Tag: Encouragement
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Avoidance Creates Anxiety
It started out relatively small. For reasons related to trauma, I have harbored a deep-seated distaste for country music and a hatred of Valentine’s Day, both of which have taken ownership of significant chunks of my life. How did something so little grow to consume such a big portion of my life? Easy…the answer is…
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It’s the Least Wonderful Time of the Year
Dreadful January. After all the cheery decorations get packed away, the friends and relatives end the revelry and return to their respective homes, and we all stop eating special foods to celebrate every single holiday, we are faced with a sobering reality. With its bills piling up and short daylight hours, January strips us of…
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24 Changes to Aim for in ‘24
I’ve already established numerous times here that I am a goal-setter, a go-getter, and a minor fretter; but set that last point aside and let’s focus on the positive, shall we? As I reflect on the past year and look forward to next year, I begin to set my sights on the change I would…
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Drowning in Sorrow
There is a part in a book by Lewis Carroll called “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” where the main character, Alice, is so distraught, she begins to cry. Her adventures have been too taxing, too bizarre, too isolating, too frightful, too difficult to bear that the tears well up in her eyes and spill over, splashing…
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If Only…
While walking through the highs and lows of processing difficult trauma, I hit a stage of grief that many call bargaining. But since I know I can’t rewrite the past, I don’t like to call it that. Bargaining suggests that I have some leveraging power to change my situation through negotiation. In the aftermath of…
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This Imperfect Life
I was watching Moulin Rouge with my husband on Saturday night. I’ve seen this movie countless times before and appreciated it for its artistic approach to storytelling. I have never had an issue with this movie, so I immediately chose it when it popped up as an option. The movie started as usual. There are…
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Living Half a Life
Well after I encountered trauma, about the time my children came into my life, I began to have a recurring dream. From the very beginning, the dream would always make it clear to me that my life was blessed. The house in my dream was always perfect on the outside and impeccably decorated within. My…
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Dear Younger Me
I look back on photos of a slimmer, slightly less wrinkled version of myself and I don’t wish I was her all over again. But I do wish I could talk to her. I wish I could sit with her and listen as she unpacked her pain. I wish I could help her make heads…
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Enemies, Foreign…and Domestic
I took a solemn oath when I enlisted in the Army that I would defend the United States Constitution against enemies both foreign and domestic. During training, I was taught how to fight the enemy. Sadly, nobody took the time back then to prepare me for the battle brought into my life near the end…
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A Few of My Favorite Things
I’m a list maker. I find satisfaction in brain-dumping what rolls around in my mind onto a piece of paper so the thoughts upstairs don’t drive me absolutely batty or threaten to instigate a system overload. I love the little dopamine boost I get by checking things off my neat little lists. I even add…
Wisdom from the Trenches 