What Happened When I Stopped Managing Every Reaction
“Peace is not the absence of resistance. It is learning to stop judging yourself for being human.” ~Unknown At the time of writing this, I am on vacation. My wife…
How My Need to Clean Was a Childhood Coping Skill
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~E.E. Cummings When I was a little girl, I had the smallest bedroom in the house. It was…
What I Learned from a Lifetime of Feeling Different
“Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.” ~Henry David Thoreau I’ve spent most of my life feeling like I was standing just outside the circle. Not…
Learning How to Live Life to the Fullest with Mental Illness
There is a famous Latin phrase that I absolutely love: Carpe diem. It means “Seize the day.” Younger people might be more familiar with the phrase “You only live once,”…
Why Being Ignored Causes Such Deep Pain and Damage
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” ~Laurell K. Hamilton My older sister had four years over me.…
How I Reframed Letting Go So I Could Move on from My Painful Past
We are truly free when we let go of the thought that the past could or should have been any different than it was. This is so hard. The challenge…
What Was Really Behind My “Laziness” and What I Know Now
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” ~Carl Rogers I remember sitting on the living room floor one evening while…
How to Suffer Less When You’re Waiting for Answers
“Rule your mind or it will rule you.” ~Buddha Some mornings I wake before dawn and lie still, listening for signs that the house is awake. A cough down the…
The Wonder and Heartbreak of Life Under Our Sky
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is…
How I Stopped Being the Victim of My Own Story
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” ~Søren Kierkegaard A few years ago, I was catching up over coffee with an old friend I’ll call…