Permission to Grieve
“Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.” –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion When I was in middle school, I had the hardest time waking up in the morning. My mom would call…
Loving the Depressed
Note to the reader: When I began writing the Holiday Pain Series, I was admittedly dreading the week about depression. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest one is simply that I have never experienced severe depression. I have experienced it with others, I have…
Holiday Anxiety
“P.S. You’re not going to die. Here’s the white-hot truth: if you go bankrupt, you’ll still be okay. If you lose the gig, the lover, the house, you’ll still be okay. If you sing off-key, get beat by the competition, have your heart shattered, get fired…it’s not going to…
Holiday Loneliness
When I was in the 6th grade, my family made the decision to leave our church. The pastors that we worshipped under were unhealthy and controlling, and my parents recognized that in order for us to have normal, stable views about religion, we needed to leave. The backlash…
Let’s Be Angry
Grieve. So that you can be free to feel something else. – Nayyirah Waheed I am an emotional person. I feel a lot of feelings and am not afraid to express them. One feeling that has been resounding lately has been anger. Anger about what’s happening in this…
My Temple
All my life I’ve been told That my body is a temple A temple to take care of A temple to weigh and weigh and weigh again A temple to maintain Keep beautiful Keep pristine Keep private And All my life I’ve been told That…
Leah, Take the Wheel
I always dream vividly. It’s sorta my thing. Greg, my partner, tells me all the time that my recollection of dream-details is insane. For instance, the other day I dreamt that I was on a river traveling to Amsterdam afloat a large flying dog (think The Neverending Story),…
It’s Okay to Be
It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to be frustrated at the world, feel slighted by fate, and wonder when your break is coming. It’s okay to yell and scream and cry into your pillow. And it’s okay to sit there with a blank stare. It’s okay…