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andreafmn · 4 years ago

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Running In Circles - Chapter 3

Word Count: 1,854

Characters: Female Reader Rossi Character, Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Jennifer “JJ”Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia

Story Description: (Y/N) Rossi is following in her father’s footsteps by joining the BAU team as a profiler. The girl genius knew almost everything but she could have never predicted falling for Aaron Hotchner, her boss and her father’s friend. in their world mutual feelings are not enough to push them together. Will all the adversities and obstacles they face pull them together or push them apart forever?

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own in any way Criminal Minds, all credits of the pre-established characters, script, and storyline belong to Jeff Davis and CBS Network. The only thing I own is Arden Rossi, any upcoming characters, and her storyline, as well as her effects in the others’ story line.

Chapter: 3/?

A/N: This is a short one. Just fully domestic fluff and it makes me very happy, but letting ya’ll know this happiness will be kinda short lived. If you enjoy my writing I’ll also be posting them in AO3 and Wattpad along with other stories (I also hope to start taking requests if ya’ll want) Hope you enjoy and all constructive criticism is encouraged.

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Chapter 3

“Okay, buddy, let’s see.” I looked at the instructions in my hands from the fort kit I had purchased. It seemed simple enough and something Jack would enjoy inmmensly. “Let’s do this.”

“Yeah!” Jack exclaimed. Hotch laughed from the kitchen, insisting he had to at least cook some dinner. In the oven were the batch of brownies I had put in 10 minutes ago. It took about 30 minutes to finish the fort and the look on Jack’s face was priceless. Then he spent 10 minutes perusing my movie collection until he finally landed on Toy Story, once again.

“Well, dinner’s ready,” Hotch announced, bringing a tray with three plates of spaghetti to the fort.

“Daddy, daddy! Look at the fort!” Jack jumped up and down. It was a simple square base, big enough for three people and a triangle top. We covered it with thin sheets and hung wire twinkle lights on the top. Jack had run to my linen closet and gotten a thick comforter to lay on the floor, as well as most of the pillow that laid on my couch. He also arranged a couple of his plush toys in there to keep us company, as he put it.

“I see it, buddy. It looks great!” Hotch smiled brightly. “Now, what do we say?”

“Thank you, (Y/N)!”

“No problem, little man,” I smiled. “How about you invite your dad inside so we can eat some spaghetti?”

“Yes! Come on, dad!”

Hotch sat down next to me and passed a plate to Jack and me, putting a napkin on his son’s collar. The small kid smiled at his dad and dug into his plate without another thought, the sound of the movie filling in the background.

“You know,” I mused. “It was pretty bold of you to cook spaghetti for an Italian.”

“Right,” he chuckled. “Well, I hope it’s good.”

I smiled and took a bite of the noodles. Hotch stared expectantly to see if he passed the Italian test. I chewed slowly, dragging the process along, until finally giving him a thumbs up. Hotch sighed and smiled before digging into his own plate.

After finishing the pasta, I took the three plates to the kitchen and served three plates of brownie with ice cream for me and the Hotchner duo. When those plates were empty, Jack laid his head on my lap and his feet on his dad’s and watched the movie. An hour and a half later, the blonde boy was softly snoring and peacefully sleeping.

“Looks like the little man ran out of juice,” I said as I ran my hand through his soft hair. “I think we should take him up to the guest room.”

Hotch softly placed his hand under Jack’s arms and carried him up the stairs to the first door on the right, careful not to wake the tired child. I pulled the sheets away and Hotch laid the kid on the bed. I left the room to let Hotch change Jack into his pajamas and went downstairs to clean up and pack away the fort for Jack to take home.

“Thank you, (Y/N),” I jumped at the sound of Hotch’s voice and he laughed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay, and don’t mention it.” I sat down next to him on the island. “Whatever you need, seriously, I’m here.”

He smiled and engulfed me in a hug; time slowed down. For a moment, just for a moment, it was only us. There was no hurting, no unspoken emotions, nothing. I breathed in his scent and took in the warmth coming from the closeness of his body to mine. He relaxed into me and let himself be human for a change.

All good things come to an end.

“Well, it’s getting late,” I said breaking the hug and clearing my throat. “Um, there’s towels in the guest bedroom closet and extra blankets just in case it gets too cold during the night.”

“Great, I’ll see you in the morning, then. Good night, (y/n).”

“Good night, Hotch.” I smiled and waited for his figure to disappear in the stairs before opening the doors leading to my backyard. I breathed in deeply and tried to easy my heartbeat.

“What are you doing, (Y/N)?” I whispered to myself.

I spent the night tossing and turning, trying my best to not think that the man I liked was sleeping just a hallway away. Before I knew it, the sun was peeking in through my bedroom window, announcing that I had wasted a whole night of sleep inside my head.

