Day 11: Thankful Thursday!

It's my favorite blog day! Thankful Thursday! So what am I grateful for today? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let me show you!

Day 9: Just a little change brings a whole lotta consequences

This writing thing is hard. I don't think I realized how hard it was coming up with something new every day until I started trying it. I'm glad I've got my schemas going on and can discuss those, but it's hard to keep writing when I really don't want to. Just a quick note here, I thought I could write about my 5th schema tonight, but it's just not happening. When I started I was in a great mood, and was motivated, and had energy, and life was amazing. And then I cycled.

I feel like crap, and I just want to curl up into a ball and not deal with anything. I've fallen into this deep pit of despair and see no way out, so I'm just struggling to stay afloat. This is the hell people with bipolar live with. I go to bed and have no clue what emotion I'll be dealing with when I wake up the next morning. I've been crushingly depressed the last 2 days, and for absolutely no good reason. I was happy as a clam for a good few weeks, there was no reason for things to change, but they did. All I can do is wait as patiently as possible for this dark cloud to lift and the sun to come out again. I get so sick of waiting patiently though. I get so sick of the sun going down so often and for no reason. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I don't see me living a long and fruitful life going up and down like this. I can't hack it. The people around me can't hack it. I mean, don't freak out, I'm not suicidal now, but that option sure looks more and more appealing the deeper I fall into this black hole. And its not even because I see no way out. I know this too shall pass, and I'll feel on top of the world again, but I don't know when. And even though I'll cycle back, I know I'll then start playing the waiting game again for the next time I crash. And I don't want to live like that. It's a bullshit way to live your life. It's a horrible life to let others into because it becomes their hell too.

I mean, in fact, life is going rather well. My husband got offered his new job, and he starts in 2 weeks, we bought a new car yesterday that is ten times nicer than any one we've ever owned before. We're paying an arm and a leg for it, but with Josh's new job, we can afford it. I want to refinance ASAP though, just so we're not continuing to pay an arm and a leg. I try to live as non-extravagantly as possible for some reason. We've been through two unemployment eras since this depression hit, and I like to keep our debt to income ratio as low as possible. You know, just in case. I think this preparing for the 'just in cases' in the worlds are wearing me out. It is physically and mentally exhausting trying to worry about every scenario that could go wrong, and yet I keep doing it. Josh is sitting over here happy as a lark about his new job, and our car, and the change that is happening all around us, and I'm lying in bed crying about nothing.

I think what is really eating at me is the change that's happening all around me. Even though it's good change, beepers don't do so well with change. I mean, our insurance is changing at the end of the month and we'll have copays again, and our prescription costs will be higher, and yeah. We met our out of pocket back in March, so we've been enjoying free healthcare since then. Starting in August we'll be paying for services again. I'm trying to think of what all I need to have done in the next 2 weeks before we roll over into a new insurance plan, lol.

And then there's the housing issue. I found a house. A glorious house. A gloriously perfect house. And it made me realize that we're not going to live here forever, and that's another change I'm not prepared to deal with. We didn't get the gloriously perfect house, someone else jumped on that offer before we could, but that's okay. God works on his own time, and when it's time for our gloriously perfect house to appear, it will. But I'm already overwhelmed and depressed about the thought of packing everything up, and going through the work  of moving into a new place, even though it's at least a year away before it happens. I am not being very mindful right now. Right now, mindfulness sucks, and is hard, and I don't even want to deal with trying to do it.

So that's been life the last few days. My mum is super worried about me, and Josh is super worried about me, and I just don't care. Right now I'm teetering on the edge of destruction, so it's a good thing I see my psych doctor tomorrow so I can talk to him and see what he recommends. We'll see if he thinks I'm dangerous enough to be admitted. I mean, idt I am, just because I'm not actively suicidal, but he's a new doctor, so I don't trust him too much just quite yet. And besides, I made a goal of 31 blogs in 31 days, and well, they don't allow electronics on the psych ward, I wouldn't be able to keep up if I missed a week of blogging. I'm giggling at the thought of trying to get my inpatient therapist to approve letting me have an hour a day to blog for 'therapeutic' reasons. I make myself laugh. I love it. Josh thinks it's cute how much I manage to amuse myself. I'm like a puppy chasing it's tail and being perfectly happy.

