Category: Life
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What’s a Family?
One of the greatest discoveries of my lifetime is that family is not just a bunch of people who happen to be genetically related to you, or a group of people you marry into. Family is literally what you want it to be. Your pets are your family. Your friends are your family. Your neighbors…
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Dear Family Member,
Hello! I had a wonderful time seeing you this weekend. I thought you threw an amazing party and everyone had such a good time. I’m really sorry I didn’t realize that I didn’t need to stay at a hotel and I just crashed in on you. Your husband said it was ok. I didn’t want…
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Bodily Autonomy
As a child who was forced to hug relatives I hated, I learned that I didn’t get to make decisions for my own body. As a 16 year old who was sexually assaulted in a relationship, I was blamed for being alone with the person and not listening to my parents. As a 19 year…
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Being Present
One of my greatest challenges is staying present in the moment. My mind wanders often to the past, dredging up mistakes I’ve made, stupid comments I’ve said, and times when I was a complete asshole. If I’m not stuck thinking about the past, I’m looking at the future trying to figure out what comes next.…
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We All Have Gifts!
I spent a lot of my life being average. Average height as a little kid. Average weight most years, sometimes really thin. Average grades. Average family. Average athletic ability. Average to maybe below average creativity. I was just solidly average in so many facets of life. At times I was higher than average at school,…
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We’re all beautifully damaged
As I started on my journey after retiring from the military, I spent a lot of time thinking about my VA claim. It’s a ridiculous process where, after 20+ years in the military and going to the doctor just enough to take care of the most painful things, you have to fight for everything that…
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Heart of Steel
I am an empath. I remember the day I started being able to feel other people’s emotions. I was young, watching the first Christopher Reeve “Superman” movie. There’s a part where his dad on earth dies and his mother is heartbroken and he decides it’s time to leave home. I think I was like 7…
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ADHD Emotional Dysregulation
This is my number one problem with ADHD. In the before times, when I wasn’t taking anything for it, I had these huge emotional swings that were epic and daunting for those around me. I could go between deliriously happy and epically angry in about 30 seconds. I thought I had something else going on,…