So, I got up and went downstairs to work on breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast, the works. I put a pot of coffee to brew and took out some toppings for the pancakes. As I was finishing with the bacon, I heard tiny feet running down the staircase.

“Morning, (Y/N)!” Jack exclaimed, hugging my waist since it was as high as he could reach.

“Hey, little man,” I said ruffling his hair. “Wanna help me set the table?”

He nodded and grabbed the forks I was holding, placing them rapidly next to the three plates that were already on the round table.

“Jack, where’s dad?” I questioned.

“He’s still sleeping.” He shrugged.

“I have an idea, little man. How about we wake him up with some silly string?”

“What’s silly string?” My mouth dropped. I headed to the hallway closet and took out two cans of silly string.

“This, buddy, is silly string,” I presented the can. “You press the button here down and string comes out.”

“Like this?” Jack asked as a string of green plastic was expelled from the can. He shrieked gleefully and his excitement grew as he saw the grin on my face.

“Just like that, bud. Let’s go wake up dad.”

He nodded excitedly and we walked up the stairs quietly. Once we reached the door, I turned the doorknob slowly and instructed Jack to go jump on the bed to surprise his dad. He smiled at me and when the door was completely open, he ran up to the bed and jumped.

When Hotch’s eyes shot open, Jack and I pressed the cans and shot silly string all over Hotch.

“Good morning, daddy!” Jack screamed as he flung the can around. Definitely a mess I’d have to clean later but very worth it at the moment.

“Morning, Jack!” The older man said as he brought his kid down tickling him slightly. “Is it safe to assume this was your idea, (Y/N)?”

“Yes, sir. It is,” I responded between laughs. “We have a very strict protocol in this household when it comes to wake up calls.”

“That’s a very effective wake up call.” Hotch smiled.

“Well, now that we’re all up, we can eat some breakfast,” I said. “There’s some chocolate chip pancakes for you, little man.”

“Yes!” He excitedly left the room and ran downstairs.

“And there’s coffee, too.” I smiled and Hotch got up to join us downstairs.

“(Y/N), thank you.” Hotch said as he stood on the doorstep ready to go home. “This is exactly what Jack and I needed, and I have no idea how I’ll ever be able to make it up to you.”

“Hotch, there’s absolutely no need.” I laid a hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze for reassurance. “I meant it when I said I’d always be here for you both. Whatever it is you need.”

Hotch smiled and left with an ‘I’ll see you at work’, and a Jack frantically waving from the backseat.

And that’s how our sleepovers started. Most of the times we had days off Hotch would come over and we’d build a fort with Jack and watch movies or played games. On hot days, we’d play around in the pool. Sometimes with the squad, but more often than not, just the three of us. If ever he needed it, I would take care of Jack so he could have a day to himself. These nights were happening so often, I transformed one of the guest rooms into a room for Jack. Hotch started leaving some of Jack’s clothes and toys. My house started becoming a second home for the Hotchner boys.

Slowly we grew closer and closer as friends, even if I wanted more. His friendship was too important for me to lose what we already had.

Back at work, it was business as usual. The team was none the wiser, but they could see that our relationship had gotten closer. JJ would always give me a smirk when she saw us hugging in his office, Derek would wiggle his eyebrows at me, and Penelope would silently squeal and flail her arms whenever she saw us in proximity.

Today was no different. Reid, Emily, Derek, and I were in the briefing room each stirring their wanted sugars and creams into the coffees I had brought in the morning. Reid quickly examining the box of donuts I had also brought along to pick the best one.

“Come on, baby girl,” Derek chuckled. “What’s going on between you and the boss man?”

“Well, Derek, if you must know,” I played along. The trio closed in as I pretended to look around for any eavesdropping ears. “Absolutely nothing. We’re just friends.”

“Come on, (Y/N),” Emily responded annoyed. “There has to be something. Friends don’t look at each other the way you both do.”

“My dearest Emily, I’m serious. I’ve just tried to be there for him in these very difficult times.” I sipped my coffee. “And I very much enjoy Jack’s company.”

“You know,” Spencer chimed in. “Oxytocin and dopamine, which are often referred to as the love hormones, affect pupil size. The brain gets a surge of these chemicals when you’re sexually or romantically attracted to someone. This boost of hormones causes pupils to dilate. So, really, if we wanted to know if something was happening all we have to do is pay attention to their eyes.”

“Thank you, Spence.” I laughed. “Now I’m gonna have to use sunglasses everywhere.”

“So that means there is something to look out for!” Emily chirped.

“No,” I cleared my throat. “It means that I don’t want to be stared at all the time by profilers, thank you very much.”

“Whatever you say, (Y/N), whatever you say.” Emily laughed.