Speaking of puppies, I have to share with you the cutest story. My son is 3, and one of his favorite things to do when he's not being Batman is to be our puppy. He'll crawl around and bark, and come over and nuzzle our knee to get petted. If only he'd show some interest in potty training, he'd be the perfect pet. Well, our 18 month old has a speech delay due to mild hearing loss, so she doesn't talk or anything yet. She makes a lot of sounds, which is good, it means her hearing is probably either improving, or just staying mildly impaired. So, I guess needless to say, when she does something with sound or anything interacting with us, we get wildly excited. I tell you about my son's game of playing puppy so you'll understand this story with my daughter. She's been walking since the end of March, and doesn't generally crawl anywhere anymore. But for some reason the other day she started crawling around on the floor going 'ruff, ruff, ruff'! Believe me, it doesn't sound like that, but whenever we say it, she gets down and starts making the same sound. It is so freaking adorable. If I had it captured on video, I'd be linking it for your viewing pleasure.

I'm glad I made the decision to write tonight. I'm actually feeling a whole lot better now than I was when I first started. There's still so much more I could write about, like my disgusting house and how depressed I am about it, and how hard I am on myself for not being able to keep it clean, but that's related to my unrelenting standards schema, so I'll save it for when I finally write about that. I keep making the goal to get one room a day clean, and my poor mum, she was worried enough about me today, she came over and helped me achieve my goal of getting the kitchen done. Me, my oldest, and my mum all worked on it, and it's nice and sparkly now. With any luck, I'll have the urge to finish up my living room tomorrow, and then I'll have two nice and sparkly clean rooms. That will thrill me to no end.

What brings you up when you're down? How do you respond to change? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Day 8: Why are you putting yourself in last place?

Who can guess what a person with this schema does? If you said 'played the martyr!' you'd have it right. People with this schema sacrifice their own needs to the point of excess in order to help others. When these people pay attention to their own needs, they often feel guilty. To avoid this guilt, they put others' needs ahead of their own. Often people who self sacrifice gain a feeling of increased self-esteem or a sense of meaning from helping others. In childhood the person may have been made to feel overly responsible for the well being of one or both parents.

This schema definitely hits a chord with me, I distinctly remember there being times when I was growing up that my dad expected me to care for him. He had open heart surgery when I was 13 and left me in charge. On my own and no instructions for the nurse to help me manage his care. I had my brother there of course, but he was 11, and he couldn't  seeing Daddy so sick. I always had to worry about him and his needs, in addition to the needs of the house. I couldn't do it, I wasn't perfect enough. I fled to my mum's house shortly after I turned 14, to a situation that wasn't much better. 

Instead of having a daddy to take care of, I suddenly had 3 new step siblings and a step dad, and I became mum's confidante. Looking back, both of them forced me to grow up, I wonder which would have done me the greater good ultimately? At least if I'd stayed in NC I'd have learned how to cook and clean, skills which I definitely need now, but what kind of childhood is that? Growing up here I was the red-headed step child, but it meant some kind of 'typical' childhood. 

I made my bed, I stayed here and I had to lie in it.

 I got pregnant at 17 and received enormous pressure to give her up for adoption, but I was keeping my child, come hell or high water. Here is where the mistakes of the fathers become the mistakes of the children and it's painful to watch, I screwed my kid up. In so many ways. Ways my mother did that I swore I would never repeat. This precious bundle of joy was my life, my soul, my very reason for being. I couldn't do enough for her because I felt no one had ever done enough for me, she would never suffer that same disappointment, But I had no real world experience for 'what is best for a child'. I consistently put her needs ahead of my own to the point where I ultimately had a breakdown and spent 6 weeks in the hospital. Having always been a single mum, and it just the two of us she had no routine, she had no bed time, and as she got older it became more and more manipulative my child was becoming, Thank goodness I met my husband and we had kids too because we were able to reverse a lot of the damage I'd done to Adia by the time she was 10, 

Now that I'm the mother, I still struggle in this schema bt making sure my children's needs are met long before I'll even contemplate meeting my own. I mean right now for example, I have a coupon for free glitter toes that I would love to redeem, and I'd love to get my hair done, but I'm not about the waste the money or time on making me look nice. My kids clothes come from Wal-Mart and the Mall, Mine come from Goodwill. It's lead to fights before because my husband isn't putting these restraints on my spending, I am. I'm too afraid to spend because what if someone else needs it more than I do and its gone?

This isn't really a schema I'm ready to fully deal with right now. I think I'll always have some self-sacrificing traits in me until the day I die. I think every mother does. But I'll leave you with this question, "If the airplane is going down, who's mask do you put on first; theirs or yours? Yours of course because you are of no good to them if you pass out and can't get your children's masks on. So try and keep your mask on.  If your mask is on, and you're breathing, everything else will naturally fall into place.  

