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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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After therapy ends: Pt. 1 Therapy should end

   It’s no secret, I’ve talked about therapy a lot on this site. I’ve given you a story of when I was in therapy, a piece on if you should be in therapy, a post on if you should quit therapy, not to mention a smattering of other pieces as well as mentions of therapy in posts where therapy is not the main topic. That’s because it’s been a big part of my getting better, and for those of you who have access and can afford it, I think it could be an important tool for you. (That’s what this is about, after all, expanding our tool belts.) But today, I’m doing something a little different.

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Can you choose your feelings?: My Two Cents

   I can’t stand people who are condescending to the mentally ill. They say things like “can’t you just get over it?” and “you’re overreacting, chill out.” These are people who either lack empathy or have no idea what it’s like to have your mind betray you at every turn. And something these people often imply is that you can just choose to be okay when you’re not. So today let’s look at that. Is it true?

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Believing your thoughts: my two cents

   Hi everyone! A while back, I posted about the inner work necessary in order to improve your emotional health. (If you’re interested about my journey with inner work, you can find that post here.) In that piece, I mentioned that I would be writing about specific mental work in the future. Well, wait no longer because that day is today! And today, we’re talking about the validity of our thoughts.

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Unlearning Bodily Hate Pt. 2: The dancer in me

   Now last week I explained how indoctrinated I was with shame for my body and for self-expression in terms of my wardrobe and moving my body in terms of dance. If you haven’t read that post yet, I’d encourage you to do so before reading this one. Just click here to open it in a new tab. It got to such a fever pitch that I became unable to feed myself sufficiently and avoided looking beautiful out of fear and shame, but I had started to try to pull out of this miserable place, for my own good. And this is where we pick up today. I had started recovery from my eating disorder, and therapy to try to help me make new mental connections and progress toward my goal of self-acceptance. 

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