After that, playful side eyes and nudges were implemented to our daily routine. They’d smirk whenever Hotch praised me and stared whenever he was even remotely close to me. At first it was funny, but it made me extremely nervous to think that Hotch could catch on. Although, it had been a couple of months with this behavior and thankfully, the unit chief had yet to figure it out, as oblivious to our teammates’ behavior as he was to my feelings for him.

Our friendship continued to flourish and strengthen as I pushed my feelings down in an effort to forget about them. It did not do me any good but, if this was the only way to keep him close, I would endure it.

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Tag: @ssamorganhotchner

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oliverlesovik · 5 years ago

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The Dopamine Fast

I almost made it. I had until 8:00pm, and I’m making this post at 5:32pm. My resolve broke after I ate dinner, mostly because their was some desert foods and I’m tired as all hell from today. But I held out this long, and that’s saying something considering I am in fact a growing teenager.

Reflecting on my day, over all it was better than most. Not having my phone on me and not having the bother of outside sources like Tumblr, twitter, pinterest, etc. made me feel very free. I went for a walk this morning to my high school with my parents and little brother to see what the best path to walk to and from my high school would be and it was probably more relaxing than any walk I’ve ever taken. I didn’t have my phone or earbuds like I normally would while on a walk.

At first it felt unbearably quiet when I got up which is hard for me to deal with (I have Tinnitus). Often times I’ll have some music playing in the background or the air conditioning running. I decided to turn my air conditioning off as I was quite cold and I wanted to light Loki and Freyja’s candle for a little bit. I did a tarot reading. Sitting in nearly complete silence felt relaxing for once as I hadn’t truly experienced silence in a long while. My little brother is a busy body and throwing fits and my parents are dealing with him or we’re all chilling and watching TV together, when we aren’t shopping or going places in general. It made me realize I should be a little more thankful for the small reprieves I have by just sitting in my room. Especially in the afternoons.

But, I did enjoy this day more than any, even if it was hard to resist a lot of the temptations of food. It was a good break for my mind. I’d highly suggest giving something like this a shot if you want a reset or just a break from everything overall. I’d just like to make the note that it will probably be easier to do something like this if you are living by yourself, because having multiple other people who live with you makes it pretty hard to hold a resolve for something like this.

I hope anyone reading this has a good day and if you’re starting school that your first day goes well too!

#24 hour dopamine fast #dopamine fast #brain break #music #tinnitus #food #good food #high school #tired af #took a nap #slept pretty well #wish me luck on my first day of High school #:)#have a fantastic day

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brittanyyoungblog · 6 years ago

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How to Start a Conversation on Tinder

Dating on apps can be tricky. People ghost. They chat enthusiastically for weeks while inventing reason after reason to not meet up in person. But if modern daters can agree on anything, it’s that the only thing harder than finding love on Tinder is making romantic connections out in the real world.

And yes, that’s partially because people are now too busy scanning their phones for Tinder matches to lock eyes with their soulmate across the Whole Foods hot bar. But if you’re waiting for your peers to get over their cell phone addiction before you find love, you may be holding your breath for a long time.

All this to say, if you’re a long-time Tinder skeptic it may be time to give app-based dating a try. The foray into a new dating format may be daunting, but don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with some solid guidelines for successfully starting a conversation with your Tinder match.

Don’t just say hey. Or heyyy. Or Hey (: We all know it’s hard to think of a great opening line. But this generic greeting is a total cop-out, no matter what emoji addition or alternative spelling you decide to use.

By starting off the chat this way, you’re shifting the burden of saying something interesting to the person you’re asking to engage with you. It’s inconsiderate, and it sends the message that you’re not willing to do more than the bare minimum to connect with them. You can do better than “hey”, and if the person you’re messaging is really worth your time, they deserve better, too.

Keep it snappy. A one-word opener may be too short, but that doesn’t mean you should treat your first message as a chance to tell your life story. Not only is brevity the soul of wit, it’s also the key to not coming across as a desperate weirdo on Tinder. If your opening message is running over three lines of text, it’s time to dial it back.

The trick is to give your new match just enough of a hint of your personality to pique their interest. Even if they included a selfie with a llama on their profile that reminds you of a hilarious petting zoo story of yours that always kills at parties, save it. There will be plenty of time to dazzle them with witty anecdotes when you’re on your first date.

Ask a question they’ll want to answer. The best way to get a response on Tinder is to ask a question that really makes the other person want to respond. Unfortunately, it’s tough to glean a person’s deepest interests from few pictures and a brief bio. But there’s good news: science has proven that everyone’s favorite topic, especially when using social media, is still themselves.

Research suggests that talking about yourself lights up the same part of your brain that activates when you’re eating a delicious piece of cake. So asking your match a question about themselves will not only prompt them to continue the conversation, but will also give them a dopamine boost when they respond. Talk about a winning first impression.

