10 Affirmations for Insecurity (That Don’t Feel Like Lying to Yourself)

These affirmations don’t include statements easily disproven by critical self talk. Building confidence requires belief, and repeating a phrase I don’t believe doesn’t help me. Facts which are difficult to argue with are more productive. Here are ten affirmations I’ve written and use to cope with deep insecurity: I’m experiencing life, my own individual life, …

The Whistle .2

A whistling in the hurricane/Out here, a song, so close and strange/Who’s whistling in this wind and rain?/Two steps out, door locks behind/Body bereft of a key to find/And whistling is growing nearer still/An eerie lilting tune, clear skill/In my life I’ve heard whistles of nature/Odd voices of gods in their nomenclature

Jaybird Joy

For a warm moment the pressure lifts. I’m learning to allow myself the full experience of happiness, without giving all my attention away to intrusive thoughts. They’ve been heard out, accepted as part of my reality, and now it’s time to let go. I’m at peace watching birds out my window. Joy will come regularly …

Recognizing Trauma Responses

We all have different stories, tragedies, little secrets that become big that become destigmatization if they cease being secret, but if we’ve lived with trauma for a significant amount of time (especially childhood trauma) we may not notice how big of an impact they‘ve had on our lives. Our personalities and behaviours have adopted trauma …

Time and I

This week is a difficult time for me but I’m appreciative of how much I’ve grown in a year. I’ve graduated from the person I used to be. Though I remain an anxious person, I’m more emotionally stable even when I’m not— I can move on, cope, gain control over myself from the hands of …

PTSD and the Ordinary Object

Trauma, fear, our experiences can give contextual power to any object we have encountered before. An article of clothing, a certain scent, an everyday household item, so unassuming and yet when tied to a particular memory, to us and our instincts they become anything but harmless. CW: references to abuse and sexual violence Most people …

Having the Difficult Conversations

You’re telling someone about a trauma, the person you’re speaking to didn’t know it occurred and maybe was in your life at the time it happened. You worry they might feel guilty or extrapolate that you blame them. Here are some tips to keeping the conversational flow and giving subtle assurance without spending your energy …

Don’t Fear Scars

Are you scared of having scars on your body? Well, your body is a scar. What is tissue, matter, where does it come from? All these amounts of carbon, protein, minerals, why have they arranged to create us? Maybe there’s a template in reality which molecules are directed by, maybe all matter is an illusion, …

Codependency, Trauma, and Mental Illness

Interpersonal relationships are to be a source of self improvement practices, they ought to leave you feeling fulfilled, well rounded, and secure. These bonds need to be made sustainable if they should endure healthily for many years or a lifetime. Anyone will struggle with balancing relationships but people coping with mental illness or trauma can …

Why I Write

There are many reasons I write, some objectively more honourable than others. For a moment I’m going to dissect why. There’s an insecure, fragile, unstable child inside me and this is the true source of many of the factors. One is that I never used to truly value my thoughts and opinions. I put so …