For My Joshua

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I am pleased to be part of The Flights of Hope Project alongside other great writers.

#flightsofhope #mentalhealthforum #mentalhealthwriter #mentalhealthawareness #book #writing #mywork #writingformentalhealth #happy #life

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The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

A - Poems to the rescue. Blog post alert! The A2Z blog challenge. A story about Vasumathi, a young woman who is in her early 30s, and her fight against depression. Direct link in bio! 📎 Short Fiction Stories about Mental Health! 26 different stories for the next 1 month! This post is a part of the a2z challenge hosted by @blogchatter Watch this space for all other 25 posts!! . . . . . . . #momlifeandlifestyle #sadvikawrites #mentalhealthblogger #mentalhealthisreal #mentalhealthadvocate #shortstorywriter #fictionalwriters #fictionstory #shortstorycollection #a2zblogchallange #a2zchallenge #a2zblogchatter #mentalhealthblog #mentalhealthrecovery #mentalhealthwarrior #writersofindia #writermom #mentalhealthwriter #writingforacause #writersofhyderabad #amwritingfiction #amwriting #writerlife #authorlife #authorcommunity #authorlifestyle #mentalhealthbloggerindia #mentalhealthmatters (at Hyderabad) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cby7iCCLGkm/?utm_medium=tumblr

SΓICҜУ DIЯΓУ MΞSSУ ΓHIИG It’s tricky attempting to talk about depression in a matter-of-fact way. One’s own depression that is. Especially with people who don’t understand it. Phrases like, “I feel depressed” or, “it was so depressing” get thrown around willy-nilly. The experience of true depression is lost in colloquialisms. The reality of it drowns in the notion that depression is feeling sad and, you know, everyone feels that way sometimes. Not true. But how do you express the way depression dances you into the ground? You’re grapes between heavy toes of its stomping feet. How do you demonstrate the obsessive and stubborn self-deprecating thoughts that swirl and swirl and swirl and tie you down from idiosyncrasies, from the basic regularities of living? I don’t think about my depression or how it’s affected me as much these days but the thoughts and memories inevitably surface. Except now, instead of wallowing, I recall the experience of depression as something I’ve worked at shedding. I think of it and smile to myself because of how I live now. That I live in the world – present tense. But I’m a realist. I know it won’t completely go away. It comes and it goes. Depression visits regularly. But I don’t let it swallow me and spit me out into the world. I’ve learned to stand my ground. Shut it down. Tell it to fuck off. Let it run its mouth. It tries to convince me that I can’t accomplish my aspirations. That overcoming my fears is hopeless and foolish. I let it sit on my shoulder and scream in my ear. I can hear it. But I don’t listen. It lies and lies. It isn’t looking out for me. Depression doesn’t take care of you. It isn’t comforting. Or honest. Depression isn’t part of who you are. It isn’t you. It’s a thing. A sticky messy dirty thing. (Journal entry, 2013) ••••• #depressionart #mentalhealthartists #mentalhealthartistadvocate #mentalheathart #depressionartwork #depressionwriter #mentalhealthwriter #depressionaesthetic #urbanart #cityart #theblackcloud #depressionwarrior #digitalcollageartist #digitalcollages #photomanipulator #photomanipulationart #seattlecreative #pnwwriter #filipinaartist #tumblrartist #depressionrecovery (at Mental Health Awareness) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTf8aXCJCGi/?utm_medium=tumblr

“People with lived experiences in the mental health system are the missing ingredient for trauma informed success!” Hopepersists.com Yesterday my drug court wellness group talked about trauma informed care. Everyone was so engaged and the conversation was great. Let’s have a recovery system that lifts people up instead of shouting them down. #trauma #traumainformedcare #peersupport #drugcourt #recovery #mentalhealth #whathappenedtoyou #hopeisreal #alifeworthliving #dualdiagnosis #liftpeopleup #recoveryblogger #mentalhealthblogger #recoveryauthor #mentalhealthauthor #recoverywriter #mentalhealthwriter #dialogue #talkaboutit #breakstigma #stampoutstigma #mentalhealthstigma #peoplecanchange #changeisreal #hope https://www.instagram.com/p/B5na6PXFuYj/?igshid=jhbn1teo6e79