Avoid being unoriginal. Remember when Aziz Ansari’s character on Master of None used the truly adorable dating app ice-breaker, “Going to Whole Foods, want me to pick you up anything?” And remember how bloggers were cautioning Tinder users against borrowing the already-tired line less than a month later? If you’re considering plagiarizing a well-known line, stop and think about how it will land if the guy or girl you’re messaging has already seen it in their inbox twice in the last couple days.

That doesn’t mean you can’t take inspiration from already popular ice breakers. For example, “Making a Starbucks run, how do you like your coffee?” is disarmingly familiar in the same way as Ansari’s line without the eye roll-inducing lack of originality.

Be wary of copying and pasting. Even if you do come up with a clever ice-breaker, don’t give in to the temptation of overusing it. Some people appreciate a well-crafted opener, but others resent being approached with the same line that you’re likely sending to tons of other people. At the very least, remember to mix things up, so that when someone inevitably asks whether you send that line to every match, you can honestly say no.

Show you looked at their profile. Parents have been repeating that “there are plenty of fish in the sea” advice for decades, but this is the first generation that has had the ability to swipe through every available fish in a 10-mile radius before they bother to throw out a line. Knowing how much competition is out there can really make a Tinder user feel interchangeable and ultimately disposable.

You have the power to make dating on Tinder a little less dehumanizing for your matches by asking questions that show you’ve spent time looking at their profiles. This helps your match feel like you’re reaching out because you’re interested in them as a whole person, rather than because you always message every blonde girl or every guy over 5’10” you match with on your lunch break.

Ask about their profile pictures (Loving all your travel photos. What’s the craziest thing you did in Madrid?) or ask about an interest they’ve mentioned in their bio (If I wanted to impress a Russian lit major, what novel should I read before our first date?) You don’t have to spend half an hour agonizing over what detail to highlight, but a little effort won’t go unappreciated.

Be authentic. As you’re brainstorming your opening question, keep in mind that your end goal is to meet and spend time with the people you’re messaging. So while it would be cute to ask a girl with a puppy in her profile pictures “What is your dog’s name and is he available for brunch this Sunday?” it’s not the best choice for an opener if you’re not a huge fan of dogs. Opening messages on Tinder are like a proxy for a real relationship, in that you want to accommodate the interests of the other person without losing your own personality.

Don’t get off to a risqué start. Who knows why this is still necessary to specify, but unless you want to make your interlocutors wildly uncomfortable (and please, for the sake of humanity, don’t get on Tinder if that is your intention) don’t open your conversation with a skeezy innuendo or an overt sexual advance.

Whether you’re searching for the love of your life or cruising for a much more casual arrangement, you’re bound to find like-minded folks if you’re transparent about what you want. Just remember that, whatever your motivations for getting on the app, the people you match with are actual human beings deserving of respect. You’ll get a better response by treating your matches like people, and as a bonus you’ll also avoid having your messages excoriated on the internet. Everyone wins!

Just hit send. With all the so-called rules and recommendations you’ll get from well-meaning friends, family, and strangers writing article like this one, it can be easy to overthink your Tinder interactions. But the truth is, the one hard and fast rule for starting a conversation on Tinder is that you have to hit send on some messages. Everyone who uses apps to date gets ghosted. Everyone (even Zac Efron!) sends messages that don’t get a response. So don’t make the mistake of believing that overthinking your messaging strategy can save you from rejection.

Keep in mind that someone’s decision to not respond to your message, or even to turn you down, ultimately has nothing to do with you. They could have set their age range wider than their actual preferences; they might be dead set on finding someone two inches taller than you; or they might be on the brink of settling in to a committed relationship but not quite ready to delete their profile yet. So keep hitting send, and don’t take it to heart when (not if) your messages aren’t successful.

Be patient. Once you hit the send button, pat yourself on the back for putting yourself out there, and then put that match out of your mind until you get a response. Some people have rules for themselves about how long they wait before responding to Tinder messages. Others just don’t get on the app that much. In fact, there are many reasons your matches might take a long time to respond to a message, but the one thing all these people have in common is that they’re less likely to respond to your message the more follow-ups you send.

When it comes down the most basic elements, starting a conversation on Tinder is not all that different from striking up a conversation in real life. Be respectful. Show interest in the person you’re talking to. Ask a personal question to draw them out of their shell. Sometimes you’ll get shot down, sometimes you’ll brighten your day with a pleasant interaction that doesn’t lead to anything else, and sometimes you’ll happen upon a relationship that blossoms into something truly great. So stop stressing, and start reaching out. Your romantic future could be just a swipe and a message away!

The post How to Start a Conversation on Tinder appeared first on The Date Mix.

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chelseyroseblog · 7 years ago

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WORKING THROUGH MY FIRST PANIC ATTACK

APRIL 19, 2018

Mannnnn oh mannn you guys.

This is something that I definitely never thought I'd be writing about. I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to write about it at all because the thought of it would start to speed up my heart rate but it's been about a week now since it happened and I think I'm feeling better...or at least good enough to talk about it. HA, we'll see if I can get through this post....

