mental health
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The Dryer Story
Two winters ago, I went on an overnight hot springs trip with a group of women I’ve known and loved for decades. We stayed in an Airbnb, played Cards Against Humanity, laughed until our stomachs hurt, and ate this amazing Kahlúa cake that one of those women is famous for. In the past, we would have been drinking wine, but since I quit drinking, these ladies don’t drink in front of me. I keep telling them they don’t have to do that anymore, but they do. It’s one of the many beautiful and kind ways they have shown up for me over my life. They did, however, eat some pot…
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Riding it Out
Last week was rough. By Thursday, 6pm, I was in a crisp white hotel bed eating nachos I ordered from the bar, trying to cry without actually crying. My eyes stung. My nerves had split ends. My heart was overwrought and had that hot and heavy feeling, like a partially burned baked potato with a knife in the middle and butter bleeding out. The nachos were amazing – the best I can remember – but did nothing to fill the void. I checked the clock. Fifteen more hours before my flight home. I reached for another cheesy chip with my thumb and index finger, which were caked in guac and…
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The Elephant’s New Clothes
I think I have lost my ‘edge.’ For the last few months, I’ve been dealing with an issue at work. I’m tempted to lay out all the gritty details, but let me see if I can reduce it to nutshell size. I volunteered to facilitate a project called “Elephants in the Room.” My department’s upper management (directors and above) wanted feedback from the lower three quadrants of the department (managers and below) to get some visibility on and hopefully address some of our most pressing issues. I didn’t get a lot of input from my management, but I was told multiple times that there were “no wrong answers.” So, I…