Welcome to the 2024 Year-End Review Series. Every Sunday in December, we will focus on one topic. Each week will have at least one video, featuring me, and include the script (text) below. The regular Sunday newsletter will return in Januray. Are you ready to change the way you feel about the coming year? Let’s get started. If you want to share your wins, hit reply and tell me about them. Reader, I'm so excited to close my year with you. Thank you for being part of the Speaking Bipolar...
2 months ago • 6 min read
Ugh, this was a week! I’m feeling better as I write this update on Saturday night, but most of this past week was awful. I tell the entire sordid tale in the featured post below. Hopefully, you remembered to turn your clocks back last night. If not, here’s a friendly reminder (if you live in a place still forcing time changes on its citizens. If not, I’m jealous. 🙃) Time changes can cause problems with bipolar disorder, so take extra good care of yourself for the next few weeks. You will...
3 months ago • 7 min read
I hate the days I wake up angry. My head runs full of conversations that either I’ve already had or need to have. I imagine saying the worst things and behaving like a dangerous monster. The swirl of thoughts overwhelms me, and stopping them feels impossible. Many times, when I wake up feeling so enraged that I can’t see any color but red, I’ll choose to stay home. Too many times, I have struck out at people on those awful days. Some of the damage was irreparable. On other days, I use my...
4 months ago • 9 min read
I don’t enjoy writing about suicide. Even though I know it’s an important subject, there’s a part of me that always worries that talking about it will encourage others to consider it. Taking your life is never the right answer. Never. With September being Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, I can’t ignore the subject completely. The painful reality is, if you have bipolar disorder, you will think about suicide. Probably much more often than you’ll want to admit. Another harsh truth is that...
5 months ago • 10 min read
Rumor has it 4 out of 5 people want to write a book. You would think you would know hundreds of authors, but most of us only know a few, if any at all. This week, it became painfully clear why so many never hit the finish line. Writing and PUBLISHING a book is hard. I’m talking walking-barefoot-over-hot-coals-during-a-hurricane-while-carrying-three-babies hard. It took nearly three years to get my book from first draft to publication. You could say even longer since some chapters came from...
6 months ago • 7 min read
It’s finally here! I’m checking one of my oldest dreams off my list. In November 2021, I was sitting at my day-job desk one morning thinking about my readers. Many were dreading the holiday season, and I wanted to help. Then came a lightbulb moment. I could create a 30-day email course to give my readers the strength they needed to make it through those tough months. The 30 Days of Positivity Course was born, and the rest, as they say, is history. After the first 100 participants finished the...
6 months ago • 6 min read
A week ago Friday, despite the heat and high humidity, I pushed myself to mow the lawn. It was supposed to rain all weekend, so I thought it was worth the painful toll to get the yard finished. I was wrong. The price was much higher than I expected. Though I had everything written for last Sunday’s newsletter, I was powerless to finish editing and formatting the content. So this week, I’m sharing what I had planned for last Sunday. On Wednesday of last week, I virtually attended the annual...
7 months ago • 12 min read
When I chose “change” as my word for 2024, I knew some of that change would be painful. And so it is. Last Friday (May 24), just after dinner, with my mom and I and two of our dearest friends sitting by his side, my dad exhaled for the last time. No matter how ready you think you are, you never are. Every loved one is taken from you too soon. I was so grateful to have my newsletter for last Sunday already written and scheduled because there was no thinking after that. In the next few hours, I...
8 months ago • 9 min read
May is Mental Health Awareness month. I was surprised to learn the campaign goes back to 1949 and was started by Mental Health America (MHA). This year’s theme, Where to Start: Mental Health in a Changing World, reminds us that dealing with life’s pressures can be overwhelming, and everyone deserves to feel supported and empowered to seek help when needed. One of the great things MHA provides is a simple web tool to help you get started. And let’s face it, in the struggle to get care for your...
9 months ago • 10 min read