Writing Mental Health

@dextera-recta here are some links that might help you. For anyone else, here are some links with dos/donts if you’re considering writing with characters that have mental health issues. 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/drumoorhouse/writing-about-mental-health

https://www.pdhealth.mil/news/blog/writing-and-talking-about-mental-health-do-s-and-don-ts-reduce-stigma

https://medium.com/invisible-illness/3-things-to-be-aware-of-when-writing-about-mental-health-b7f72d63a7b8

http://booksbywomen.org/dos-and-donts-of-including-mental-illness-in-your-fiction-by-elena-mikalsen-ph-d/

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/treat-mentally-ill-characters-writing-novel

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Maybe Someone Needs This?

I needed to get this out after another fight. Writing helps with the angry I feel and even though I have a long way to go before making things better for myself, maybe someone needs this right now to help them.

When you tell someone their shit enough times guess what they start to feel like. When you tell them their worthless and everything they do is either not enough or crap guess don’t be surprised when its reflected in their work. When everything you say to them is a put down do you think they would magical become that perfect person you're looking for? They start to believe their shit and worthless. They start to think why should they try hard when it doesn’t matter what they do because you’ll still see them as crap. Every put down you have every said to them is right there influencing everything move they make. Anyone can feel this way when their told enough times that this is what they are.

You are nothing more than an asshole and a bully.

They become isolated by your words. The love they had for you is gone, how could they love you when they don't even love themselves. Then you want to become angry because they don’t want you touching them, you blame them for even that. Not seeing how your words have done all this damage and they have half a heart left. What little affection they have left is given to the children that you hide away from. Even that doesn’t save them from your wrath.

You call them horrible names and scream at them right in front of the kids, coldheartedly making threats. Yes, go ahead and tell them again why they are a horrible parent and how you’re done with it all. Blame them for things that happened while on your watch. Demand they come home from one of the few and very far between outings they get because you can’t take anymore of offspring you help create.

This is emotional, mental and verbal abuse, but you don’t see it that way. In the hole you’ve created for them they can’t see it, not yet. There are those that only sink more into the darkness. A few will keep the light in their sight but never truly giving up hope that things will get better. Even less will reach for it and pull themselves up to make it out leaving you behind.

Do you know what path they will choose? Are you worried your punching bag will walk away? You should be.

Forgive any errors. It was written in a not so sound state of mind. Also I’m not much of a writer to begin with.

Chasing A Memory

I walk along these lonely streets, to find a face long dead to me, he hides beneath the falling rain a shadow on a window pane, a fleeting trick of my eye, so many times I’ve watched him cry.

I’m just chasing a memory, of who I used to be, I don’t want to bring him back, no it’s too late for that, I want to tell him it’s alright, that we made it through in time, wrap my arms around my past and make him see, that he’s now me.

A constant battle through the pain a fight to break out of these chains, he disappeared inside of me, afraid to let the outside see, that hurt is caused inside my head, almost like it wants me dead.

I’m just chasing a memory, of who I used to be, I don’t want to bring him back, no it’s too late for that, I want to tell him it’s alright, that we made it through in time, wrap my arms around my past and make him see, that he’s now me.

I walk along these lonely streets, to find a face long dead to me, he hides beneath the falling rain a shadow on a window pane, a fleeting trick of my eye, so many times I’ve watched him cry.

I’m just chasing a memory, of who I used to be, I don’t want to bring him back, no it’s too late for that, I want to tell him it’s alright, that we made it through in time, wrap my arms around my past and make him see, that he’s now me.

