Keeping yourself accountable

   Today we’re going to talk about a concept that’s annoying and exhausting (at least the way most people look at it) which is keeping yourself accountable, for your goals, dreams, and actions. We’ve already laid some pretty good groundwork in this area, which if you haven’t caught up on, I suggest you do that before reading this. You can find a pep talk for the monotony of recovery and goal-setting by clicking here, and you can find my recent discussion on motivation vs. inspiration here. Without further ado, let’s jump into the topic at hand.

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Expectations of others-My Two Cents

There was a song that we used to sing when I was a little girl, that was accompanied with a hand game or dance or whatever you want to call it. It started like this, “I went to a Chinese restaurant, to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread, the lady asked what my name was, and this is what I said, said, said” and then it goes on with a long string of nonsense that if I never hear again, it’ll be too soon. But I was thinking about it today. And I don’t know about Chinese restaurants in your area, but in mine, I’ve never seen them selling loaves of bread. 

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Write a letter (to yourself)

It’s the last letter…

   Today, we’re wrapping up our letter-writing extravaganza, or at least for the foreseeable future. I hope that I’ve given you a helpful concept to play around with, and that you write your own letters. Letters that I’ve suggested, but also letters of your own, that are undeniably valuable and that I would have never had the details to suggest to you. If you’re not familiar with this concept and this is your first time here, you can go back and read the initial concept of this series here. Or you can go to any one of these posts for a suggestion of a letter to write to help you work through your thoughts and emotions, as well as leave this world a brighter place. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Triggers vs. Boundaries

   There’s a page in my diary that has just one sentence on it. It says, “Triggers are different than boundaries, but both are relevant.” I wrote it when I was feeling wistful, trying to communicate with myself a concept that was fuzzy to me, in language I didn’t right then understand. I do that often, when I write to myself. Make vague statements and metaphors that feel so right, and then later I come back to them to see if they have any weight. This one did. And we’re going to talk about it today.

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Stay Strong (how we talk to people with mental illness)

   “Stay strong, my warrior” Katrina typed to her girlfriend who was on the other side of the city, in her bathroom, crying. It had been a hard day, and she found herself thinking the dark thoughts again. Katrina worried, she knew that sometimes, she wasn’t so safe, so stable. She knew that sometimes she thought about hurting herself. If only she could be there, to give her loved one a hug and wipe her tears away and tell her that everything would be alright. But maybe it would not be alright.

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