A dam has broken wide open. Words are pouring forth. Stories are unleashed. My inbox and my phone are brimming with words. Your words. You let me peer behind your mask, and I am so deeply moved. Where do we go from here? I wonder. There are so many of us,...
Gray. That's my color today. I'm unmotivated, foggy-headed, and tired. It's day 19, and I don't want to write. I thought about copying and pasting an inspirational quote just to check this day off my list, but I did that yesterday. So, I'm just going to write. For 5...
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard This series is not a tidy story of a fairy tale life. It is messy and truthful. For 31 days, I will share pieces of my...
I close my eyes and breathe. Letting go of the chaos in my mind requires a deep exhale and a shift. It's easy to talk to God, but I'm still learning to listen. When it happens, my heart stills in wonder. It's not an audible voice. More like a deep knowing from within....
There was a point last spring when my therapist told me to quit reading books and sites about anxiety because I was overwhelming myself trying to find the magic cure. As research extraordinaire, I just knew I could find the one thing that would return me to...
Tonight I read yesterday's post as the opening devotion for our church's praise team and band rehearsal. It's one thing to release these words into the digital world, and another entirely to stand up in person and share them aloud. I feel more vulnerable. More real....
I look in the mirror, yet who do I see? My mask is down and my is truth out. I write and write and write on the page, the flurry of my hand cannot keep pace with the fears and feelings set free. The little girl who kept it all in, who put on a brave face, is...
If I had to chose the most important lesson I learned in group therapy, it would be the day of the masks. There was a small group of us that morning - only 5 compared to the typical 8-10+. The therapist gave us a choice. We could do a more personal activity because of...
The intake therapist raised her eyebrows in emphasis as she issued words of caution to me that first day, "Many of these people are struggling with very serious issues," she said. "You will need to be very open and honest in that room." Reading between the...
Outpatient Clinic, the sign read. I took a deep breath, opened the door, and resigned myself to the experience ahead. A day earlier, I had walked into a hospital and asked for help. It was now time for that help to begin. Acute outpatient program is the precise...