And I’m trying to start caring about myself. — PROMPT: What’s the opposite of love? It seems counterproductive during a series about love that I’m training myself not to care about others but I’m learning that the way I show care for other people is unhealthy and codependent. I care too much about what people think or might think…

When I like myself, I can love myself. — PROMPT: How do you show love to yourself? One day I was in the dressing room at New York and Company (good times. RIP to the brick and mortar!) trying on a bodycon dress I saw in the window. I won’t lie, it was a struggle; a struggle to pull…

I am not my mental illness. — My therapist told me during our session this week that once people learn their diagnoses or discover the childhood roots of their triggers, they tend to think their work is done. They figured out the why of their behaviors and their mental health woes. But my therapist pointed out that…

As Whitney Houston once said, the greatest love of all is inside of me. — Prompt: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about love? I’ve heard a lot of things about love: Love makes fools of us all… There’s a thin line between love and hate… What’s love got to do with it… Before you can love someone else, you have to love yourself… …

If I say I love you, I have to show I love you. — What do you do when you realize the qualities you don’t like in someone else are the very same qualities you possess? I learned a valuable lesson on Friday. I got annoyed with a friend for not clearly communicating with me. I felt taken advantage of, left in the dark…

Finding the Right Words Day #14: FAKE Affirmations don’t come easily to me. One of the most prevalent symptoms of my mental illness is negative self talk. My friend once told me that I do more than beat myself up. I back myself into a corner and get a whole…

Finding the Right Words Day #13: SMART This is gonna be a rant about movies and about myself. Hope it makes sense. During my deep sad days, I typically occupy my time laying in bed by watching movies. Usually the same films I’ve seen a million times, familiarity is comforting…

Finding the Right Words Day #12: BRAVE I’m facing a bit of a conundrum. This morning, I had a… let’s say tense conversation with the customer service people at a local business. I’d been waiting for something for over 4 weeks that I’d been told I’d receive within a 2-day…

Finding the Right Words Day #11: FEAR “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” My dad told me that when he was dropping me off at the bus station in 2014. I had been living with my mom in Hampton for a year after graduating college. I was on…