On Life and Words

I have had a really difficult time over the past year; mentally, physically, emotionally, financially. It’s been a rollercoaster of seemingly limitless insanity and a bunch of bright moments scattered within a dark forest full of danger. Perhaps I exaggerate, perhaps not.  I had two surgeries within a year - one, seemingly minor, simply getting four broken teeth removed (except it affected a lot more than those four broken teeth and further impacted my ability to eat properly) and then my hysterectomy almost six months ago. A physically and mentally difficult ordeal, I got infections in my incisions, I had so much pain it was unreal and I found myself struggling to do anything physically, found myself completely exhausted with minimal stamina for much of anything.  I didn’t take the seriousness of my hysterectomy into consideration. I chose to remain blissfully unaware of the physical repercussions of having a major surgery where a part of one’s body is removed. And from an ar...

I recently lost a friendship of four years. It wasn't over a minor issues. It was, perhaps, unavoidable. We both had differing ideas on what constituted "judging" and gentle, loving, honesty. She thought I was judging her for situations in her life, but was passing the same judgments she accused me of, onto my own life. I tried to be gentle and honest - without judgment of her or her choices - however, at the end of the day, we simply couldn't agree to disagree and move forward. The thing is, this friendship started four and a half years ago during an extremely traumatic and stressful time in my life and hers both, which left us with a friendship, but also left us with a "trauma bond." Although neither of our situations at the time were related, we'd bonded over the similarities. Sometimes, friendships formed in this way will last a lifetime. However, in many cases, they will simply end over time, once the time of crisis is over with. When you bond ...

Life is hard. Even when things are going pretty good, there will be occasional struggles or obstacles in your way. This is especially true if you've already dealt with any type of hardship in your life. If you're like me, and you've gone through multiple struggles in your life - mental, emotional, abusive relationships, poverty, homelessness, physical, etc - then dealing with basic, everyday life can sometimes feel like a struggle. This is why it's important to have a solid support system in place - whether you have good family and friends, a counselor and/or support group, online support groups, etc - everyone needs a support system. We all need people in our lives, even those of us who might claim to be "anti-social" or those who have "social anxiety." But what we don't need in our lives is toxic people and situations. If you have someone in your life who is toxic, if they bring more drama than you care to deal with, if they mentally or em...

I no longer have time or patience for negativity or interference from people who judge or want drama. If I am describing you, then kindly lose my contact information and that of ANY of my children and remove yourself from my life and theirs. My life is my own, as are my children's lives. No one in my immediate family (my children and I) need judgements, negativity or drama in any shape or form. I'm taking back control of myself and my own life. If you're still here when I'm done, that's great. If not, I wish you the best. #nomorenegativity #life #newbeginnings #igotthis #mommy #9kids #momlife #nomoredrama #positivity #movingforward #goals

I have been a horrible blogger lately. I know I have. I think that sometimes, we let life get in the way of living life or of doing those things that we enjoy. I'm also horribly behind on my second book right now. I have been slowly working on it here and there, but just now finally getting truly motivated to get it finished. My second book is called "Finding Your Place in Life," I am hoping to have it completed by the end of the first week of March.  It's been a long time coming, considering I started working on both of my book manuscripts a long time ago. But, I wanted to make sure that I said what I wanted to say and that I expressed myself appropriately. It takes a lot of time and effort to write, especially when one has to go back and edit and re-edit or delete entire paragraphs, just to get one point across the right way. I'm not so certain that I've managed to do this correctly, but, I'm a work in progress, and so is my writing.

If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, it's important to take the time to get help - for yourself, your loved one(s), whomever. Depression is a very serious issue and can be not just mentally debilitating, but also physically debilitating. Depression doesn't just affect the person suffering - it affects the others around them, affects relationships, jobs, finances, etc. AND, here's another important issue when it comes to depression. If the person suffering from depression is considering suicide, seems suicidal or has made suicidal threats, it's VERY important to seek help immediately. Even when you may feel like the person is just attention-seeking or isn't serious about it, it's important to take the threat of suicide very seriously. A person who is suicidal or who is making threats of suicide isn't merely making threats, they are expressing, at a minimum, a desire to self-harm. Suicide is not the way out, it's not the cure for d...

Okay Everyone, here I am, SHAMELESSLY promoting my book! I'm nervous as heck to have anyone buy it or read it, but I also want the feedback. If you'd like to purchase my book, you can find it Amazon   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MSA51L8# Please, if you buy my book and read it, please make sure to leave me a review or email me some type of feedback!

I have finally finished my first book, The Truth About Life: Life Lessons from Rock-Bottom. I'm quite pleased with myself. It has taken me such a long time to finish it and get around to completing the editing of it. But, once I got down to business and began working on it seriously, it didn't take me nearly as long as I expected it to. Even if it turns out to be a "flop," at least I can add it to my list of things I've accomplished. So, I'm happy about that. I am still trying to figure out KDP Select and trying to figure out a way to offer the book for free for a few days, but I am struggling with figuring that out. But, just as soon as I figure it out and get it done, I'll be sure to let you all know! If you're interested in my book, you can find it on Amazon: The Truth About Life: Life Lessons From Rock Bottom http://t.co/u7vssSyT4z And please, if you do read it, please leave me a review or some type of feedback. I want to get better with my...

Well, I'm finally reaching the end of my journey with my first book, "The Truth About Life: Life Lessons from Rock Bottom." It's taken a very long time, several years, in fact, to reach this point. But I'm getting closer to getting finished with my final editing. I'm editing it myself, so I'm sure it won't be perfect, but I do feel like it's a good start, so maybe my next book will be even better. I have some editing to finish and then I need to finish my conclusion and the final section about myself. I'm not really absolutely certain on this, but I'm thinking I should have it all finished within a week or less. I'm seeing the end in sight and I'm starting to get excited, although I'm definitely very nervous! This book has been a labor of love, a large time investment (as I could find it!) and I am nervous about throwing it out there for others to see and read! I suppose that most authors feel that way about their books. I ...

I'm feeling a bit out of sorts lately, so I haven't spent much time writing at all. First, I've been, quite literally, sick and tired. Between a massive headache that never quite seems to go away, and a fever and chills that keeps coming back, I have just felt awful. All that aside. I still have to work, so when I wasn't running a fever, I was still trying to work. Yup. Didn't work as well as I had hoped. Im still behind on work, totally lost focus on my writing and I'm still not feeling well. Yuck. But enough of my complaining... I've been pondering a few things for awhile now and I'm not exactly sure where they tie in to any of my goals or hopes, dreams or even my basic ideals. We all know that I am one to discuss positivity, optimism and making a positive mark on the world.  But what about intentional living? That is, living with positive intent and purpose. Are we each doing so? Somehow, I doubt that we are. In a world filled with a focu...

I work in the healthcare field. Although I am not a nurse or even a nurse's aid, I deal with patients on a daily basis. All of my patients are elderly. In my job, we call these patients "clients." The thing about it is, I'm not sure that is an entirely accurate term. I can understand from a business or financial point of view that the patients are, in all actuality, clients. But, I feel like using the term "client" is a way of dehumanizing the patient and also a way to distance the healthcare workers from the people they care for. I can't help but feeling that this is wrong. The end of one's life should be a time where one is celebrating their life and accomplishments, they have lived and learned, earned the respect of others and they should GET that consideration and respect. Caring for an elderly person can be more difficult that dealing with a child. It isn't that the elderly person is child-like or "immature" it's that we o...