Collecting Stars Blog

Okay, can I just say the whole idea of ‘New Year, New Me’ is really annoying? Just because time ticks over and the planet rotates around the sun again in a movement we can’t feel, we’re not going to magically be able to be a new person. I’m still Hope, I’m not going to change. I’m still going to struggle sleeping well and waking up in the morning, I’m still going to spend more time on my phone than is strictly necessary, and I’m still going to procrastinate on anything that doesn’t have a very specific due date.  The idea...

I’ll be okay, I always am.  That was always the phrase I used whenever someone would actually realize that I was in a really sucky situation. Whenever there was lots to do, or if someone was treating me horribly, I would always say ‘I’ll be okay, I always am’. It was a really easy way to shut down conversations at times that I didn’t want to talk about what was going on. I felt horrible, all the time, but somehow it always sucked whenever anyone ever caught a real glimpse of what I was actually feeling, so I said my...

When my husband was in grad school, I was blessed with some great friends. We were all moms of young kids and our husbands were always studying, so we leaned on each other a lot. One day I was in my friend’s kitchen, and saw some papers on the side of her fridge. Being me, I went over to read them. It was a list of things, with the title “Michelle’s List of Simple Joys.”  I totally started laughing. “You need a list to remind you what makes you happy?” I asked her. She just smiled and looked at me,...

When I was first learning about what was happening with my anxiety, one of the most helpful things was to hear what other people were feeling/thinking/experiencing.  Being able to recognize my own symptoms in what others was saying was so reassuring.  No, I wasn’t crazy; other people knew what I was going through!  I thought I’d go through a few of the most common symptoms of anxiety and share with you how they manifested in me, in hopes that you will recognize something and be able to progress in your own healing journey. Please keep in mind that none of...

One of the curses of mental illnesses is that you feel isolated and alone.  We think no one understands what we feel.  Noone knows what we’re going through. How could they possibly? Surely no one has ever felt this sad and lonely but me.  The reality is that we don’t live in a vacuum.  We may feel, or think, that we are alone, but there are many lives that we touch, and that touch us, every day.  We may not be aware of them, but they are there. And guess what?  They probably think they’re alone, too.  Everyone has things...