Tag: self-improvement
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Incompatible
She looked me up and down. “Are you ready to go fishing?” she asked. “Yes!” I enthusiastically responded. “In THAT?!?” I was much younger than I am now, but I will never forget this conversation. I was wearing a miniskirt and stilettos. I looked dressed up for a night on the town (if your idea…
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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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Lessons Learned
This year has been a year of intense learning, not just in a formal education setting as I pursue my Master of Social Work, but also through revelations in the day-to-day as I sat silently, prayed, listened, and reflected. I am a work in progress. I love lifelong learning. So each lesson means the world…
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Realizing My Responsibility
As we heal, we learn that sexual assault was never our fault. We are validated that we were truly victimized. We realize that our behaviors often directly stem from our trauma. We begin to understand why we are the way we are. If we stop our healing journey too soon, we run the risk of…
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We Don’t Talk (Enough) About Mirabel…
I first watched a movie long ago (and many times since) that truly touched my soul, as is often the case for viewers of many incredibly emotionally moving films out there. I am not unique – this particular movie has spoken to countless people around the globe. Several songs in it became instant successes practically…
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Embrace the Pivot
For years, I was writing a book about my healing journey. It took so long to write because I am a procrastinator, it contained difficult material, and life threw painful curveballs at me constantly. I even wrote a chapter titled “The Book That Almost Wasn’t” because when I really knuckled down to write, in 2018,…
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From Drab to Dazzling: Making a Beautiful Life
For as long as I can remember, art has been a central part of my life. It all began with my gorgeous grey-haired grandma (or GGG, as I affectionately call her), who sang opera while dusting family furniture as a child, took a chemistry class in college during WWII to learn how to create beauty…
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The Power to Say No. The Willingness to Say Yes.
One of the most difficult aspects of depression is the lack of motivation or energy to take action on anything, whether routine or adventuresome. And then, there is the anxiety that slams me with overwhelming fear that it will all be a disaster and I’m better off – safer – not leaving my house. This…
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Chasing Dopamine
It all started innocently enough – the crazy antics, the silly mannerisms, the hair-brained schemes – but what began as an overabundance of youthful energy became a lifestyle and here I am: a woman in her mid-*coughcough*-rties who is a crazy mishmash of organized spontaneity and anxious exuberance for life. Somewhere between paying a taxi…
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The Warning Label That Should Come With Therapy
When mothers find out their friend is pregnant for the first time, they have a very typical response that I like to call “Mom Hazing”. The time between finding out about their friend’s first pregnancy and between the actual birth is filled with the telling and retelling of some of the most horrific birthing stories…
Wisdom from the Trenches 