It is 52 degrees outside as the sun works to warm the morning. The landscape is shrouded in fog, with only hints of Parker mountain in the distance. From my vantage point on the front porch, I can hear the beating of bird wings as they come and go from the feeders. And there are a pair of squirrels working the grass around the feeder pole, munching on the sunflower seeds … [Read more...] about An Authentic Self-Care Morning, As Even the Wildlife, Seem Thankful
Unhelpful thinking
How to Use Coping Statements for Self-Care During the Holidays
How will you cope with the holidays? That is a question I am asking myself. Each year presents different challenges. When the kids were young, it was making sure Santa had time to get the presents under the tree before the kids awoke. My coping statement then was “we have done this before; we can do it again.” As the kids became young adults, the challenge was to get … [Read more...] about How to Use Coping Statements for Self-Care During the Holidays
What Depression Doesn’t Want You To Know About Unhelpful Thinking Styles
Predictable, steady, expectable, certain, sure, unsurprising, humdrum, obvious, and foreseeable. That is my life. And that has been my life for several months. I guess it is always something. And depression has clouded my life with generous helpings of unhelpful thinking. A year ago, I was fixated on not being able to get started in the morning. It took five months of … [Read more...] about What Depression Doesn’t Want You To Know About Unhelpful Thinking Styles
Want to get me feeling like I don’t deserve something?
Then just pay me a compliment. My mind immediately goes to everything I have ever done that didn’t measure up. I cannot hear the “good job” because my head is filled with “You don’t deserve this,” or “it’s only a matter of time before people figure out I am a fraud or imposter.” With all that in my head, I cannot hear “good job.” Now I have been working on this. I … [Read more...] about Want to get me feeling like I don’t deserve something?
The Real Truth About Depression and My Survivors Guilt
Some days I need to remind myself that I have depression. But most days, I know that depression and I have a lifelong connection. As I move further away from my time in the hospital, I am beginning to feel guilty for being alive. The better things are going in my life, the more I feel guilty. After all there are many people in much worse shape than I ever was, even as I … [Read more...] about The Real Truth About Depression and My Survivors Guilt