Did I learn anything about myself completing this assignment? I think I did. I learned that I've got to keep my cup full before I can truly be there for someone else, even my children. Did you learn anything new today about yourself upon introspection?

Let me know in the comments below!

Day 7:If you want something done right...

Today I'm writing about the Social Isolation/Alienation Schema...If you remember, this schema refers to the belief that one is isolated from the world, different from other people, and/or not part of any community. This belief is usually caused by early experiences in which children see that either they, or their families, are different from other people.

This ties into my writing over the last few days, where I've mentioned how much I stuck out in school for being who I was. I've stuck out everywhere I can think of my entire life.I played baseball as a kid and stuck out there because not only was I terrible at it, but my brother was one of the star players. Oh, and I was the only girl on the team. I was deeply ashamed of the fact that I couldn't play, and that the entire team looked down upon me, but I didn't know what to do about it. I was maybe 10 when this was happening. That's just one example of how much I stuck out as a kid. I continued to stick out in school, not just for being smart, but because my clothes weren't 'the right style', and I didn't have the confidence to pull off what I was wearing. And as I've said earlier, sticking out in an inner city school was horrible.

So I think those events coupled with being ignored by the people who mattered most to me led to me feeling alone in the world, and that I was the only one who looked out for me. I've always been the one who's said if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself, and it's how I've lived my life to a point. In some cases it's just extreme  I mean, I do all the finances for the house, and don't let any one help with that, But in other matters I turn a mole hill into a mountain. I insist on taking the kids to the doctors because I worry something might be missed unless I was otherwise there to catch it. We've had a few scares the doctors before so I can try and recognize where that one is probably coming from as well.

I'm starting to think these schemas are all meshed together in some ways. Kind of like a Gordian  knot that is warped around itself, you'll never separate all the pieces. I still have't talked about my Self-Sacrifice schema, or insufficient self control or my unrelenting standards schemas. And those one are definitely affecting me in the here and now, whereas I think because of the progress I've made with my other 2 schemas, social isolation is one I can put on the back burner.

I'm learning to love me, a little  and I'm slowly reaching out of my comfort zone to show my friends the 'genuine' me, and they've seemed to like it so far.

So I'm going to call this a schema in passing. It's not dead to me yet, but if I keep up the hard work on my other schemas, it soon will be. (I can almost hear the bugle playing its mournful tune, can you?)

What about you? Are there any other schemas you've recognized in yourself that you can improve upon, and maybe even acknowledge that they are no longer negatively impacting your life? Tell me in the comments section, please!

Day 6: A not so ordinary day...no schema therapy today :):

I think writing all these posts are dragging me down because I've really been struggling to stay 'upbeat and positive' the last few days. I've been sleeping more, and dragging more, and had a lot less motivation to get things accomplished. Everyone has been complaining about it, my husband is upset at the state of the house, my mum thinks I'm spiraling into a depression, and I feel like the world is blah. I've got to keep plugging along though, if I can just pull through I think it will ultimately be beneficial.

So we've discussed my mistrust/abuse schema, and the defectiveness/shame schema. I feel like I've made excellent progress in understanding them and myself better, but today I'll work on another topic and ponder on the ways I can change how I view the world.

This has been a hard day for me to write and keep on going with the schema topic. I haven't mentioned this before because it hasn't come up, but my husband was told that he was losing his job 3 weeks ago. He had a year to find new employment or else he could relocate to Oregon and work there. Well, my husband didn't like those options, so he brushed off the dust on his resume, sent it out, had some interviews and just got offered a job today! We're so excited, but I'm petrified at the same time.

It's an awesome pay raise, which our family could use, seeing as we've been barely scraping by, but the thing that scares me the most is the insurance changes. You see, I'm quite involved with how our insurance works, due to my extensive health problems and such. We have excellent benefits, and thanks to my hospital stay back in March, we maxed out our of pocket out early in the year. So we paid nothing for doctor visits and don't (or didn't) have to pay anything until the end of the year. 

Now that Josh is changing jobs, I'm suddenly forced to make a command decision on which of the two insurance options I should go with, which is best for our family, and what is going to be most cost effective in the long run. It's a lot of pressure to be under, and I can't get any answers from BCBS until Monday when they are open again. So I get to spend all weekend stewing and worrying about stuff until I can get my questions answered.

