Opinion: I believe everyone has the strength to quit smoking cold turkey like I did six years ago
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.*. It’s hard to believe after all this time has gone by without smoking that I was a pack a day smoker for about thirteen years.
Read full storyOpinion: You don't understand what it means to be a parent until you are a parent yourself
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events as told to me by a friend who experienced them firsthand; used with permission. A few weeks ago my friend confided in me that she is pregnant.
Read full storyMy mother's shame did not stop me from having my own affair
*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events as told to me by a family member who experienced them firsthand; used with permission. I couldn’t believe it when my grandmother told me that my mom had had an affair with my grandfather’s best friend - and that I was the product of that affair.
Read full storyOpinion: Bad bosses who abuse their employees keep people out of the workforce
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.*. I’ve had more than my fair share of terrible bosses. That is the number one thing that is keeping me from applying to even more places than I already have in the past few months— the more keep thinking about it and the more I keep getting closer to the workforce, the more I am reminded about my horrible bosses and how I said I’d never take crap from one again.
Read full storyOpinion: My 14 year old daughter came out as gay and I couldn't be more happy or proud as her mom
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.*. “You know I’m gay, right? I like girls the way I should like boys.”“
Read full storyTalking about being the other woman in an affair opens you up to judgement and abuse
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.*. It isn’t easy talking about the affair that I had with my best friend’s husband, but I do it because I feel that it’s healing for me to finally get it out.
Read full storyThe other woman who had an affair with her close friend's husband was me.
*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.*. Yeah, that’s a doozy of a sentence. It always trips me up, when I think it in my head and when I write it down (because I’ve certainly never said it out loud, not even to my therapist, although I probably should!) and then it spins in my head like a record:
Read full storyOpinion: I hate being called a sensitive, delicate flower when I am mentally ill
I never considered myself to be a delicate flower until so many people in my life put me in that box. “You’re so sensitive,” is something I’ve been hearing all my life since I was a child.
Read full storyOpinion: I would rather have an abortion than give a baby up for adoption
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission. When I was twenty-three I got pregnant accidentally. I say accidentally because I was on birth control at the time, I just happened to be one of the one percent of the population that still gets pregnant, anyway.
Read full storyLosing weight is less important than keeping my mental health intact
As I write this, I am the biggest I have ever been, somewhere around 260 pounds but hopefully not over that number, as the last few times I’ve weighed myself it’s fluctuated a bit, but has been closer to 260 than 250.
Read full storyI am too fat to fit in the chairs at the theatre where we saw Hamilton
A few months ago I had the pleasure and good fortune to go see Hamilton the musical with my sister, and what was supposed to be one of the most fun days I’ve had in ages turned into a nightmare that I still can’t stop thinking about.
Read full storyGetting pregnant did a better job saving my life than an intervention
*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission. In six months, my daughter will turn fourteen years old, and I will have officially kept a child alive through her tweenage years.
Read full storyOpinion: I hate talk therapy but I need it to fight off my mental illness
I don’t write much online about my mental health issues. In case you missed it, I have major depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Most of my symptoms are under control thanks to a four pill cocktail that I take every morning and don’t think I could possibly live without, but (TMI) lately, since I’ve stopped taking hormonal birth control, my brain juices are all out of whack and I’ve found myself slipping into episodes of deep, serious, verging on a depression that makes me think it’s time to look for a new therapist.
Read full storySome Americans are too poor to have a savings account and I am one of them
Those are the things I should be instilling into my own daughter right now when it comes to money management. Put a third of your money in savings first, a third of the money is yours to spend, and give a third away to charity.
Read full storyMy disabled daughter's only friends are a bunch of YouTube stars
*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission. “Go over to that stranger’s house, see if they have any kids, and if they do, see if they’ll let you inside for lunch.”
Read full storyGoing to small claims court for a debt you can't pay is humiliating
I just had my day in court — I am getting sued for a debt I can’t afford to pay. I like to use the expression “you can’t get water from stone” but apparently that isn’t the case when you are sued in small claims court.
Read full storyI gave my disabled daughter away when I had a nervous breakdown thinking about our future
I’ve suffered from depression and other mental health issues for years, and every few years or so there comes a time when I can’t get my emotions and life under control and I spiral down and down, farther down than I usually ever go, and unfortunately begin to consider alternatives to the pain.
Read full storyOpinion: Depression and anxiety are what keep me from working at a real job
I hate to admit it, but the biggest reason I don’t have a “real” job is that I am too anxious and depressed to even consider applying for jobs. I have struggled with my mental health for years, but my last job, well, my last boss to be precise, took a toll on me that has kept me from wanting to re-enter the regular workforce for years.
Read full storyOpinion: Be your biggest fan because no one is waiting for your book to be published
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission. When it comes to writing, sometimes I feel like that guy looks in the picture above.
Read full storyNormalize thanking people for their apologies instead of saying "it's okay"
*This is a work of nonfiction and opinion based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission. Last summer my best friend left me waiting for over 40 minutes past our agreed upon meeting time in a parking lot in the blazing sun.
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