Vora discuss practical steps to achieve this. They emphasize the importance of community-centric approaches, akin to physical therapy, to help individuals transition from psychiatric interventions. Ellen critiques the wellness industry for sometimes perpetuating a sense of inadequacy, advocating instead for fundamental practices like sleep, movement, and time with loved ones.

We need to get back to the fundamentals, sleep, movement, nourishment, doing less, saying no, stress management, being time in nature, time with people that we love.

--- Ellen Vora

These strategies, she argues, are more effective in supporting well-being than complex wellness practices 2 3.