We use anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 of the 171,476 basic words that make up the English language. Words make us human. Novelists use words to tell stories that make us laugh or cry. Lawyers mix words and confound us with pages of secret code. Language entertains us; we use it to share joy, to [...]
When I first started writing my novel “(Not) Alone”, it began as a way for me to see the things I have done on paper, a way for me to constantly remind myself that I can overcome anything. I began it as a fictional story with the characters named after other people in my life [...]
Let me preface this by saying this: five years ago, I was diagnosed with #BipolarDisorder, #Depression, and Severe #Anxiety. After fifteen years of dealing with it alone, I had finally sought help. I went so long because I was ashamed of not being ‘normal’, but I have come to realize that none of us are [...]
I was always an anxious child. I was anxious about serious things, like potentially losing my parents, and I was anxious about silly things, like glitter (seriously! glitter!). I remember seeing a therapist starting when I was around 10 years old, because of my anxiety. Depression reared its ugly head during my adolescent years, and [...]
I work in the mental health/addiction field. While I came to it gradually, it is obvious that my childhood, growing up in a family full of mental health and addiction problems had something to do with this career choice. There were numerous suicides when I grew up; enough, in fact, for me to take a [...]
One sunny afternoon, I was feeling good and gearing up for my first ever art show. I had posted some photos on Instagram in anticipation of my big night. I opened the app and under my last post, was a comment by a stranger berating me about my weight. A total stranger wrote, “maybe you [...]
For the 10 years my boyfriend Dave and I were together, I knew of his emotional pain that stemmed from the death of his mother in 2001; she passed away from lupus. I also knew of his lifelong intense pain and depression from a complicated upbringing of severe narcissistic abuse. Some prefer to look the [...]
I dreamt of a snake shedding its skin. And as it did, I killed it. In fact, I suffocated it. In its place, a smaller, shiny snake appeared. I felt okay with this one. I awoke from this dream feeling shaken; it stayed with me for days. Ever had one like this? A dream so [...]
The title ‘Living between the Poles’ is fitting for my story because it describes my decades-long struggle to try and live peacefully between the poles of full-blown mania and debilitating depression for the first half of my life. At age 25 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder type 1. And now at age 55, I [...]
I wouldn't recognize 26-year-old me if I saw her today. Three short years ago, I wrestled being in the throes of depression compounded by a debilitating Adderal addiction that resulted in terrifying heart palpitations, anxiety, and insomnia. Depression exacerbated my addiction; addiction exacerbated my depression. They both maneuvered their way into every imaginable facet of [...]
