Mental Health
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Healing from Loss: My Journey Through Grief
I thought that when she passed away, time would stop. Didn’t the world understand that she was gone? I was carrying the pain of knowing I wouldn’t be able to talk to her again. The day after she died, I woke up and thought I should call her today; I hadn’t called her in a…
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Ten Reasons I’m grateful for my ASD
It has helped me be more sensitive to those who feel like outsiders. It has sharpened my observational skills. It gives me a long attention span to focus on my passions. The people I have met in the ASD community. It has made me intensely curious. It has given me deep empathy. It has given…
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Community Saved Me
I’ve been meditating on the importance of community lately. I keep seeing news stories that suggest we are in a loneliness epidemic and that it’s only getting worse. Pundits love to blame social media; I suppose pinning a single source for a problem must make them feel more at ease since it provides an easy…
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The importance of Grief
Grief is quite a stigmatized emotion in our society. Crying is something that we never quite know how to handle, even as adults. I have never known how to talk about the grief I feel and when it is appropriate to connect with others. Then I stumbled upon Anderson Cooper’s podcast, “All There Is.” I…
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Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
The holidays can be a stressful and confusing time, especially when it comes to understanding traditions that don’t make sense to me. As I’ve grown older, my appreciation for the season has increased, but some customs, especially those unique to my family, still puzzle me. My purpose here is to share observations and seek insight…
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Confessions from the Psych Ward
It’s been three years since I spent a little over two weeks in two different behavioral health hospitals. I’m so grateful that I’m farther along on the journey to being healed and whole than I was back then. I’ve been thinking about the advice I’d give to myself and my family members with everything I…
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I Found My People in Tennessee
This past weekend, I attended the Southeastern Conference for Adults with Autism in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My parents attended a few years ago when I was in the hospital. I was excited about the community and the learning I would experience. I left work on Friday and drove for two hours to Ocoee, Tennessee. I drove…
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Where life began
I’ve wanted to write down what led to my mental health crisis in 2019. I’d graduated from college and was working in my second job as an Activities Director. I wasn’t meeting expectations, and going to work every day felt like a constant reminder of how much of a failure I was. I had…
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We Must Do Better
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the generations of those with autism spectrum disorder in my family, myself included. While life has gotten better with each subsequent generation, there is still so much work to do. I can only speak to what it’s like trying to navigate this world as an adult…
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Diagnosis At Last
My path to an autism diagnosis began after a series of mental health challenges caused the upheaval of my professional and private life. A relationship and a job had ended. In the throes of self-loathing and depression, I wanted to understand why I operated in the world the way I did. It had been suggested…