The one thing I'd like to emphasize here has nothing to do with insurance, or pay raises, or any mundane things like that. I've been worried about the job thing for the last 3 weeks. I've spent a lot of time in prayer pondering this matter and praying for a miracle to happen. I never lost sight of the fact that God works on his own time, and I had to go about patiently doing my part while I waited for him to answer my prayer, but I still kept the faith that God had heard my pleadings and would ultimately open a door that led to what was best for us. And he did! 

I know from hard experience not all prayers are answered in 3 weeks, or answered so clearly, but this is such a blessing for our family.

It is creating some stresses for us because he will now be commuting to work whereas before he worked 3 minutes away. We only have one car that is fit for that kind of driving, but it is also the only car that will fit our entire family, so we'd be stranded at home all day if he were to take that car. We want to eventually move closer to his job and there is a house that is practically begging us to move into it, but our lease here isn't up until March. I would love to see if our landlords would let us break our lease, but we can't afford to lose our deposit. I know it wouldn't be difficult at all to find new tenants here, our neighbor just rented her house out and it took less than 2 weeks for her to find someone appropriate to move in. First world problems eh?

This wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't have 2 kids in grade school and our lease being up in the middle of the school year. The other thing that saddens me is the fact that I love our ward, I love our home (even if it is a bit cramped at the moment, lol), and I especially love the school the kids go to. I guess I need to spend more time on my knees to get help in working out this conundrum, eh? 

Not to be all preachy, but I know I'm nothing without the help of my Heavenly Father, and it helps keep humble...or at least I try to stay humble. I struggle at times, just like every other mortal, but miracles like these only increase my faith and help strengthen my testimony. I hope that this story can help you see the hand of God in all things, and be reminded that He loves you just as much as he loves my family, and He's there waiting for you to turn to Him when you need Him.

I've loved each and every one fo you who have taken the time to read my blog and especially those of you who have taken the time to comment. I know your lives get busy, so I especially appreciate you. What's going on in your life right now? Good or bad, I want to know. Let me be a listening ear in addition to just a mouth on the web.

Day 5: Why Do I Feel So Much Shame? How Am I Going To Change It?

Keeping in line with the theme of schemas, today's blog will be about the defectiveness/shame schema.

Just a quick reminder of the definition, this schema refers to the belief that one is inherently flawed and that if others get close, they will realize this and withdraw from the relationship, This feeling of being flawed and inadequate often leads to a strong sense of shame. Generally parents were very critical of their children and made them feel as if they were not worthy of being loved.

When I think back to my childhood, I don't know if my parents were super critical or not. I honestly can't remember. I remember them having high standards for me and expecting me to get A's in school, but I was in the the Gifted program as a child, so I think that might have been part of it. I know schoolwork came easily to me, so easily in fact that I was often bored during class. I was also bullied mercilessly for being smart and catching onto to things quicker than others, and for coming up with ideas that were most certainly outside of the box. When you're going to an inner city school, sticking out like that is bad. I can still remember how much it hurt to be made fun of for always raising my hand when I knew the answer because 9 times out of 10, I knew the answer, plus a bit of trivia to go along with it. I was just a kid, and very socially awkward. I didn't learn until years later that nobody likes a know-it-all and my wealth of knowledge was very much unwanted and undesired.

I think I acquired this schema over years of being bullied at school and no one doing anything about it. It probably also stems from the years of abuse I endured while many people (actually pretty much everyone) turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to my sufferings. I know that at a young age I started cutting because I couldn't handle all the emotions inside of me that I didn't understand. I never said anything to anyone about the cutting because I didn't think anyone would care, and I felt a deep sense of shame at the fact I was cutting. I knew I shouldn't do it for some reason, but I was still compelled to do it when I became overwhelmed, which was often.

I don't know when I started believing that people didn't care about me and that I was nothing, but I know it was pretty ingrained in my head by the time I was 13. I struggled even more as a teen, and things only got worse in my twenties. Now that I'm 30, things have reached a head, and I'm ready for some hope and change. REAL hope and change. Hope and change that I have control over.

I don't want to deal with these feelings of shame, rejection, inadequacy and failure anymore. I can look back and see where the thoughts might have started, but I'm ready to change them now. I feel ready to accept the things that happened to me, and acknowledge that they hurt and move on. I've got a long road ahead of me, but I think I'm ready to start letting people see the real me, and if they don't like what they see, well then they weren't worth the energy spent on them anyway.

