While I’ve suffered from mental illness most of my life, I haven’t always understood how important it is to really be heard by the people in my life. The idea of talking about what I go through with others never seemed to be an option. Regardless, suffering alone is quite, well, lonely. Since opening up… Continue reading 5 Things You Should Know Before Talking About Your Mental Illness:
To get a better understanding of this condition, as well as learn more about coping with chronic illness, I interviewed a long-time suffer to learn more.
There's a certain strength that comes along with being honest about where you need to be met. I've not had much trouble throughout my life being open about my chronic physical illnesses. Most of the time, I've not had a choice in being straightforward about what I need and what my limits are, as feeling… Continue reading Honest About Mental Illness
One of my least favorite things about myself has got to be my ever-changing emotional state. When you live with depression and anxiety – you can never really be sure when that under-tone of melancholy is going to rise to the surface and assault you. I’ve learned the only way to get out on the… Continue reading Changing Tides
Unless they’ve already had kids fresh out of (or in) high school, most of the people I’ve grown up with have stated that they don’t want children, and cannot imagine themselves wanting them in the future. I am one of these people, although my reasons are quite different than those of most of my 20… Continue reading No Motherly Modes
A story of anxiety, vulnerability, and the "before" in a life-long journey of learning to trust and find comfort in oneself. I know you don’t ever think of me, at least to be honest, I truly hope you don’t. The thought of you thinking about me makes me sick to my stomach. I remember hearing… Continue reading An open letter to the man who crossed the line:
One of the hardest things for me to accept about dealing with chronic illness is the unpredictability of a lot of my symptoms. I have a handle on a few things that I can expect. For example: if I decide to head out to grocery shop, clean my apartment, cook, and then go out with… Continue reading Struggling With the Unpredictability of Multi-Symptom Chronic Illness
I’ll have to say, having a chronic illness has certainly done nothing to aid in my fight against my anxiety. It seems like the more physical symptoms I exude, the more anxious I get. This makes sense really. The more physical symptoms I experience, the more I suddenly have to fear, or lose. The scariest… Continue reading Boundary Hunter
So, what sort of symptoms are you experiencing today? How many people have you told about them? Does your spouse know what you're feeling? Your friends? Your parents? Or, have you fallen silent because you're tired of bitching about something every single day? Something I battle daily is whether or not to open my mouth… Continue reading What’s Your Safe Word?
Being chronically ill comes with a lot of negative bullshit. Regardless of what you're sick with - you reap awful side effects and symptoms of whatever you're diagnosed with. Aside from everything you deal with on a daily basis, there's a symptom of chronic illness that no one really seems to talk about - guilt.… Continue reading Chronic Guilt
