In 2011, shortly after I received my bipolar diagnosis (which I got from a psychiatric hospital the week of my first and only psychotic break), I started seeing a psychiatrist outside of the hospital. He was quirky, and he helped me think critically about how to manage my illness. He gave me ideas for how …
Vulnerability
A few months ago, one of the minsters at my church asked me to make a video for the online service that week. (We are still meeting virtually thanks to COVID.) He asked me to talk about my mental health journey. I’d been itching to tell my story, so I gladly accepted. I wrote a …
Conquering the lies
Since last fall, my suicidal thoughts have progressively gotten worse. I started seeing a therapist last November, and I’m sifting through trauma and shame that’s never been addressed. I am fairly certain this is the reason for the increase in frequency and severity of my suicidal thoughts. For some reason, the thoughts were bad the …
The most beautiful word
I know a lot of words. I’ve always been a voracious reader, which has indubitably proliferated my vocabulary…. Anyway! I don’t actually write like that. Point is, my vocabulary is ginormous. But there is one word that is more beautiful than all the rest combined. One monosyllabic word. A word with only two letters. No. …
Loving and being loved
I’ve been completely MIA for the past week or so. Everything is okay. I honestly haven’t felt like writing, mostly because I’ve been reading some books that a friend recommended. One is called Safe People and the other is called Boundaries. Both books were incredibly enlightening, and I’m sure I will write a post about …
Enough
I love self-deprecating humor, and as a result, I am really good at giving myself backhanded compliments. Here is a list of my favorites: I’m not ugly. I’m smarter than most 5th graders. I have a respectable memory. I write goodly. I’m talented at pissing people off. When compared to people who don’t know how …
Between Two Poles 