Who am I though? I'm a snotty, sarcastic brat sometimes. I get my feelings easily hurt. I don't like being criticized, too much anyway. I don't like gossip or talking about people behind their backs, and I'm disinclined to befriend anyone who does that. I'm loyal to the people I care about. I'm a semi-devout Mormon. I love my religion but I struggle with the practicing it at all times, and in all things, and in all places. It's all a part of the learning to be a good Mormon thing though, and I don't stop working at it. I have to remember not one member is a perfect Mormon and it helps keep me calm-ish when I inevitably screw up, lol. I'll come out swinging if I feel my kids are being threatened or in danger. My daughter's school definitely knows who I am because I don't hesitate to talk to them if I perceive a problem. I'm officially a geek. My husband can be thanked for that. I quote Harry Potter like Scripture, am obsessed with Orson Scott Card's Ender Games series, and am impatiently awaiting Catching Fire being released. I love fighting for mental health rights, and am passionate about promoting anti-bulllying and suicide prevention programs for all the grade schools across Utah. I thoroughly enjoy my work with NAMI as well as the small part I play with the AFSP. I want to do more and am slowly building up to being more active in those organizations.

I think maybe I am starting to love me. Or at least like me a little bit. I mean, if I met someone who was just like the person I described me as, I'd at least like them. I might even adore them. So if I could adore a hypothetical person who is just like me, why can't I adore me? Why can't I be my biggest fan? I mean, no one else is going to be my constant cheerleader like I can be. My husband does his best, and my friends do their best, but they all fall short. I've got to cheer me on because only I know the best way to cheer for me.

And in all honesty, I haven't been a very easy person to befriend. I've perceived myself as socially awkward for so long that it's my defense mechanism I hide behind. I can't be sociable because no one will like me for who I really am. I'm always sticking my foot in my mouth so I should stay aloof and distant. My therapist says I hide behind my sarcasm, but I'm working on overcoming that. I've been 100% genuine in all of my conversations with commenters and in my blog posts.

I can't think so negatively anymore. One of the biggest things I have to do is practice forgiveness. I have to forgive myself for all the screw ups I've made, and let them go. God has forgiven me for my sins 'and remembers them no more', why can't I do the same? I've got to. I've also got to accept that it was...not...my...fault...for being abused as a child. I am slowly coming to terms with that and trying to accept that I was a helpless victim at the time. I pray that I'll be able to forgive myself because once I'm not holding myself to such impossible standards, maybe I'll truly love myself then.  I'll be able to see others as the beautifully imperfect people they are too, and enjoy having them in my life.

So, another introspective blog about where I am in this adventure called Life, and where I plan on heading next. I've made goals, now I have to follow through with them. Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need a healthy dose of that to become the person I dream of being. I hope you found my journey through this schema interesting and not a boring waste of time. If you've stuck with me this long, thanks for sticking it out with me.

So is there anything you discovered about yourself as you read this post? Do you have any goals you want to make, or any things you'd like to start changing about yourself? I still feel I'm a very flawed being, I know I've got lots of work to do to change that. How much work, if any, do you think you have to do on yourself?

It's that day again! Thankful Thursday!

It's one of my favorite days again! Thankful Thursday! I've had a really rough week, and my trials seem particularly numerous at the moment, but today I am grateful for so many things. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who hears my prayers and answers them, for moments that build my testimony of Him, and for lessons that I've learned through Him.

I'm also incredibly grateful fr my family; my husband who suffers so many things silently so he can provide for us, for my mother who does all she can to stay close to us and still try to look after us, lol. For in-laws that help out whenever needed and adore my children. I'm so grateful for my children who are the tools God uses to teach me lessons more often than not, lol...but especially because they are my most precious jewels that money could never buy.

I'm grateful for you readers who stick with me and muddle through my blog posts with me, and especially for those of you who are kind enough to leave a comment on your thoughts and opinions as well. I love you all, and I'm so blessed to have you here in my life.

Apathy Versus Acceptance

How do you know when the reason you're letting something roll of your back is good or bad? If it's because you've accepted it, or simply because you've become despondent and apathetic over it? This is what my therapist wanted me to think about this week, because I've just been letting life slide past me, not really caring one way or the other what was happening. She asked me pointed questions to see if I was just coming to terms with our situation and ad accepted it, or if I was so overwhelmed by all the events that I've become pathetic. Given the sheer weight of everything on my shoulder's, we determined I was simply shutting down and it was apathy dictating my behavior, not acceptance. I want to be clear here, acceptance is not approval, it simply acknowledging what's going on and doing what you can to improve the situation. Apathy is your brain shutting down to protect itself from more stress...not literally shutting down of course, but hopefully you get what I mean.

