I had just transferred colleges and moved two states away. It felt like it'd be a comfortable environment, just four hours away from the town that I grew up in, but it wasn't going to stay that way for long. The school was a dream come true, as far as administration and student accommodations went. [...]
There are so many paths I took to reach this point in my life; whether it be sensory integration therapy till I was 12, being on various ADD medication before quitting them cold turkey at 23, multiple mental evaluations from relationship fallouts, anger issues as a teen from parents' seperation, constantly gaining and losing employment [...]
Growing up, I was told a lot that I am brave and strong. I was told that I handle my chronic pain bone disorder, Multiple Osteochondromas with grace. Those I loved were attempting to lift me up, but it actually had the opposite effect. It suffocated me. I was afraid that if I showed how [...]
In a society where appearance is everything, I find it exceedingly difficult to get people to see past my beauty and into my reality. I present myself well groomed, well-spoken and my affect is rarely inappropriate. Due to these factors, no one would presume I suffer from an assortment of severe and pervasive mental illnesses. [...]
It’s Me, Isn’t It? My dream was to get a PhD. in Philosophy from either Vanderbilt or Princeton. I’d been accepted to both of their graduate / postgraduate programs. It was Spring. I had spent all my years since college saving and planning for this. My problems started out with a (relatively) simple emotional issue: [...]
I am 34 years old and still feel like a kid when I engage my parents like this. I had called them and asked if I could come over and “talk about a few things.” What I want to talk about is me, mostly. This will be incredibly awkward. While we live in the same [...]
A poem I wrote in the hospital: Happy faces everywhere All these people unaware Why can’t they stay And see that I’m not okay Don’t they see I’m not what I’m put out to be Happy on the outside Sad on the inside Can they see my forced smile To realize does it take them [...]
"Socially Anxious Artist Seeking Anxiety-Causing Opportunities" In the middle of a recent holiday party, a friend discovered me in the kitchen washing dishes. “Why are you doing that now?” she asked. “I need a break from the people,” I sheepishly replied. “But, it’s your party. There are only six people here. Come on! You’re in [...]
I have never been the one to bring blind optimism into any situation. I mean, I’ve always believed in hope, and having faith, but never that everything will work out exactly how I want. Frankly, the world doesn’t work that way, and I knew this even as a young child. My parents used to tell [...]
Prescription Painkillers word cloud with white background Last week the West Virginia newspaper Charleston-Gazette Mail published an article on their investigation into the 1,728 West Virginians who have died from overdoses from hydrocodone and oxycodone. The report found that in the six-year period of time when these overdoses occurred drug companies [...]
