Category Archives: Wisdom & Lessons Learned

The Diagnosis

F41.1. GAD, or, Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It’s a helpful code for medical professionals, for insurance companies, maybe for Therapists. It’s not the most helpful code for the person being diagnosed. At least it wasn’t for me. When my anxiety got really bad, right after my wedding, I remember telling the Doctor that I thought itContinue reading “The Diagnosis”

Climbing Beehive

My palms were sweating. My whole body was tense. I was hyperventilating. I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart was beating so loud I could hear it in my ears. I could actually feel the adrenaline and cortisol coursing through my veins. My hands shook. I cursed. I prayed. I cried. I took a deepContinue reading “Climbing Beehive”

The Powerful “I Can’t”

I say the words, “I can’t” far too often. Even if I don’t always voice them out loud I certainly think them plenty. Whenever I watch TV shows or movies with a survivalist theme I am the first one to think/say, “I would die,” or, “I could never,” or just, “Nope.” It’s actually become aContinue reading “The Powerful “I Can’t””

Double Footed Landings

I used to be a figure skater. Actually, a pretty good one. I started in Thailand, of all places, in the heat of the tropics. Sometimes the rink would have an inch of water on top of the ice but it didn’t matter because I loved skating more than anything. I had a Russian coachContinue reading “Double Footed Landings”

Powerful Anti-Anxiety Quotes

I am a word person and I love me a good quote. My Pinterest page is made up of many things, but by far, the majority of my pins are quotes. Words are meant to move us, to evoke emotion, to challenge our ways of thinking. Words have been a powerful tool for me inContinue reading “Powerful Anti-Anxiety Quotes”

Maggie

I have a dog. Her name is Maggie. I also have a dog named Molly, but this post is solely about Maggie, and you’ll soon see why. A little bit about Maggie. She’s a beagle mix. She’s a rescue from Alabama. She’s nine years old. She’s brown and white and has little speckled spots onContinue reading “Maggie”

The “Right” to Feel Anxious

I grew up pretty well. Sure, there was some stuff. But, I had two stable parents who loved me unconditionally and provided for me. I had a roof over my head and food to eat. We weren’t wealthy, but we always had enough. I wasn’t abused. I had a pretty happy childhood. Like I said,Continue reading “The “Right” to Feel Anxious”

To Medicate or not to Medicate

People are opinionated. And I’ve found that many of them are not shy about sharing those opinions, even if they aren’t necessarily well informed on the subject. Mental health is not exempt from opinionated people. Specifically, mental health and medication seem to be a rather polarizing topic, one in which people feel strongly about onContinue reading “To Medicate or not to Medicate”

The Illusion of Normal

For years I believed there was something wrong with me. I can’t quite pinpoint when this thought started, but I suspect it was sometime in early childhood, probably due to some combination of a variety of factors including my sensitive disposition, moving between two drastically different cultures, a traumatic experience at boarding school, and beingContinue reading “The Illusion of Normal”