So have any of you ever had a panic attack before?

I never had. I've had anxiety here and there but not to the point where it was debilitating. Panic attacks and anxiety attacks are apparently different so to jump from having a little anxiety every now and then to having a full blown panic attack was terrifying.

So as a lot of you know - over the last few months, my schedule has been really insane. Waking up at 5:30 am 5-6 days out of the week, working late nights anywhere from 3-5 nights a week and then going to school, working out, and health coaching in between.

MAY 3, 2018

Haha, sooo apparently I wasn't ready to write about it. I got that far before I started to feel my chest getting tight and I had to get out of the house. Since my panic attack happened while I was home alone, I couldn't STAND to be home alone. It happened at night though so I thought I could deal with being alone in the middle of the day which was when I was writing that last post.

My boyfriend mentioned that he was going to go run some errands which I figured would be fine, but as I heard him getting ready and getting closer to leaving, I started to get more and more tense sooooo here we are 3 weeks later.

BUT, GOOD NEWS!

I'm currently home alone now and I'm A OKAY.

I still wanted to come back to this post though because when I started talking about it on Insta - I got a lot of feedback from you guys talking about how you've had them before and you were happy that someone was talking about it.

I was so surprised to find that SO many people around me that I talk to on a regular basis have had them too! It was really comforting for me during that time because after the attack, I honestly felt so scared because I had experienced the feeling of actually losing my mind.

So if you've never had a panic attack before, I think it's important to know about what can trigger it, and what may happen during the attack.

BEFORE PANIC ATTACK (THURSDAY)

For me, I was severely sleep deprived. BUT silly me wanted to get work done so I had a double shot of espresso with a teaspoon of a new product this company sent me. The nickname for the product is "dopamine bean" and the serving size was a 1/4 of a teaspoon. I thought it was like any other product I have - something that would just give me some energy so I had some, but I had a teaspoon. No biggie I thought.

I think like 45 minutes went by before it was 8:30pm and I was STILL friggin EXHAUSTED. That was when I said screw this and got ready for bed.

I laid in bed, home alone, and tried to fall asleep. I couldn't get comfortable, I couldn't relax my mind and I kept feeling hot and then cold. So I turned on a meditation that I typically LOVE but it was annoying me SO bad.

UGH. WHAT THE HELL, I thought.

Then I figured I would take a little hit from this weed pen that a friend gave me. I typically can't smoke because it makes me paranoid but I had had this one before and it was very helpful in times that I couldn't fall asleep.

So, I hit that twice really quick and laid back down. I think maybe one minute passed before the combination of the coffee, dopamine bean, weed and sleep deprivation hit me and I JOLTED up in fear that I was in sleep paralysis.

DURING PANIC ATTACK

I was terrified and had to get out of my bed IMMEDIATELY. I turned on all the lights and felt my heart pounding against my chest at what felt like 300 miles an hour.

Then this is where I started really going downhill and I felt very nervous and VERY vulnerable to tell anyone what I was thinking during the next hour BUT once I finally told one person, they were able to relate, and then suddenly I realized that everyone I spoke to who had had a panic attack was able to relate and I found a lot of comfort in that.

So - I willlll tell you.

Once the panic attack started happening I felt like both sides of my brain were communicating with me EXTREMELY FAST. It was like non stop thoughts back and forth over and over and over and AND OVER AND over again for the next hour.

One side of me would think, just BREATHE, you're having a panic attack, call a friend, it's okay, everything will be fine.

And then this is where it was scary.

The other part of my brain was thinking, hurt yourself. Jump off the balcony, Do something insane. Don't have anyone over. Don't talk to anyone. You WANT to hurt yourself.

It was absolute HELL.

I couldn't understand why I was thinking such insane thoughts. I couldn't understand why this was happening to me.

I called my boyfriend but he was at work and then ended up calling my friend in SD. While I was talking to her my legs started shaking uncontrollably and I had to lie in bed. I wanted to feel like I had someone with me so I asked her to stay on the phone with me but I honestly didn't feel like talking much. I was SO hot then SO cold and couldn't stop shaking so that was making it hard to speak anyways.

My friend was trying to be as helpful as possible by just asking me questions and telling me about her day but I actually didn't want to answer questions or feel like I had to listen to stories. Again - IT SUCKED.

While we were on the phone my boyfriend called me back (this is probably like 30 minutes into the attack) and he tried to get me to calm down and asked me if I wanted our friend to come over.

Part of me was thinking YES. YES please hurry, I need someone here before I go insane, get them over here asap.

The other part of me (and yes I realize this is crazy) was thinking NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. You can't even stand to walk to the door of your room, how are you going to walk all the way downstairs, through the parking lot and to the front to let someone in? What if you do something crazy. What if they start annoying you and you tell them to leave? Then what happens from there?

