trauma

  • It’s Getting Progressively More Difficult

    I’ll be honest. I really don’t want to write this, but I know it will help me once I do. The one year anniversary of my dad’s passing quickly approaches. Of all days too, he passed away on Halloween last year. It crept up in my mind going back to August. Halloween decorations slowly pushed…

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  • Battle of the Subconscious

    Battle of the Subconscious

    Growing up, I was obsessed with cartoons. I watched Rugrats and Spongebob before jumping on the schoolbus. I got home from school around 3 o’clock every day, which was just in time to plop down in my favorite chair to catch the latest episode of Pokemon. At night, it was whatever I could catch on…

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  • Settling In

    Settling In

    My neck. My back. Ouch. My back. Cut! We are stopping there. My back hurts. I am definitely feeling my age more and more every day. I spent the better part of fourteen hours on Memorial Day piecing together two dressers, an office desk, an aquarium, and a guinea pig pen. It was likely the…

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  • Shortly after I wrote my last blog post about how my behaviors mimicked those of my father, I came across the above picture on my Facebook timeline. You know, this was always part of my internal conflict about my parents. My rational side clearly knew my parents were flawed. It is a wonder I did…

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  • The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree

    I have no idea why, but I got to thinking about my dating life this morning. I am going to sound cocky when I say this, but getting dates has not been the problem. I possess a charismatic personality that pulls people in. The issue comes with keeping them around. It has been five years…

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  • Shake The Shock

    Shake The Shock

    Writing last week’s post stuck with me. I touched on our how tumultuous social climate presents as a chronic, collective trauma. Day in and day out, we get hit with more bad news without any time to recover. In talking to my therapist this week, I understood why reflecting on this issue lingered in the…

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  • Dear Dad

    Dear Dad

    It’s been two weeks, and I still cannot believe that it happened. Something felt off when I tried calling you for two days straight with no answer. In a last ditch effort to reach you, I called your wife after one of my sessions. What I did not expect to hear was a frantic cry…

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  • Communicating Acceptance

    Communicating Acceptance

    Just like many parents, mine drive me bonkers. They call me every day, and it is almost always when I am in the middle of something like work or sleeping. If I do not call them back within a half hour or so, a barrage of phone calls comes my way followed with “Are you…

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  • Ten Years Later

    Ten Years Later

    Fucking Facebook. I have such a love-hate relationship with the Facebook memories feature. If you are unfamiliar with the Book of Faces, just like an ex-girlfriend, this is where it sends you a notification of all the stupid shit you posted on that same date since you established your profile. I sadly joined Facebook in…

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  • Back to the Basics: Principles of Self-Care

    Sitting in a psych ward offers up a lot of downtime. Other than going to group and meals, not a whole lot happens outside of the occasional patient freak out. Usually, patients spent their time watching television or coloring at one of the round tables. Following a tumultuous few weeks and a nervous breakdown, I…

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