Hope Is Real!

We can sift through the inputs of the past and the future possibilities and become our own thing. We own that decision.  In that moment, we are that decision. ~ Monica. A Coleman, Making A Way Out of No Way, 74 Two Years ago I was diagnosed by my therapist as having Borderline Personality Disorder and when I was then psychologically tested, the result was that I had very strong traits of it, which I wrote about here .  My therapist and I treated the results as if I had been diagnosed with the disorder. During that time I was in and out of Ridgeview's inpatient and outpatient programs.  I had been in some tough situations and now was basically addicted to the hospital.  I liked the feeling of being nurtured, being taken cared of, being validated and receiving kind attention.  I also didn't trust myself to deal with my difficult feelings on my own without hurting myself-I love how Marsha Linehan calls people with BPD emotional third degree burn victims. However, the last

Isn't it funny how often when we don't think we'll find what we want, then that's when what it appears?  I have been wanting to find some kind of exercise that I can do and I have been very frustrated.  About a month ago I tried going to my old yoga studio again after about a year and even though I adore the instructor, I really did not enjoy the session all that much.  Being in a large class stressed me out - exercising with a large group has always been one of my worst anxieties! - and I was in pain most of the time.  I just was not able to let go and be mindful at all, which I believe is what yoga is supposed to be about  in the first place! I've started seeing my old nutritionist again and that is going quite well.  We're discussing mindfulness and ways to get me moving without me hurting.  I was feeling pretty dismal after that yoga session and told her so.  She then assigned me the goal of seeing if there was anyone in my area who was leading a gentler

It's that time of year again - Georgia's NAMI Walk is on October 5th, which is the National Alliance of Mental Illness ' biggest fundraiser campaign and it's a time when we gather with banners and balloons to show people that there is no need for the stigma surrounding mental illness and addiction.  My personal fundraising page can be found HERE .  I'm not sure if I'll actually be there physically on the day-I'd like to, but there's another recovery fun activity on that same day that I would like to support also.  In case you do not follow the link, here is what I wrote on my page: Welcome! I am walking for NAMI, because I believe in the work that the National Alliance of Mental Illness does.  NAMI provides free support groups of families and consumers, education programs, conducts valuable research, and works hard to erase the stigma surrounding mental illness.  The program that most affects my life is NAMI"s In Our Own Voice (IOOV) progra

Sometimes I write an article for a recovery newsletter and here is my latest one.  The newsletter's theme was on rule 62, which is, "Don't take yourself too damn seriously," from  AA's The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book  on page 149.  It was a fun topic!  You'll probably notice that I make more Alcoholics Anonymous recovery references than usual and that's because at least half of the targeted population are in recovery from drug and alcohol, themselves.  Most of the people that submit articles to the newsletter are recovering addicts or alcoholics, so I am always glad that they let me add my perspective of anxiety and depression recovery for the other folks. I'm proud of this particular article-I think it's fun and one of my more well written ones.  The benefit of my online article is I get to include some pictures! ________________________________________________________  This may sound silly, but Duck Dynasty is a part of my recovery

This was the month of feminism!  I’m going to do this month’s book reviews a little differently and just do one book at a time.  The two books I read were for my feminist book club. I underlined a lot of passages and wrote down quotes for my “Quotes Book” while I was reading, so I already had a lot of material for more in depth reviews. Love & Feminism: Transforming Ourselves and Our Worldby Ruth Whitney This was the book for my September feminist book club.  All of us thought that it was not nearly as soul stirring or as eloquent as The Beauty Myth was (our book for August), but we did think that it did have a lot of ideas that we certainly appreciated.  I like that she views feminism as a loving way of life, which is very similar to how I view feminism-it is why I cannot separate my Christianity from my feminism either.   (And why I have trouble fitting into most mainstream churches!)  She says that, “feminism is the vision and practice of love.  Feminism is acts of l