Anxiety and Trauma

I attended a psychodrama workshop two weeks ago. It was a transformative experience for me, and I keep trying to think of a way to consolidate it here, but I can’t. Drama therapy is experiential, and reading about psychodrama myself didn’t prepare me for how powerful it would turn out to be. Long story short, […]

Play a Day: Chicken and Egg

What appears at first glance to be a party. Upon closer observation, among those in attendance are actually depression, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, menstrual difficulties, and, of course, the owner of the house. Since the audience has arrived in medias res, we don’t know which guest arrived first. Think of it like a murder mystery dinner […]

Less is More

Earlier this week, I hit a bit of a low point in a depression-anxiety spiral. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and having been laid up with my period, was feeling guilty and useless for not getting “enough” done, among other things. Reaching out always helps because I have a tendency to go inwards with those […]

Trust the Universe

I’ve said it before, but in light of recent events, it bears saying again: ask for what you want, do the work, and more often than not, good things will come to you. Exhibit A: I got an e-mail confirmingĀ an interview with Glenn Greenwald next week to talk about his new book about the NSA […]

Depression and Inertia

Once I’m feeling overwhelmed, it starts to feel like nothing will ever change and my options for making a difference in my own life are limited. All I can think of are the reasons I can’t do things or why even if I tried it wouldn’t matter because of course I’m just a failure and incompetent at life.

In other words, my brain lies to me.

Stress also makes me feel tired and fatigued, which makes me able to do less because I lack the mental and/or physical energy.

Which only feeds the cycle more.

Because my brain can then say, “See? You can’t even do your laundry or keep up with the dishes or clean the cat box. How will you ever manage X, Y, or Z?”

Then, the stress and guilt from not being able to do even the simplest adult tasks piles onto my other stress and makes me feel even more that I ought to just stay in bed with the covers pulled over my head forever.