Mental Health

There’s so much talk about COVID-19 in the present, but what about once we can leave our homes again?  Moms are going to need a break. They are going to need to decompress. Now, before the “they’re your kids group” starts protesting, KNOW THIS.... we love our children. And truthfully, there are very few people we trust more than ourselves with them. However, just like a good workout, rest is necessary.  Personal time is necessary. So when the Social Distancing is lifted, reach out to a mom.  She will need you.  It doesn’t matter if she is a single mom, a married mom, a mom living with her mom, a rich mom, or an economically disadvantaged mom...she will need you. ...

I was on autopilot. Living my life one bad habit after the other. Everyone is guilty of this from time to time. We get tired, fall into ruts, and go about our days going through the same monotonous routines over and over again. Our brains just “shut off” and we sometimes create bad habits without even realizing it. My daughter came home and cried to me one day saying that she was having a lot of really bad days lately. I was also having a lot of really bad days lately. Was she having bad days because I was having bad days? Was it just a coincidence? Were we creating our own bad days? Either way, there we were, having...

Hi there. Did you click on this link because the title stirs something in you? Was there a moment in your life where someone didn't believe you? I do. I promise. I just wanted to get that out of the way before I tell you my story. Seriously, I do. Drama Queen When I was a girl, I wanted to be on the stage. I was sensible enough in those years to recognize I had a slightly above-par singing voice and an awkward yet tolerable stage-presence, so the theater wasn’t going to ever be my endgame. Still, I reveled in the moments I spent under a make-shift high school spotlight crooning Hard Candy Christmas. At the end of my senior year,...

I was that girl. The one people gazed upon with pity. "Why is she still with him?" they would whisper. "She could do so much better." I secretly carried the same thoughts, though I couldn't bring myself to take that step towards the door. Years of my life spent dedicated to someone who didn't value my worth. Memories of milestones tainted with heartache and low self-esteem. Though many young women typically go through a time of self-discovery, this wasn't your typical coming into your own skin kind of story. The emotional abuse I endured by remaining in a toxic partnership tarnished my expectations of relationships. Who would have thought a teenage romance could be so poignant? Over half a decade of lies...

Dancing and 20 Minutes of Action I was 18 years old. Most people had gone home or to the beach for spring break. I went to Tigerland. I was a partier and a typical freshman. I drank. I flirted. I danced. I showed up to class when I wanted to. That night no one found me by a dumpster while a man was forcing himself on me. I woke up alone, on a bed at a friend of a friend’s house. I walked out of the apartment, stepping over passed out undergrads. I hobbled as I put on my boots. I was sore. Why was I so sore? What happened last night? The days that followed were a blur but came...