The Scholarship I Almost Won Might Help Me Change The World

Tell us about a situation where you’d hoped against all hope, where the odds were completely stacked against you, yet you triumphed. In 2013, I was granted a partial scholarship to attend the Netroots Nation Conference in San Jose, California. However, I needed more because I have to bring Ledcat with me – traveling by […]

I turned 12 and then 13 and then 16 and now I’m 43

12 ball

You’re 12 years old. It’s your birthday. Write for ten minutes on that memory. GO. I hate these questions because most of the time – I don’t remember. Like many survivors of neglect and trauma, I don’t remember. Or I do remember, but much in the way I recall the storyline from a book or […]

Six Things You Can Do To Help a Friend With Depression Have a Better Day

Girl Scout Cookies

“But I don’t know what to say/do” is something I hear often when talking about mental health. “I thought it would be best to just let you work it out. You know I am here.” Well, that’s a bunch of hooey. Do you let your friends coping with the aftereffects of chemo tough it out until […]

Chest Pain Sent Me to the ER at 43

anxiety pittsburgh

I have an anxiety disorder that I treat with medication and therapy skills. I’m to the point now where I rarely have a full-fledged anxiety attack, but when I do it is physically awful. My chest hurts. I feel dread and adrenaline coursing through my body. I have trouble breathing. I usually cry and I […]

How To Do Less With Less

Gary Vaynerchuk

The Prompt: What do you want to do less of in 2014? I’m striving for relentlessly upbeat here. First, drive less. In 2013, I put less than 500 miles on my personal car. Granted, we put a lot of miles on Laura’s vehicle, but overall I drove a lot less. How I will accomplish this will […]

Five Things I Did To Make Myself a Merry Christmas

donation coat and blanket

I answered the daily prompt about writing a note when I’ve visited a new place. This year, I worked hard for Christmas. Not shopping, cleaning or cooking. I worked hard on my attitude. And it paid off. The holidays are really hard for so many of us, an emotional flashpoint for anxiety, depression, addiction and […]

Why I Am Spewing All This Heavy Stuff On My Blog

kindness mental illness

Someone recently told me that they’ve enjoyed reading my NaBloPoMo posts where I respond to a daily prompt because it helps them get to know me better and makes them think. That’s high praise. Inspiring people to think is pretty much the end goal for a blog (with occasional calls to action, of course.) I’m […]

Mad As a Hatter

Roseanne johnny Galecki

The Prompt: Tell us about a time when you flew into a rage. What is it that made you so incredibly angry? I’ve written about my struggle with accepting that life isn’t fair. I’m not sure how I would define a rage versus just a general bout of talking loudly to blow off steam about something, […]

The Water Bowl

dogs old dogs aging dogs

Daily Prompt: Write about a noise — or even a silence — that won’t go away. (We’ll let you interpret this in different ways…) There’s a noise that drives me absolutely insane, right up the wall on the aggravation scale. And my abiding fear is that one day – possibly soon – it will go away. […]

It Was Just a Fender Bender

The Prompt: Tell us about a bullet you’re glad you dodged — when something awful almost happened, but didn’t. It wasn’t my first car accident, but it was one of the first where I was a passenger. Laura and I were toodling along McKnight Road preparing to go to the grocery store. The vehicle in […]