Kyle Rush #writingformentalhealth #writing #poems #poetry #lyrics #lyricist #writer #poet #scottishwriter #scottishpoet #artformentalhealth #depression #anxiety #changes #mentalhealth #movingon #KyleRush #poetssociety #love #mentalhealthpoetry #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthwriting #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #songwriter #chronicpain #spoonie #chronicillness #poetryisnotdead #crpsawareness https://www.instagram.com/p/BsLoBefDyB4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=q67yxghki07h

Excited to see the book cover of my new book #Dented my second volume of poems after #EternalPollutionofaDentedMind. It will be my 10th published book but like all my work I keep it underground. I guess if one person reads one of my poems, sees a piece of my art or hears some of my music and it moves them or impacts them in a small way that's enough for me. The most important thing is to keep creating, fuck followers, fuck money, fuck fame I say just keep making the shit. Well that's what I believe. Book launch will be at @Bricklane bookshop in October in London #dented #mentalhealthwriting #chipminkaclassics #poetry #writing #portraitsofmadness #pigmentexplosion #sanchitaislam

This face is: couldn't move, still got up, couldn't face work, on the bus, couldn't breathe, took a tablet. Not quite awake, still going. This is silent anxiety. You won't know it to look at me and I might not say anything. #anxiety #mentalhealth #mentalhealthwriter #writer #depression #panicattack #honest #nostigma #tiredwriter #mentalhealthmum #mentalillness #kcacols #lgbtfamily #samesexparents #twomums #pblogger #ukparentblogger #ukblogger #welshblogger #ukblogger #ukparentblogger #lgbtparent — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2HGegg7

On the outside, you see: showered, dressed, freshly brushed teeth. Here’s the thing. I’ve been stumbling through the past couple of years of grad school in the unpredictable and impervious current of depression. I have managed my way through. I’ve stood upright at least once every day. I take my medication with food. I reach out to friends and family sometimes. sometimes. I see my therapist. On the days I want to hide away and bury my head in my cat’s soft, warm tummy, I push myself to walk the 20 feet to the mailbox across the driveway. Other days I run my 3.2 mile route to Meridian and bounce back on the Interurban Trail. Sometimes I force smiles at passersby. Sometimes the smiles are spontaneous. Surprises. they’re real. Felt. This dichotomous existence of depressed and ‘un-depressed’ - it’s exhausting. It’s distracting. Its splindle-y fingers like to play with my hair. and tie knots in my clothes. Some days I stick my tongue out at depression. And then. again. I find myself at the edge of its undertow. Grabbing my tongue from choking my throat. Clenching my neck from tearing away. In my head, my mush-of-a-brain swirls and squishes out thoughts. black sticky thoughts that barely convince me that I’m not whole and I can’t be. that I’m broken and bruise easily. that I’m not worth the wait and it’s easier to cut loose. that I’m not meant for this world. and it’s not meant for me. it’s not my oyster. it’s not my playground. it’s not my anything. And in my head, where these wicked mumblings meander through mush. I tap it on the shoulder. scream in its ear. and I say what I always say, “Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!Shut the fuck up!” “You’re not winning.” We’ve had this conversation before. (Journal entry, 2015) ••••• swipe 👈🏽 sparkle edit 👈🏽👈🏽 alt. pre-animated edit 👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽 original from #picsart #depressionart #depressionwarrior #depressionjournal #mentalhealthwriter #mentalheathartist #artivist #portraitoftheday #portraitart #portraitartist #fuschiablueart #trippyart #seattlecreative #pnwwriter #filipinaartist #artofvisuals #contemporaryartist #digitalcollage #aestheticedits #discoverartists #tumblrart #photomanipulation (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaCPoAlC80/?utm_medium=tumblr

