August 31, 2009

Monday's Health Tip: Are you an emotional eater?

It happens to all of us once in a while- you have a really bad day and all you want to do is go home and sit on the couch with a giant tub of ice cream. In your mind, there is nothing else in the world that will make you feel better. Or maybe you just got the promotion you’ve been trying to get for the past two months. What do you do? You celebrate with a large cheese pizza. Does this sound familiar?

March 12, 2009

Copies of Me

It was a long day’s work. My muscles felt like those of a man making steel from sunup to sundown. And my back ached like I had lugged a ton of that steel. I sighed. I lay down next to my husband. (He sleeps, snoring.)
March 6, 2009

Therapy begins

I stood, marveling at the four-story brownstone. I was mulling over whether I should enter. At the receptionist's desk, a young Asian man paid his co-payment. Then the receptionist asked, “Can I help you?” “Yes, I have an appointment with Rita.” “Is this your first time visiting with us?” he asked. “Yes.” “I need you to fill out these forms, and she will be with you shortly.”
March 4, 2009

I'm all over the place

A HEARING This morning I attended a Massachusetts House of Representatives Ways and Means Public Hearing. Ugh. Our senators and state representatives, sitting behind tables on a stage, discussed the Executive Office of Health and Human Services budget. Nearly 15 delegates presented and participated. Two of them were minorities, four were women. The majority were older white men with gray hair.
February 17, 2009

Therapy and Bed Bugs

I did an intake with a therapist the other day. She asked me all sorts of questions.

“Have you ever had therapy before?”

“Are you angry?”

“Yes,” I said. “I'm irritable.”

Then I asked, “Is irritable the same as being angry?”

“How are your eating habits?”

“Do you abuse any form of substance?”

“No,” I answered.

Then I asked, "Do Tylenol PMs fit into the substance category?"

“Why do you want to meet with a therapist?”

February 9, 2009

Nothing is wrong with me.

"There isn't anything wrong with me," I told a friend, when he recommended that I see a therapist. “I don't need to see a therapist!”

“T,” he said, “you don't know how to extract yourself from street-work – drive-by shootings, gang wars, homicides, and funerals. You are going to break down physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

February 6, 2009

Me

I haven’t been eating and it’s not because of my weight. I haven’t been sleeping and it's not because of insomnia. I’m stressed! I have been angry and apprehensive, bitter and belligerent.
January 12, 2009

Tossing and turning...are more people suffering from insomnia?

I'm someone who normally has no problem sleeping. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light and don't wake up until my alarm blares the next morning. However, as I lay awake last night unable to drift off, I began to wonder why I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Funny enough, I had read an article in a magazine that same day that said more and more young adults are having the very same problem.

October 24, 2008

Perfect pressure

In my quest to find the “now” in things, I’m discovering that (for me) any anxiety or stress that I feel is often rooted in the (self-appointed?) pressure to be great. The pressure to be perfect. Whether it's the pressure of being the perfect boss, the perfect dad, or even the perfect blogger, this pressure comes internally and, if I think I’ve missed perfection, it manifests itself in ways that may be…let’s just say less than pleasant.

October 17, 2008

I feel alone

I feel alone. I am trying to do everything, and people still expect more from me. I’d like to run away to a secluded island for rest, peace, and quiet. I would love to be in a place were you can smell the morning and hear nothing but the birds; a place somewhere that’s nowhere, so I can clear my thoughts and regroup. But if I did, then who would answer Jeremiah’s letter, encouraging him to think of a possible 15-year sentence as just a stop on his journey? If I did, then who would talk with the boys and encourage their little triumphs?

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