As I grow older, I find myself reflecting on this life of mine. Remembering where I've been, how far I've come, how far I have to go.When I was 18, I saw life as an endless expanse of opportunity. I was going to rule the world, or my part of it anyway. I was driven to succeed no matter the challenge. An aspiring graphic designer, I worked as an artist for the college newspaper and held internships at two local companies. I had a 3.8 GPA, aced my Spanish classes, and won a logo design contest for the local zoo. I decided I wanted to dj for the university radio station, so I made a demo tape and got the position. When I took Ad Campaigns cla...
My daughter recently turned 11 years old. It seems impossible to have journeyed over 11 years with this human being whom I helped create.It also seems a miracle that she is here. You see, when I became pregnant, my mind and my body descended into a sick and panic-ridden state. In the dead of a bitter cold winter, I was bedridden for almost three months with nausea so intense that eating anything was a struggle. I was losing weight when I should have been gaining, and extreme panic attacks were an almost constant companion. So much so that I did not see how I could go through with the pregnancy. I felt like I had been invaded and the only w...
Recently, I was accompanying a friend of mine downtown to a tattoo parlor, and during the drive, he mentioned something I shared on facebook, which said the following about anxiety and depression:"Having depression and anxiety is like being scared and tired at the same time. It's the fear of failure, yet having no urge to be productive. It's wanting to be alone, but not lonely, wanting to make friends, but not wanting to socialize. It's caring about everything deeply in one instant, then not caring about anything the next. It's feeling everything at once, yet feeling paralyzingly numb."He said "that's so sad that you have to live like that...