“How Can I Best Support You?” and 6 Other Questions To Ask When Your Friend Is Suffering August 24, 2018 by Ramona Rio Leave a Comment When I hit rock-bottom in my drug addiction and mental health, I spent a whole year and a half recovering. Six months of that time, I slept almost every day until two or three in the afternoon. I would not say that I had nothing to live for, but I felt there was nothing in my immediate future to work towards. I did not even see it as time to “work on myself” because I was … [Read more...]
5 Ways To Help Your Friend if They Have Been Triggered August 19, 2018 by Gillian Brown 3 Comments Trigger Warning: This article discusses triggering in detail and mentions common topics of triggering (sexual assault, anxiety, health anxiety, depression, death, non-specific fears and phobias). I have been susceptible to triggering for about two and a half years. I developed health anxiety and, whenever I am exposed to things relating to death and certain … [Read more...]
Queer Eye: Inviting Social Change, One Makeover at a Time July 5, 2018 by Gillian Brown Leave a Comment When I first saw an ad for the new Queer Eye television show, my primary reaction was one of bemusement. I remembered the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and I liked it a lot at the time. I liked how the show would delve into the lives and backgrounds of the weekly "straight guys" more than other makeover shows. I also cannot deny the original show’s importance in … [Read more...]
6 Warning Signs That Your Friendship is Abusive March 16, 2018 by Maya Gittelman 1 Comment Toxic dynamics are not reserved for romantic or sexual partnerships. Any relationship that you have with another person can be healthy: a source of positivity and mutual empowerment. Any relationship can also then be unhealthy: emotionally abusive. It can sometimes be harder to recognize emotional abuse when it comes from friends rather than family or partners. It’s talked … [Read more...]
10 Lessons I Learned While Getting Free From Relationship Addiction October 2, 2017 by Anonymous Leave a Comment Relationships are a basic human need, like water. What’s also true, though, is the cliché: “You can’t love another until you love yourself.” (I think I first heard this in a spaghetti sauce commercial in the nineties. Doesn’t make it any less real.) As for me, I was often in a clingy fog that prevented my connection with myself, my purpose in life, a god of my understanding, … [Read more...]
Navigating Mother’s Day When You Don’t Have a Mother May 13, 2016 by Toni Bell Leave a Comment Mother’s Day was originally created in the 1850s by Ann Reeves Jarvis. She wanted to bring special attention to issues around sanitation in cities, in effort to decrease infant mortality. After the Civil War, she campaigned to expand the day as a call for action for mothers to take a more active political role to end war and bring about peace. In 1908, after the death of her … [Read more...]
