Soul
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When Headlines Affect Mental Health
There was yet another shooting in America yesterday. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/us/gilroy-california-food-festival-shooting-victims/index.html? This beautiful 6-year-old, Stephen Romero, was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California with his mom and grandma when he was killed by a random shooter. This photo could be of my little boy, who is nearly the same age. This is my worst fear about living in the US. When I worked at a large liberal corporation in a landmark building in the PNW, I lived in perpetual fear of a shooting at work. My child was attending daycare in that same building. Panicking any time there was an unexpected drill, I’d fly down 7 flights of stairs, heart pounding,…
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memoir in progress
Not too long ago, I went to a book store and put my hand where my future book will be. It was a powerful feeling to put my energy there. It took me a while to admit that I’m writing a memoir. I wrote a mission statement for my book first. I had to overcome knowing how arrogant (and douchey) it sounded to be in my late thirties writing a memoir. But I’m doing it. I needed this story when I was first starting out in my mental health recovery journey and almost twenty years later and there’s still a void where a book like this should be – an…
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Just say hi
Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash I drove by a homeless man today sitting in front of a drug store entrance with a cardboard sign. When two people walked out, he smiled brightly and greeted them. They in return averted their eyes, pretended not to see him, and shuffled quickly away. What would it be like to have your presence invalidated all the time? For people to not see you? I live in a city where many complain of a “homeless problem.” “Some people just don’t want to be helped,” they say. I have heard kindhearted people dehumanize the homeless. Making jokes, even taking photos of them while they’re sleeping, without consent, and…
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Before Me
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Parenthood
Parenthood saved me. Maybe not in the way you think. I was such a good Chinese daughter. I was “drinking the kool-aid” as my brother called it until I was about 30 years old. All growing up, my parents would scold me and say, “You will understand when you become a parent yourself.” The irony is, when I was finally ready to become a parent, that’s when I stopped drinking the kool-aid. Stopped being a “good daughter.” I finally drew the boundaries I needed to stop the patterns of abuse. Preparing for parenthood made me reflect deeply on the type of parent I wanted to be and it was…