I've mentioned our issues with the IRS a few times over the course of this blog, and I'll probably mention them a few more times as this blog goes on. They're complete douche-bags...well, the entity as a whole, I've talked to some really kind and wonderful people over the course of dealing with our tax issues. Now, if you want a sincere douche-bag, that would be the state tax commission. Those bastards REFUSE to work with us, and instead continue to get some sick pleasure out of garnishing our wages...stopping for a few months, and then saying "JUST KIDDING!", we really want another couple thousand. In addition to the $3000 they've already taken. And that has nothing to do with the $50,000 the IRS thinks they're going to get from us. We don't even have $5,000 in assets, paying off an incorrect debt of 50k will never happen.

I've talked about this a lot in therapy because it is a HUGE stressor that literally makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it. I've talked to tax lawyers, and they all want at least 5000 as a retainer before they'll even take the case on. At the advice of my therapist, I contacted a few CPA's, and they want 750 to just get the years not filed done. Once those years are filed then I can take over and hopefully get the OIC that I originally sent in reconsidered. I had no hope at all until I discovered CPA's and that they could help too. It resparked my hope that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel because while $750 is a lot of money, it's much less than $5000.

All this stress with the IRS has led me to be very apathetic in other aspects of my life as well, I've lost interest in my marriage at times, I've felt hopeless about the future, felt like things would never improve, and it's even led me to contemplating suicide at times...what right does the government have to have so much control over my life like that. I think they have more control over my emotions than I do somedays. It's not right. I shouldn't have to feel so despondent over this that I can't function on a day to day basis because I've just given up on life. What right do they have to harass people to death?

Oh the trials we mortals have to suffer through. I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking "I wish that was all the problems I had', but it's worse than that. When our wages are garnished it pulls us down to the poverty rate of a family of three, and there's 6 of us. We don't live a lavish lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination, and we can't even pay our bills when this happens. We've been together 6 years, and because of this whole thing, we've never been on a family vacation, we don't have our kids enrolled in any extracurricular activities, and even going out to dinner as a family is a luxury we can seldom afford. My husband and I try to go out to the movies at least twice a month, because we value date nights and realize how important they are to a marriage, but that's the extent of our entertainment for the month usually.

Take right now for instance, we have $40 in our bank account, and 4 days until payday, and both our cars are on empty, and there are bills that still need to be paid. Part of this shortage of disposable income is my fault...I have so many medical bills that we're trying to pay off, and it's really eating into our income as well. We'll be paying off medical bills for at least another year, unless by the grace of God we find another job that pays more and we can pay them off sooner. And speaking of jobs, to make matters even wose, my husband was informed last week that his job will be relocating to Oregon as of June of next year, so he is frantically job searching for work here in our area. It's so hard to stay encouraging during this trial because he gets so down over every place that declines to interview him, and it breaks my heart. I don't know how to comfort him and really show him the confidence I have in him.

I hate living like this. I pray that things will improve, and I have hope for the future right now, but it's a long, cold, depressing path I'm on when I get overwhelmed by all this. Sorry for the downer blog, but I had to vent somewhere about what was going round in my head, and since this is my blog, what better place to do it then here?

So, apathy or acceptance? Where do you think I'm at with all the stress going on in my crazy life? And what's going on in your life? Cheer me up with the good news in your life right now.

I'm going to be a real published blogger!

Guess what everyone? I signed up for a guest blogger website, and got a request from a website to write an article about bipolar disorder, which, (while not being a medical expert, feel I have some expertise in), I did!

I totally expected them to send me back an e-mail saying thanks for the effort, but this isn't what we're looking for, but they didn't!

Instead I got e-mail saying they really enjoyed the article and it will be published June 17th!

I can't believe it!

That's all the news I have for the moment, but I'm sure I'll have something new to talk about soonly!

Mental Health Awareness Month

As you know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I just felt I had to do something to make sure I was really spreading the word. A group I'm in on facebook shared this picture :

 

and I fell in love with it. I adore owls, so this was something I just had to have. Then today, another group I'm in shared this photo:

and of course I had to have it too!

 

So what was I going to do to show my bipolar pride and speak out against stigma? 

 

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let me show you!

 

 

I created my own Awareness shirt, all with a white tee and some transfer paper! Oh, and the use of my printer, computer, and my mum's iron, lol. I LOVE how it turned out! What do you think?