Change makes us stronger. As scary as it may be, try not to run away from change. I’ve recently gone through a lot of change in my personal life. As I’m maturing and becoming the person I want to be, I’ve been experiencing change. I started therapy again, as we know, but I’ve also been letting go of people and …
Finding The Joy Again
I’m starting to feel joy again. What an amazing feeling. I remember telling my therapist shortly before my mom passed that one of my goals was to be able to truly feel laughter and joy again. I spoke about how life felt less joyful, and moments of laughter felt almost out of body, and that I wasn’t actually experiencing them …
You Hold Power Over Your Own Thoughts
This week in therapy, my therapist said something that really stuck with me. She told me, “You have dominion over your own thoughts and actions.” We were talking about negative thinking and intrusive thoughts, specifically in reference to one particular incident that happened a few months ago. In the past, I’ve talked about separating what your mental illness is saying …
Practice Self-Love with Your Self-Care
This week was one big practice of self-care and self-love. I spent a good amount of time doing things exclusively for me, and I practiced turning things down that didn’t fit in my schedule. For the first time in a long time, I feel productive for the right reasons. First, I participated in OrangeTheory Fitness’s Hell Week. Hell Week is …
Rebuilding Myself
In the face of loss I am rebuilding myself. Y’all, it’s been a while. Over a month since I last blogged. Over a month since I’ve really been engaged on social media for my speaking page. I needed this break. I still feel like I could take a longer break, but I think I am going to come back a …
You Deserve to Be Happy
I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but you deserve to be happy. You deserve to wake up and feel good. You deserve to be passionate, energetic, excited about life. For a very long time, I didn’t believe I could be happy. I didn’t even know what happiness was. I’ve gone between manic and depressive episodes, and I …
Therapy is Cool
This week, I did something for me. I went back to therapy for the first time in over two years. I’d been considering it for awhile, and after experiencing a mental health crisis last month, I finally decided to just do it. I had two sessions this week: first with a psychiatrist to talk about medication management, second with a …
Accept Forgiveness from Yourself
CW: self-harm, suicidal thoughts Mental illness is so complex and volatile. One minute, you might feel great, and the next, you might feel like the world is crashing down around you. During my senior year of college, as many of you know, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. While that diagnosis terrified me, it finally gave a name to what …
Prioritize Your Health
It seems like everyone I know is so busy right now. School is ramping up again, in-person events are re-emerging, and people’s calendars are filling up. Looking at my calendar right now stresses me out. It seems like I have something going on every day for the foreseeable future. Having days that are jam-packed with work and events can be …
A Little Bit of Joy Can Go A Long Way
A little joy can go a long way. Joy. Something I truly haven’t felt in months. If I’m being honest, I lost joy back in January. It’s as if my body and mind knew that tough times were on the horizon for me and my family. March came and so did the horrifying news that my mom’s cancer had spread. …