Mind you - this was all the thoughts going on in my head. Meanwhile I'm not saying anything more than "uh...um...I don't...maybe.." to my boyfriend. He was about to tell me to text him if I decide what I wanedt to do before I finally managed to blurt out "YES, get Steph over here. Hurry".

Stephanie is a good friend of ours and she did everything right. Before coming over she googled "how to talk to a person having a panic attack" where she realized that she needed to be veryyy calm, and not judgmental at all. She nailed it haha.

I managed to take 7 big deep breaths while I was putting my shoes on and walked to meet her (slowly) at the front of the apartment where I like leached on to her, haha poor thing. She noticed how much I was shaking because we talked about it later but she didn't mention it when she was walking back up with me.

She asked me where I wanted to chill and made me some calming tea and turned the tv on for me. We kept the lights off because that felt too aggressive for me and she kind of just told me in a really calm way that she was there for whatever I needed and then didn't try to spark up conversation.

That was the best.

It was like 10:00pm by the time I was able to eat a little something and feel myself relax. It was like taking my first big deep breathe in months then letting it out and feeling SOOOOOOOOO exhausted.

AFTER THE PANIC ATTACK

I felt like I came out of a crazy ass dream. Again I was just sooo effing tired. I mean, I was already tired before the whole episode even started so you can imagine how I felt after. I was able to start having actual conversations with Steph without feeling like I was tense or out of breath and then we both calmed down over a glass of red wine which was THHHE BEST.

THE NEXT DAY (FRIDAY)

I felt far from myself. I was VERY irritable, and then happy, and then irritable, and then tired, then REALLY TIRED. I was forcing myself to get in the sun and walk along the beach just for the purpose of raising my endorphins but all that ended up happening was me forcing myself to smile, avoiding eye contact with people and wondering when I would feel normal again.

I even went and got a burger and an aperol spritz and read my book by the beach because I figured that would be a form of treating myself and feeling good, which it did! But by the time I was driving to work which was only about an hour later - I was down again, and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

SATURDAY

2 days following the panic attack I was with my boyfriend all day and I felt like I found this new form of happiness that would never leave. I felt like not only was I back to myself BUT I knew what losing my mind felt like versus being in control and I knew that as long as I never had to feel out of control again, that every single day would be amazing.

I was like on a high this day. SO SO SO happy and I part of me was thinking it would last for forever haha BUUUT it didn't.

(I promise this story is almost over).

SUNDAY

Sunday is important to talk about because this is where I learned that it is possible to have minor panic attacks again after a big one for up to 1-2 weeks. The day was amazing again, just like Saturday. During the evening though I found myself home, alone, and THOUGHT that everything was great. I had some food, watched some TV, and was trying to get myself to relax. Around 6:00 pm I went onto my balcony to write in my journal and before I could even write the date, I realized I was in the same setting I was during the attack.

It was quiet, I was home alone, and I before I knew it by heart started racing and I felt like the walls were caving in. I literally just picked up my book and my journal, threw on some shoes, grabbed my keys and bolted out of my house.

We have a huge park right next to us so I went there and tried journaling, didn't help.

I walked around the track - didn't help. At this point it was getting dark and they were starting to turn the park lights off and the thought of going back to my house was basically debilitating.

I hate feeling like I'm bothering anything or in the way but I felt like I had no other option than to ask Steph again if I could come to her place and just stay with her until my boyfriend got home. To be honest - I was so shaken up that I had a couple shots when I first got there that I feel like helped me calm down a little bit but I didn't feel the lease bit intoxicated. My mind was still wandering and I was feeling frustrated at this point.

AS THE DAYS WENT ON.

People that had experienced attacks were telling me that I can't keep running from it, which I knew but it was just so damn hard. They told me to avoid things that might trigger the same feelings as the attack so exercise had to be light in order not to raise my heart rate, coffee should be avoided, drinking should be avoided, and I just needed to rest.

SO, at this point, about three weeks later, I would say I'm feeling 100% better. I just wanted to share this with you guys so you know what to expect, what to do, and what to be aware of after the attack.

Feel free to share your story below!

XXX

#mental health #panic attack

0 notes

marie85marketing · 7 years ago

Text

How to Create Your First Kissmetrics Campaign

With the launch of Campaigns this month, we have given our users incredible flexibility to create any automated, behavioral emails they can imagine. If you already have sophisticated behavioral email programs up and running, then…good news…you don’t have to read any further.

However, if you are just getting started with your behavioral messaging programs, this post should really help. The goal is to highlight some basic email campaigns that will serve as good starting points for your behavioral programs.

How to Organize Your Behavioral Email Campaigns

A good way to frame your potential email campaigns is by using your business’s growth funnel.

