I like to write. I don't know if I love it. Perhaps it's more that I need to write. It's a means to sort out my thoughts and feelings - deriving perspective and clarity out of the chaos that I concoct around me. Writing started as a 3rd grade assignment, and I would write about anything and everything - I took to paper...
The landscape of my healing journey looks like the Alps. I crest one peak, but then there’s a whole mountain range with multiple peaks that still need to be explored. This journey is not without its avalanches or crevices, which also need to be experienced and not simply avoided. I’m still in search of inspiration for a poem that I’m supposed to write,...
Yesterday marked the 24th anniversary of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. For years, I've observed this day with detached deference - always thinking of the 14 women, the police officer who responded to the call only to learn that his own daughter was one of the victims, and the senselessness and selfish act of one man. I...
It's beautiful outside today...first main snowfalls of the season and there is a pure yet rugged feel to it all. The snow is cradled in puffs by the tree branches but every so often, when the tree can no longer bear the weight of the snow, the branch gives a little tug and releases the snow. I'm inspired by this view. It's been...
About 18 months ago, I submitted an application to adopt a rescue dog. At the time, I simply wanted a dog, and after researching different breeds, I finally chose the west highland white terrier. I felt my life needed a change, a little shake up - and what better way than to open my home to a dog in need. Then I got...
By the fall of 2012, I had started seeing a second counselor and my sessions were going well. I was learning to open up and share things more readily. I was learning what my triggers were. I was learning to deal with my hyper-vigilance. I opened up about my feelings of being out of control. But I was having difficulty accepting the healing...
No profound secrets to reveal in this post. Just feeling reflective and wanting to explore. Of late, I've been thinking back to one of my crisis sessions from a year ago. We did a simple exercise where my counsellor would start a sentence and I had to complete it with the first thought that came to mind. It was a verbal exercise so...
This post has been percolating and brewing in my thoughts since the inception of this blog. I haven't been able to articulate what it is I want to say...so I write, edit and delete this post each time I sit in front of my computer. Perhaps I'm just not ready to say what it is I want to say...but I push forward hoping...
As I'd mentioned before, I really did believe that I could handle all the curve balls with a healthy dash of Xena and Oprah - mimicking strong women in control of their lives, successes and destiny. In my youth, I never sought help (although in hindsight I remember a campus doctor asking me if I wanted to speak with a counselor after I...
I was wrong...starting the second post is harder than the first. I've no outline for this blog, and being that I'm still new to all this, it's taking me a little while to find my own narrative voice. I've kept a journal since I was 8 years old. So you'd think I'd know my own voice after 30 years of writing. But with...
My first blog entry, and I have writer's block already... I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of stories I want to explore, but on a journey of healing towards the authentic self, where does one start? "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ~ Proverb." Many steps and missteps later, I still find myself on a winding tunnel by myself....
