mental health
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Community is the Antidote to Anxiety
Several years ago, new to Connecticut, I spoke about my crippling social anxiety. Those who encounter me now would be astonished to learn this. I’m the one chatting up anyone and everyone in line at the grocery store. The one with the best energy, giving compliments left and right, making someone’s day with a quick… Continue reading
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On Mothering
Postscript: I wrote this years ago. I went to write a post responding to a prompt that referenced a story within, and realized it’s been in my drafts all along. As with a poem about relational tension and an essay about when to scrap an unfinished painting I shared earlier in the year, I’ve decided… Continue reading
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Don’t Forget Your Other Child
Healing the inner child wound & reparenting yourself, for mothers Continue reading
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Treating Endometriosis Pain with Hormones
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out? Today, when I had a procedure done. Continue reading
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Abandonment Risk
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret. Loving people. With love, I will get hurt. I don’t believe that love is inherently hurtful. I’m sensitive to average relational experiences. Continue reading
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Burnout Cure: The Cleansing Ritual
How do you unwind after a demanding day? I used to let my mental health spiral out of control. I’d be overwhelmed, overworked, and drowning, but I’d keep tending to the needs of my children, husband, home and community instead of reaching for a life preserver. I thought I was being good. I thought that… Continue reading
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Cut the Roses
I’ve written before about a good friend of mine, a neighbor who’s pushing eighty. This friend does a little somethin’ that’s familiar from my punk rock days called dumpster diving, and loves to share the spoils. Continue reading
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What I’ll Measure
I showed up to the gym without a shirt on. Moments prior, I dashed around the house, throwing various items in my teen son’s former backpack, another hand-me-up, emblazoned with colorful profiles of various Marvel superheroes. Predicting the things I’d use to get ready in a short amount of time was harder than expected, but… Continue reading
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Why Do People Gossip?
Gossip makes me uncomfortable. I’ve left groups because of it before, and again recently. Continue reading
About Me
I’m an artist. Sometimes I paint impressionist townscapes in oils, other times I sketch out what I’d rather be painting in pencil. I design intentional environments in my home, and sometimes I get around to projects that the design consists of. I flip thrifted clothes, or I let ideas pile up like used fabrics overflowing from a box in my basement. This is a metaphor, but also a fact.
I’m a writer. Sometimes that means bad poetry. I often meander in my prose, as I find it hard not to mention every detail, what something reminds me of, and all of the background information you could never want.
I’m an explorer. Sometimes I explore the great outdoors, or other countries. Other times, my nose deep in a book, I’m exploring the universal human experience, nature science, ancient wisdom and impacts of colonialism. Often, I’m exploring my own inner experience through train-of-thought journaling.
I’m restless in my curiosity and consistently creative. To an outsider, it’s clear that leading a creative life involves output: paintings, outfits, decor, a garden. The creative knows that this output requires a frequent stream and synthesis of that input. This blog is the space I use to organize and sort my meandering thoughts and pile of ideas.