If this represents the major steps of your growth funnel, you should plan to have behavioral email campaigns for each of these steps – the goals of each being to try to get people to the next step. Eventually, you will have multiple campaigns for each step in the funnel (because you are likely breaking down each step into more granular elements), but as a start – this serves as a very good framework.

And that’s just how we’ll organize the suggestions in this post. See below for sample campaigns – and specific emails – for each step in this growth funnel.

Specific Campaigns

Acquisition campaigns

These are emails built to turn hot prospects into actual customers. Obviously, you can’t email people for whom you haven’t captured an email address – so for these campaigns, you will be targeting those prospects who have become engaged enough to provide you with an email – whether that be by signing up for your newsletter, downloading an ebook, or signing up for a free trial of your product.

Once you capture that email address, you can start driving those prospects toward purchase. Here is an example of a specific message you can send in this phase:

Email: Need help deciding? email This email is designed for people that have shown a high-level of interest in your marketing site and seem on the verge of making a decision.

Video of setting up these rules: http://recordit.co/NdroOgLpna

Activation campaigns

Once a user signs up and begins to use your product, they enter an “activation” phase. The goal of any email that you send during this phase is to guide them through initial setup and usage. Many times, you will be trying to get a user from signup to “first value.” For example, Facebook is famous for trying to get users to invite 7 friends in 10 days because that is what they know will lead to activation and long-term engagement.

Some people might call emails during this phase ‘onboarding emails’ – which is fine. We prefer to tie the messages to a goal of activation, but either is fine. Typically these emails will come in a series (or a ‘drip’) based on (a) when a user signs up; and (b) what activities they have – or have NOT – completed. An example, 3-email, drip might look something like this:

Email: Welcome email This email is sent upon a new user signing up. The goal is to introduce the user to your product and/or help them take their first step toward activation. This is a very important email – not only does this email help to get your users close to becoming active with your product, but it also introduces them to your brand. In many cases, this will be the first time your users will have received an email from your company.

Video of setting up these rules: http://recordit.co/LwmAZFAd6f

Email: Follow-up 1a – after user successfully takes next step in activation If your Welcome email is successful and your users take the next step in your activation process (this could be by creating a profile, adding a friend, connecting data – or whatever is the important next step for your product), you will likely want to send an email to get them to the next step.

Video of setting up these rules: https://cl.ly/0W1v35151z3b

Email: Follow-up 1b – to users who did NOT successfully take next step For those new signups that DON’T make it to the next step, it is important to give them a reminder – a little nudge – to get them beyond a simple signup.

GIF of setting up these rules: https://cl.ly/3x0C3Q2e1q41

Of course, these activation drip campaigns can (and should) be much longer than this example. The length and nature of your activation campaigns will be dependent on your product and the specific steps your users will need to take in order to become “activated.”

Ongoing engagement campaigns

Once you have activated users, the next challenge is to keep them fully engaged so that they stick around for a long, long time. Ongoing engagement emails go beyond just simple activation messages and work to get your users engaged with all your important features.

A typical email for ongoing engagement would be a feature release announcement.

For any feature announcement, you shouldn’t settle for just one email. You should always schedule follow-up messages – both for users who have tried the feature and for those who haven’t. You could even have a third group of users who just kicked the tires – (i.e. – those users who only used the feature once).

Video of setting up rules: http://recordit.co/RfuqITX9Ih

Video of setting up rules: http://recordit.co/1xLaRcUZfW

Ongoing engagement email campaigns will be your main channel for communicating with your existing customer base. Doing this effectively – using actual product usage to target them in a relevant way – is essential for driving continued loyalty and engagement.

Re-engagement campaigns

Yes, it’s true. Every software product has inactive users. It’s just a reality.

Which makes re-engagement campaigns an essential part of any messaging program. The goal of re-engagement campaigns is to – you guessed it – re-engage customers who have potentially lost interest and become inactive with your product.

There are many different approaches for re-engagement campaigns. Some companies use these emails as a last-ditch effort to try to show an inactive user the value of their product; others use discounts or other offers to entice people back; others try to get inactive users on the phone with a sales or customer success rep; and others accept the loss and use a re-engagement email as a way to gather feedback from an inactive user (in a somewhat subtle way to try to…re-engage them).

You should choose an approach that works best with your product, but whatever you do, don’t ignore re-engagement emails. It’s very important that you leave customers – even those ‘on their way out’ – with a positive experience. Their reasons for leaving may have nothing to do with your product. Yes, there is a small chance they will be back – but there is a significant chance that they will talk to future potential customers of your product.

Spend time building out good re-engagement campaigns. Your immediate conversion rate will be low, but they will pay off in the long run.

An example re-engagement email:

Reward emails

Reward emails are an oft overlooked, but highly effective emails. Unlike win-back emails that target users when they are inactive, reward emails target users when they ARE active. In fact, they are designed to reward users based on their activity. Reward emails are meant to make the recipient feel good about their activity. They should generate a shot of dopamine, generating positive feelings toward your brand.

