When people with bipolar disorder disappear or “fall off the map”

hide in the cornerI’m not sure if I can do justice to this topic right now, but I’m posting about it anyway to explain why I haven’t been around much.

Starting around April of this year, my blog posting slowed up significantly. I confess that my habit of reading other peoples’ blog posts slowed up even more. I don’t even remember where my head was then. Continue reading

Weeks 5 & 6 – Friday Fitness and Weight Loss Updates

vacation word

I’m back! I just returned from a 2-week vacation in Portugal. That is the reason for my delayed (and Monday) posting of my weeks 5 & 6 Friday Fitness and Weight Loss updates. Before I left, I decided that I would not track my eating during my time abroad. It just seemed too difficult given many factors. I did, however, hope to remain mindful of my eating (and drinking) while abroad and to journal about it while away. I didn’t expect to lose any weight during that time, but of course I hoped to perhaps maintain, or at least not gain back too much. Well, below you can read what happened in the end.  Continue reading

Efforts to take control of your illness

Control sign
The Hope sign is bigger than the Despair sign, and points to the sun.

Taking control of an illness is possible for many, to various degrees, but anyone who has had a serious illness knows control isn’t always that easy. It takes work and often support from various people in your life. Sometimes control doesn’t necessarily mean curing the problem, but just lessening the symptoms and the illness progression. Continue reading

My kluk (“guy” in Czech) and my nook

via Photo Challenge: Security

DSC_0057-001

I realize this is a photo challenge, but I could not resist responding to the word “security”, without a story attached.

When I was a young holka (Czech for “girl”) through perhaps 32 years old, I had very few fears. It didn’t phase me at six years old to walk two miles to school by myself. At 17, I didn’t mind walking four miles home. When I reached 21, I flew to Taiwan by myself and found a source of living. I went there again by myself at 23, then traveled throughout Asia. I wasn’t intimidated as a young woman. My parents weren’t scared, as many parents would be nowadays. That fact gave me confidence, as did my general fearlessness.

The first time I really started to experience major fear was when the worst of my mental illness struck. Continue reading

Hating is not fair

jail behind barbed wire

“I’ve come to understand and to believe that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. I believe that for every person on the planet. I think if somebody tells a lie, they’re not just a liar. I think if somebody takes something that doesn’t belong to them, they’re not just a thief. I think even if you kill someone, you’re not just a killer. And because of that, there’s this basic human dignity that must be respected by law.” – Bryan Stevenson Continue reading

Not everything is a symptom (speaking to myself and others)

via Daily Prompt: Symptom

magnifying-glass-1607160__340

This is about misjudging symptoms of many sorts.

I think it is common with some illnesses to often think everything you feel is a symptom of the illness. I can see that with people who have heart disease, perhaps thinking that innocent heart burn is a symptom of their heart disease. In the case of bipolar disorder, many people with bipolar disorder having a burst of energy or even an especially good day wonder “Am I getting manic?” Perhaps sometimes it is an early warning sign, but other times it’s just within the normal range of experience. Continue reading

Depersonalization and derealization – Grounding techniques I’ve found effective

Stay connected to yourself in the present…

out-of-body-experience

For all of you lucky enough not to be in the know, both depersonalization and derealization are states falling under the category of dissociation, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions and/or identity.” Continue reading

A cook and baker’s view on non-sugar sweeteners

non-sugar-sweeteners

I know there are many people out there that are dead-set against using non-sugar sweeteners. And some research on select non-sugar sweeteners support (or at least used to support) such opposition. Sweetness and no calories? Too good to be true? Well, I have decided that in some cases (or at least for some times) that select non-sugar sweeteners are the better choice for me, not just because of taste or texture, but for baking. Continue reading

The very beginning…

bird dancer-864394__340

Hello readers. If you’ve made it here, then know that I am very very excited!  This is my first blog post on a site like WordPress. My purpose in blogging here is to hone my writing skills, explore several topics that mean a lot to me, and serve as an emotional release for all of the goings on in my mind. Continue reading