mental health Archives - Page 3 of 5

2019: Worthy Achievements vs. Real Life

I need to lose some weight. I should quit smoking. I think I should drink less. I really need to exercise more. I have to get more organised. Yep. It’s here. That strange, slightly awkward, time warp-like period in between Christmas and New Year. The time when we start thinking about what we’re going to do to make next year bigger, better and more successful than the one about to end. The critical little voice

December 28, 2018 No Comments

Anxiety, Storms & Demons on the Boat

Sometimes life is very loud. Thoughts, worries, ideas and concerns spin around and around inside my head all at the same time, jumbling together to create a mess of confusion that’s impossible to find a way through. Finding myself in the middle of this mess is often totally overwhelming. I have spent many years in doctors’ offices and counselling sessions in an attempt to treat my severe anxiety. I have talked a lot, been given

August 27, 2018 1 Comment

Gratitude & frustration: post-transplant body image

My hair and I are in a long-term love/hate relationship. For many years, I absolutely hated it. I’m adopted, so nobody else in my family had hair as curly as mine. My parents weren’t particularly adept styling it when I was growing up, so we just kind of ignored that it was the way it was and did the best we could. I brushed it out and tied it up and…it didn’t always go very

August 22, 2018 3 Comments

5 Things I’ll Never Forget:
Choosing to be Empowered

This post is Part 5 in a series based on a presentation I recently did. The rest of the posts can be found here. The more I’ve got to know a very broad cross-section of our little “renal world”, the more I’ve wanted to do something of value within this community, something to help other patients. I know I’ve written before about how lucky I am that I’ve come into contact with a lot of

May 17, 2018 7 Comments

5 Things I’ll Never Forget:
It’s ok to not be ok.

This post is Part 4 in a series based on a presentation I recently did. The rest of the posts can be found here. I have some friends who joke that there’s some debate over whether I really qualify as a renal patient. Compared to what some of them have lived through, and in many cases are still dealing with, my own circumstances look like a walk in the park. I have a successful transplant,

April 1, 2018 2 Comments

2019: Worthy Achievements vs. Real Life

Anxiety, Storms & Demons on the Boat

Gratitude & frustration: post-transplant body image

5 Things I’ll Never Forget:Choosing to be Empowered

5 Things I’ll Never Forget: It’s ok to not be ok.

5 Things I’ll Never Forget:
Choosing to be Empowered

5 Things I’ll Never Forget:
It’s ok to not be ok.