The Struggle Is Mental
These posts are all about the day-in and day-out... the struggles... the living and breathing... the challenges of being the parent of a child with mental illness.
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It’s a Part of Me Now
I have been absent for a while; please forgive me. LIFE has been taking precedence over the blog, but I’m back. Why didn’t I decide to write a charming fashion blog? It’s sounding better and better everyday, because it’s gut-wrenching to sit in front of a screen and pour out these ups and downs. On the off chance that there’s someone out there who feels a little less alone because she’s reading this, I will say good-bye to my fashion dreams and plunge forward. Here goes… If you read my last post, you might recall that my daughter* decided to end therapy. She just didn’t want to go back. I…
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Mommy, I Don’t Want to Go Back
Dear friend, I have been dreading this post for a while. I have started, deleted, and restarted so many times…I’ve honestly lost track. Today’s the day; I have to tell you about my child deciding to quit therapy. Last Friday This revelation came last week. I felt something building for a while, because David and Alex (my nicknames for his* depression and anxiety) have been on an extended vacation in our home. The bad days have been outnumbering the good. Related post: 6 Ways My Child’s Mental Illness is Like Any Other Illness He came home from school and said, “Mommy, I don’t want to go to therapy anymore.” Just…
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World Mental Health Day
It’s October 10. HAPPY WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY!!!! I had no idea this was a thing. October is the month for Halloween, stuck somewhere in the abyss between school starting and the Christmas blur. Now that mental health is a huge part of my family’s life, I look at October with fresh eyes. I’m feeling like sorta like “Hallo-what?” “Hallo-WHO???” We’ve wasted so many years, celebrating Halloween over and over again, because we didn’t know about World Mental Health Day (WMHD). Thank you, Instagram I would have missed another year of WMHD if it wasn’t for social media. Instagram has been a surprising resource. I’ve connected with experts in the…
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She Can’t Breathe!!
Picture it… Picture it. Sicily. 1923. Okay, so it wasn’t really Sicily. It wasn’t 1923. And my name isn’t Sophia. But it was the first time my child had to struggle for her* life. Go ahead and picture it. A hospital room. The Labor and Delivery wing. Sometime this millennium. I was in active labor. The cute little “keep-breathing-through-it” part had ended, and the screeching pain of pushing was in full effect. It took a while, but she finally entered the world. My job was done…or was it? Waiting for her to cry I’ve had multiple children, so I knew what came next. I closed my eyes to rest and…
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6 Ways My Child’s Mental Illness Is Like Any Other Illness
I talked to a dear friend the other day about her son. Her precious boy has a genetic disorder. The more we talked, the more I realized one simple truth: our lives are remarkably similar.