The Unreliability of Our Perspectives
In which I find value to having doubt.
depression
How the Holidays Are for Some People
This may take me a couple of days to write, because of the reason why I’m writing it. Thanksgiving to Christmas, aka The Holidays, can be a lot of fun. But they are also crazy stressful, and for those of us who struggle with mental illness, even those in recovery, it can be crazy hard. … Read more
How To Make Bad Things Good
Most of my life I was pretty miserable. There are a lot of reasons why that was so. And it took me a long time, a lot of learning, and a lot of effort to turn that around. But you know what? The secret is amazingly simple. The way to make Bad Things into Good … Read more
Gratitude and Having a Net Gain in Life
We had a lesson in Relief Society today that got my brain churning again (you can usually tell by the steam coming out of my ears). Not necessarily totally new stuff, but new information on a topic that I’ve thought about a lot over the years. Gratitude. Now, as with many things, data gathered by … Read more
Book arts!
I got my supplies for my book arts class today and I’m excited. So far for class we’ve explored a little bookmaking, and looked at some ancient books from the BSU special collections, and explored papermaking from a great papermaker out in Mountain Home. Everything has been interesting and informative, but I have to say … Read more
The 3 Aspects of Fighting Depression
I had a good talk with my counselor last week. We were talking about fighting depression and how you need to maintain a balanced battle against its evil. It’s a balancing act, but with diligence and hard work, you can really make progress against depression. First, there’s the physical battle. Medication, sleep, exercise, diet. This … Read more
What if — ?
School starts next week. I’m nervous. The ‘what if — ?’ scenarios keep going through my head. What if I’m not good at this? What if the professor doesn’t like me? What if I can’t pull myself out of this funk and get some work done? It’s pretty intimidating if I let myself think about … Read more
Motivation
I’m sitting here listening to music and, until a moment ago, playing solitaire. Meanwhile, I have a messy house, 20 lbs of cherries needing canning, barbershop music to practice, and half a dozen other things I need to be doing. I think that one of the things I struggle with is finding motivation to get … Read more
From the Darkness
1st essay from Non-fiction writing The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. – Henry David Thoreau, Walden According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the preeminent authority on psychiatric diagnoses, major depressive disorder is characterized by the following symptoms: either a depressed mood or a loss of interest … Read more