I created this blog to be honest about how hard this journey is but also to speak hope to myself (and anyone who cared to read) but I feel like a fraud. It is so hard to hope anymore, so hard to see the point in it all, so hard to have one iota of […]
I never thought much about why I chaffed at the word “toolbox” when used in a self-help context: “another tool for your toolbox” such as deep breathing/meditation, journaling, taking a walk, etc. I thought it was cliché and corny. Today I realized a deeper meaning for the dislike: tools are harsh. Sure, tools get the […]
Silence is golden . . . unless you’re drowning. I judge myself and hate myself and harm myself because I believe the lie that it will somehow get me out of the water enough to breathe but it does the exact opposite. Too often I just want to give up. Silence kills. Silence is losing […]
The worst is over yet I am still in anguish. I am alive and my brain has relented. It has lessened it’s destructive intentions just barely enough to give me a shard of hope that I’m not going to die. But I can’t breathe. I am still panicking. The mere act of existing still feels […]
Suicide is not rational – no self-harm is. It’s a hijacking of the brain. I would rather not talk about it. I would prefer to keep this skeleton in the closet, but, unfortunately, if I do I may become a skeleton myself. My therapist once said something that has impacted me: “Its important to talk […]
I can’t do this one more day – it hurts too much. It hurts to try to be OK when I’m drowning. It hurts to put on a brave face when all I want to do is hide. It hurts to keep trying and 99% of the time feel like an abysmal failure. The ache […]
A time for new beginnings and fresh starts yet I don’t dare to dream beyond the day. A lifelong habit: get through today and if that works get through tomorrow. Some days it’s just “get through this hour, get through this minute”. Sometimes it’s like that for many days. The tyranny of the urgent pulls […]
I thought I was done – that the Beast had been slayed and I was the Conqueror. On the one year anniversary of sobriety from self harm I got it tattooed: the date by the word “Healing”. I was so confident, so relieved, so PROUD. Pride goes before a fall. I was laying in bed […]
There’s a reason many alcoholics say “I’m an alcoholic”. Present tense. Because if you say “I was an alcoholic” you can fool yourself into thinking maybe someday you can drink again. Be normal. Many of us avoid alcohol like it’s poison even if it’s been years because we can’t trust that we will ever be […]
There seems to be no way to gain any perspective lately – the sadness, ache, and fear are overwhelming. It colors everything. I know that it is not the whole story but I cannot escape. I cannot escape and so I hide. The shame of the sadness drives me into isolation. I feel broken: unable […]
