Mental Health

I’m a law school student, and I’ve been spending a great deal of time around family law. This is a place where everyone has to give the person they are leaving a mental health diagnosis in order to justify pursuing a divorce. It seems like everyone has a narcissistic ex, even though only about 6% of our country’s population has been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. This isn’t just an issue in family law. People weaponize mental health terms in order to make themselves feel like “the right one,” the “good guy,” etc. Basically, we’ve all become that guy that says “That b**ch is crazy” about all of his exes, we’ve just found fancier words for it. Which made me realize how...

Death is rough! No one is ever prepared and it isn’t easy to deal with or talk about. We lost a significant part of our family this past summer, and as an adult, the feelings that have come with that have been painful and hard to articulate, so for my young children, it must be overwhelming. I have learned that it is important to discuss what happened and to talk about it. I am in no way an expert, but here are some things that are helping me as I walk with my children through this painful process. Being Open Right Away. Telling my children shortly after it happened provided them with an explanation for the red eyes and constant tears. Allowing...

As an adult who struggles with daily anxiety, I learned how to navigate mental illness and mental happiness by trial by fire. I do not remember ever having conversations with my parents about my mental health, we absolutely came from the "pull yourself up from the bootstraps" circle of Louisiana. I tried to pull myself up by my bootstraps but when that failed (horribly, I might add), I ended up in a conversation with my General Practitioner about ways to cope with anxiety. Years later, I am determined that my kids will have a healthier relationship with themselves and their mental health. As a parent, I find myself constantly overanalyzing parenting decisions. Suddenly I am responsible for the livelihood and...

Y’all-I saw someone on a Facebook post that they put paper hearts on their kid's door every day in February. You write on the heart a reason you love them. I know, I know one more thing to do. It’s like the Valentine’s version Elf on a Shelf. Just hear me out! I have four kids and a husband. Each one gets a heart on their bedroom door. I just started this on February 1st for the very first time. This week in particular has been tough. The meltdowns, the pent-up energy, the screaming, the hitting, and the listening ears not working. I’ve stayed overstimulated! I sat down last night and had to truly rack my brain to find...

Our house has needed some happiness these past few weeks and we have found it in the Netflix Original Series Queer Eye. We have watched all of the prior seasons as well but Season 6 in Austin, Texas has taught our family some lessons that are now close to our hearts. I love that we can watch this show as a family and we all laugh and I will be honest, I normally get a little teary-eyed. Here are five lessons The Fab Five taught our family: Black can make a room look bigger.  Bobby Berk taught us that a black wall in a small space makes the space BIGGER. We have lived our lives thinking that black walls make a space...