03 May 2016
28 February 2016
25 February 2016
07 December 2015
We Don't Have Forever
11 October 2015
24 September 2015
21 September 2015
13 September 2015
12 September 2015
11 September 2015
04 September 2015
By Marina Keegan
“So what I’m trying to say is you should text me back.
Because there’s a precedent. Because there’s an urgency.
Because there’s a bedtime.
Because when the world ends I might not have my phone charged and
If you don’t respond soon,
I won’t know if you’d wanna leave your shadow next to mine.”
“I will live for love and the rest will take care of itself.”
http://thoughtcatalog.com/koty-neelis/2015/08/14-beautiful-passages-from-marina-keegans-the-opposite-of-loneliness-that-will-inspire-you-to-live-a-happy-positive-more-fulfilling-life/?utm_content=bufferee6a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
15 August 2015
We Are Not a Project
I’m Not Your Project Just Because I Have A Mental Illness - Lexie Lindskog
An open letter to anyone who has someone in their life struggling with depression, anxiety, or self-injury:
We don’t need you to fix us. We are not a project for you to tackle so you can feel better about yourself. We are not a problem to solve. We are not here to answer questions we know full well you don’t want the real honest answer to as a way to lift a burden you choose to carry.
When you ask how we are and we reply “okay,” know that we aren’t. When we have a new scar and you assume it was done to get your attention, you’re right. Not because we expect you to have an answer or to fix the problem but simply because we need you to care enough to bring a bandaid. We need someone who can help us understand why we need to show how we feel inwardly in an outward way. But since we don’t know why we have this need, we don’t know how to help you help us.
When we are depressed and you ask if you can do anything, the answer we are screaming is YES. But most of the time, that yes will be so silent, it’s deafening. We need you to help us clean the house and get out of bed long enough to shower. You can’t fix our problem and we aren’t able to give you the tools you might need to help us. So don’t make us talk about it. Instead, remind us why we matter. Tell us why you need us in your life.
When we are struggling with our anxiety and you tell us it will all work out—that we shouldn’t worry—it feels like you’re squeezing a lemon over an open wound. It’s not helpful. In fact, canned reassurance only makes us more anxious. Because now we feel obligated to act like everything’s okay when it’s not just so we’re not judged by you. If we knew how to get over it, we would have done that already. We aren’t incapable of understanding—of seeing the logic that, yes, eventually things might be okay. But for the time being, nothing is okay, so we walk around bearing a weight so heavy, the thought of breathing becomes overwhelming.
We are not a project. We are not overreacting. We do not have an innate need to be the center of attention. We are a living breathing example of what living life from within a box is like. We can hear everyone shouting from the outside, telling us to break the box and set ourselves free, but we are paralyzed by our own sense of who we are and what we can’t control. So we remain there, locked inside.
What do you need to know to help those around you trapped in a box of depression, anxiety, or self injury?
Don’t focus on breaking the box to set someone free. Instead, build your own box and set it down gently next to theirs. Build a bridge from your box to theirs, clear a path, and always leave your door open.
We all live in glass boxes. It’s how we choose to build a community around these individual boxes that really matters.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/lexie-lindskog/2015/07/we-are-not-a-project-changing-how-others-deal-with-our-mental-illness/
13 June 2015
Summertime Happiness
The shells are getting longer, wider
And the walls,
Smaller, smaller
Holding hands up high
Surrendering
Though pride clenches
And resists
Throat closes
And the eyes betray
Anxious
And the heart wilting
Rewind quick
To a memory when
Everything was wrong
And everyone had gone
Haunting, pushing
On shoulders abound
Dragging legs
The ears a'whisper...
Vines of regret
Creeping up
Crushing
Pulling
Drowning
The days are brighter
Through the eyes unseen
Through the skin untouched
Through the soul darken
Gripping sunlight
The heart sinks
With fingertips failing
And mind escaping
The shells are wider
Through the sole pricks
Through the tongue gags
Through the hands restrained
Catching familiarity
Elusive as air
Yearned comfort as clouds
Though scars as lightning
The walls
Approaching
Closing in
Fear clutching
Memories dissected
Dignity severed
Left ego abound, unknown amount
Pride pleading
Tortured mind
Begging fleeting whims
In diversion
Finding pleasure
Footsteps
One
Two
And more
Demise or rise
For the soul is hanging
For a thread of saving
In this life i'm wishing
A little tired,
But not exhausted,
Not enough.
Not nearly enough.
Love,
Lina
31 May 2015
Privilege For All Ages
This is beautiful.
http://www.vagabomb.com/This-Comic-Will-Forever-Change-the-Way-You-Look-at-Privilege/
30 May 2015
Monotony Not Always Boring
Our life is frittered away by detail. …Simply, simplify. - Henry David Thoreau
http://elitedaily.com/money/science-simplicity-successful-people-wear-thing-every-day/849141/