Sending out two books today! Remember that you can go to my blog and order a signed copy through paypal. 💜 Yesterday I went to Mercer about talked about recovery as someone with “SMI.” Normally I wouldn’t refer to myself this way but it was actually the topic-that people with “severe mental illness” who experience “psychosis” can still recover. It’s a tough, emotional topic but I speak about because so few do. We hear about some forms of recovery but “SMI” or “SPMI” seem to me are often thought of as disposable people, but we’re not and that’s why I keep on writing and speaking. Hope is always real. #mentalhealthwarrior #mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #schizoawesome #schizowarrior #hopeisreal #writingheals #artsheal #booksheal #booksarehealing #stigmawarrior #takedownstigma #nostigma #mentallyillpeoplematter #yoursilencewillnotprotectyou #mentalhealthadvocacy #breakthestigma #mentalhealthwriter #mentalhealthadvocate #peersupport #alifeworthliving #nodisposablepeople https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Xhx_mlJoP/?igshid=k3dy2re9kg16

“This is the reason that indies are gaining market share.” From “A People’s Guide to Publishing” by Joe Biel Encouraging words. Go to hopepersists.com to buy my inspirational book, Hope Is Real: I Have A Purpose #selfpublishing #selfpublish #selfpublishedauthor #joebiel #apeoplesguidetopublishing #goodbooks #indieartist #indiepublisher #writer #recoverywriter #mentalhealthwriter #hopeisreal #alifeworthliving #inspiration #bpdrecovery #schizoawesome #edrecovery #bipolarrecovery #depressionrecocery #anxietyrecovery #ocdrecovery https://www.instagram.com/p/B1RI-bJlRBm/?igshid=19f1maunwtupd

Here in Tennessee at the UCC Southeastern Conference selling books. You can pick out a free poem when you buy a book. I’m looking forward to making connections to people outside of my congregation. #mindfulness #booksigning #hopeisreal #friends #connection #focusonthegood #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #indieauthor #recoverywriter #mentalhealthwriter #mentalhealthrecovery #recovery #anxietyhelp #anxietywarrior #bpdwarrior #edwarrior #schizophreniarecovery #schizoaffectiverecovery #bipolarwarrior #bipolarrecovery #ocdwarrior #depressionwarrior #recoveryisreal #community #nostigma #alifeworthliving #pleasanthilltennessee #artheals #unitedchurchofchrist https://www.instagram.com/p/ByIXw6LF7v9/?igshid=nh3za0v5yazg

Tomorrow’s the big day! Come gor blackoutpoetry magnets, cards, stickers and hope filled books. I’ll also have local mental health resources. #blackoutpoetry #blackoutpoetsofig #mentalhealth #atlantamentalhealth #decaturcrafts #decaturevents #decaturmentalhealth #artheals #mentalhealthrecovery #mentalhealthart #craftsavvymarket #mentalhealthwriter #recoverywriter https://www.instagram.com/p/BwKnpRuhacW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fxhuowg0kedi

Last Monday was my first book signing at SideChick in downtown Decatur. It was a small but wonderful crowd. I talked about identifying as disabled and the corruption of private mental hospitals. I am angry about for profit healthcare, which is one of the reasons why I believe in my book. I want people to know the value and importance of treating those with mental health challenges and disabilities with respect and compassion. The power of peer support. The power of art to heal. That having a disability does not mean that one cannot have a high quality of life. The hospital gave me a purpose-the knowledge that I needed to share my message with everyone. If you would like me to speak to your organization, let me know! #mindfulness #booksigning #hopeisreal #friends #connection #peersupport #sidechick #decaturga #focusonthegood #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #indieauthor #recoverywriter #mentalhealthwriter #mentalhealthrecovery #recovery #anxietyhelp #anxietywarrior #bpdwarrior #edwarrior #schizophreniarecovery #schizoaffectiverecovery #bipolarwarrior #bipolarrecovery #ocdwarrior #depressionwarrior #recoveryisreal #community #nostigma #alifeworthliving https://www.instagram.com/p/Btqh9R_hV-7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1h3qdb9mechno