Reward emails can be triggered based on specific activity, like using a feature for the first time; or based on time, like an anniversary. When used effectively, reward campaigns can be some of the most engaging programs you will run. We highly recommend building some reward campaigns into your engagement plans.

Next Steps

We hope this post has helped offer some ideas for starting points for your engagement email programs. The next step is simply to start building…and start shipping. All the emails described here are completely possible with Kissmetrics Campaigns. You can find more details on building your first campaign in this help doc, but it should be very straightforward.

Go forth and engage!

About the Author: Derek Skaletsky is the Head of Product and Services at Kissmetrics.

0 notes

samiam03x · 7 years ago

Text

How to Create Your First Kissmetrics Campaign

How to Organize Your Behavioral Email Campaigns

A good way to frame your potential email campaigns is by using your business’s growth funnel.

And that’s just how we’ll organize the suggestions in this post. See below for sample campaigns – and specific emails – for each step in this growth funnel.

Specific Campaigns

Acquisition campaigns

Once you capture that email address, you can start driving those prospects toward purchase. Here is an example of a specific message you can send in this phase:

Email: Need help deciding? email This email is designed for people that have shown a high-level of interest in your marketing site and seem on the verge of making a decision.

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rV9FuU

Activation campaigns

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rV3VBp

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rlJGji

GIF of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rVh79B

Ongoing engagement campaigns

A typical email for ongoing engagement would be a feature release announcement.

Video of setting up rules: http://ift.tt/2rV0Lxr

Video of setting up rules: http://ift.tt/2rm02IL

Re-engagement campaigns

Yes, it’s true. Every software product has inactive users. It’s just a reality.

Spend time building out good re-engagement campaigns. Your immediate conversion rate will be low, but they will pay off in the long run.

An example re-engagement email:

Reward emails

Next Steps

Go forth and engage!

About the Author: Derek Skaletsky is the Head of Product and Services at Kissmetrics.

http://ift.tt/2rE7tuv from MarketingRSS http://ift.tt/2qkFyfj via Youtube

#MarketingRSS

0 notes

ericsburden-blog · 7 years ago

Text

How to Create Your First Kissmetrics Campaign

How to Organize Your Behavioral Email Campaigns

A good way to frame your potential email campaigns is by using your business’s growth funnel.

If this represent the major steps of your growth funnel, you should plan to have behavioral email campaigns for each of these steps – the goals of each being to try to get people to the next step. Eventually, you will have multiple campaigns for each step in the funnel (because you are likely breaking down each step into more granular elements), but as a start – this serves as a very good framework.

And that’s just how we’ll organize the suggestions in this post. See below for sample campaigns – and specific emails – for each step in this growth funnel.

Specific Campaigns

Acquisition campaigns

These are emails built to turn hot prospects into actual customers. Obviously, you can’t email people for whom you haven’t captured an email address – so for these campaigns, you will be targeting those prospects who have become engaged enough to provide you with an email – whether that be by signing up for your newsletter, downloading a ebook, or signing up for a free trial of your product.

Once you capture that email address, you can start driving those prospects toward purchase. Here is an example of a specific message you can send in this phase:

Email: Need help deciding? email This email is designed for people that have shown a high-level of interest in your marketing site and seem on the verge of making a decision.

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rV9FuU

Activation campaigns

Once a user signs up and begins to use your product, they enter an “activation” phase. The goal of any email that you send during this phase, is to guide them through initial setup and usage. Many times, you will be trying to get a user from signup to “first value.” For example, Facebook is famous for trying to get users to invite 7 friends in 10 days because that is what they know will lead to activation and long-term engagement.

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rV3VBp

Video of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rlJGji

GIF of setting up these rules: http://ift.tt/2rVh79B

Ongoing engagement campaigns

A typical email for ongoing engagement would be a feature release announcement.

Video of setting up rules: http://ift.tt/2rV0Lxr

Video of setting up rules: http://ift.tt/2rm02IL

Re-engagement campaigns

Yes, it’s true. Every software product has inactive users. It’s just a reality.

Spend time building out good re-engagement campaigns. Your immediate conversion rate will be low, but they will pay off in the long-run.

An example re-engagement email:

Video of setting up rules: http://ift.tt/2rm02IL

Reward emails

Reward emails are an oft-overlooked, but highly effective emails. Unlike win-back emails which you target users when they are inactive, reward emails target users when they ARE active. In fact, they are designed to reward users based on their activity. Reward emails are meant to make the recipient feel good about their activity. They should generate a shot of dopamine, generating positive feelings toward your brand.

Next Steps

Go forth and engage!

About the Author: Derek Skaletsky is the Head of Product and Services at Kissmetrics.

How to Create Your First Kissmetrics Campaign

0 notes