It’s a fact, one in five Canadians will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lifetime. One of the biggest hurdles for anyone suffering from mental illness is overcoming the stigma. It is the number one reason why two-thirds of those living with a mental illness do not seek help.
Today is a day of awareness to end the stigma that keeps too many who struggle with mental illness from seeking the help they need.
This is my story.
A week ago, a woman named Erin Smith Chiez shared this on Facebook.
In the past few days, I have received quite a few private messages about a “game” going around where you post a heart, then you are secretly supposed to state it is for breast cancer awareness. This is my response to all of these messages.
Someone once posted a picture on Facebook of what breast cancer can look like. Not feel, but look like. In December of 2015 when I saw an indentation that looked like one of those pictures, I instantly knew I had breast cancer. I tried to feel for a tumor, but my tumor was non palpable. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 days later and with stage 4 the following month. A heart did nothing for awareness. I knew what breast cancer was. I knew all about self exams, but a picture of what to look for keyed me into knowing I had a terminal disease. We need to give REAL information, not cute hearts. Without having seen a picture randomly with real information, I wouldn’t have known what to look for. Do us a favor, stop playing games with my life and start truly helping people. Metastatic breast cancer treatment research and real awareness.
“Christmas is over, you’ve put on weight, it’s cold out, it’s dark out, your credit card bills are in, you’re not going to get another day off until March, and you’re tired.
You might even be depressed.
If so, you are not alone, especially not today. For today, according to one measure, is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year.” (Montreal Gazette)
Blue Monday sounds pretty gloomy. But for many, it truly is. For some, this January funk is a result of cold weather, overspending during the holidays, the dollar (if you’re Canadian), a relationship gone sour, or job dissatisfaction. For others, it’s something more serious.
As we age, most women eventually come to a wild crossroads, a confusing place where we must devise a new purpose, or formulate a new self-valuation. It’s a life phase of “fence sitting,” or, for those of us in our 40s and 50s, a time that’s — often disparagingly — referred to as the “midlife crisis.”
Sometimes this crisis is shy and easy, a tiny blip on the psychological radar. At other times, it roars in with a shattering bang and is dragged out slowly, kicking and screaming in handcuffs.
It may arrive with the empty nest, or earlier, with the first gray hairs. It might arrive because a divorce or death in the family leaves us seeking new companions. It might arrive because we’re unfortunately forced out of a job and need to forge new paths, or maybe because career-wise, we feel “stuck in a rut.”
Hello, hello!
Happy New Year M’Ladies. How was your holiday season? I rested and regrouped with my family, and I’m ready for 2017. I know that after hearing from so many of you, the general consensus is that the world seems happy to just put 2016 behind us.
By Tracy Satov
As the days have gotten shorter and darker, many people experience seasonal depression. The less sunlight in combination with cold winter weather, many just want to stay indoors and put their head under their covers.
Are there any foods that could improve your mood?
If you’ve been perched on the fence getting splinters, unable to make a decision, paralyzed and afraid to take the jump toward your happiness, I am coming for you. Fall symbolizes the shedding and ridding ourselves of the old, and beginning of the new cycle. Fall is a perfect time to make plans.
Here are 5 Steps To Get Off The Fence and Get Unstuck this fall. It’s time to make a plan to get out of a rut and thriving:
Anxiety has a favorite host: females who live in North America. Are you surprised? I’m not. According to a new study published in Brain and Behavior magazine, scientists compared nearly 50 notable scientific papers on anxiety from around the world. Females and people in areas of high population showed time and again to produce higher rate of reported anxiety.
This is my brother, Dan’s story. Please read. Please share. Let’s keep the conversation regarding suicide and mental illness going, or at least, let’s try to get it started. Thank you.
#missyoudan
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On July 24th, 2015, I lost my little brother, Dan – my only brother, and also, my best friend – to suicide (by way of depression). Given that more than a year has passed, and that September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the time now feels right for me to share his story.
Dan and I grew up in a very loving, nurturing, and supportive family. I never thought that suicide could ever happen in my family, but then again, who does??? But I have learned that suicide knows no boundaries, and if it can happen in my family, right under my nose, and unbeknownst to me, then surely, it could happen in any family.
My name is Dan and I am an addict.
When asked, I am happy to share about what happened years ago and what life is like now. My mom brought me to Montreal shortly after being born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For all of my Freudian therapy over the decades, the only “traumas” I have been able to identify in my childhood are related to divorce and a genuine sense of abandonment by my biological father. Besides this, I had a privileged childhood and life. I did the JPPS/Bialik/Marianopolis/McGill circuit (all private schools in my city), and even finished first in my B Com class. I went on to start a career on Wall Street (which I guess can help mess anyone up!), had a lovely girlfriend (to be wife), and the sky was the limit for me.
My introduction to drugs came quite early, but the abuse really started in New York City with cocaine and quaaludes. For many years, everything was manageable. But suddenly, it no longer was.
I help busy women (like you!) prioritize self-care so you can experience less stress, more calm and greater joy every day!
