Jay saved my life. And his presence in my soul, helps me stay motivated for my own mental health, as well as that of those around me.

Certain people either don't realize or have cruel intention when using #negative, accusatory, insensitive and degrading statements. I cannot speak for others, but I know I'm not the only human in the world to have experienced such a thing. I had an awful evening the other night having had a conversation with someone I love and care about, someone who was apart of my "chosen" family. I'd love to say it was the only time, however, having reflected - there is a pattern. That pat

The den had couches that likely had never been cleaned and were probably covered in all sorts of disgusting human secretions.

Remember the session with Evy regarding her anger towards anyone in recovery (refer to Part II)? I was in the same area as her in the building when she came to me and in a very excited voice said, “I have a present for you, do you have some time?” I was heading into a meeting, so I told her I would come find her after. She told me, if I missed her and she had already left to go out of state, she would leave it with the front desk. When the meeting was over, I was on a mission

I had a rather interesting conversation the other day with a woman named Evy. Her opening line was, “I don’t want you to take what I’m about to say personally, but I really need advice on two things.” In the past, my first impulse was to say and feel something along the lines of, “Oh, greatttttt. Meaning it is directed at me.” #Sarcasm is something that comes easily to me, and is often attempted to shield potential anger. I decided to move forward with the #oppositeaction, I

THAT, is the question. .. and the answer is always YES (as long as it is part of an acceptable sleep schedule) This really hit me, square between the eyes, but to be clear, it's an important factor for all humans ... Sleep isn't just "important" when you live with bipolar disorder, it's one of the biggest factors that can either protect your stability ... or quietly unravel it. And the hard part? Lack of sleep doesn't always feel like a problem at first. I lock my car keys in

... but the weight is just too heavy to carry and prepare to drop right now.

I graduated from High School in 2005. I went out west to Arizona State University, as far away as I could get from the town I grew up in, and the only house I ever lived in, to obtain my Bachelors. Needless to say, I’m pretty certain my focus wasn’t “obtaining my Bachelors” but instead to party as much as humanly possible until I “became an adult”. I “became” an adult a lot earlier than expected, with the most handsome surprise ever. My oldest son made his debut into society

For as long as I can remember, anger has always been the easiest emotion for me to express, and the first one that comes to the surface - far more than any other. For the longest time, I felt as though it was the only emotion I had. About halfway through my past career, my boss began referring to the timeframe from 2015-2016 as my "angry years". It just so happened that this was the time when my addictions had come to a head in my adult life. I was doing everything I never th

He used to ask where we would've been if we began US those years ago when we met, and I assured him we would have only crashed and burned then, we both needed to mature.

Imagine being on a roller coaster – up and down, left and right, fast and slow, fun and outright petrifying. Now imagine being on the same rollercoaster, but instead of a quick 3 minute trip … it’s decades long. That’s the best analogy for my life. I wanted to get off, to walk on solid ground, to not be flipped upside down, to not feel debilitating fear when things move too fast, and complete anxiety when they moved too slow. I wanted to be able to connect with people, not ju