My step-dad said to me recently, “When it comes to mental illness, comorbidity is the name of the game.” He wasn’t wrong. Comorbidity refers to having more than one chronic illness at once. Of all the people who experience mental disorders in the U.S. (roughly one in five), 45% of them meet the criteria for two or more disorders. That’s almost one in ten people who may be … [Read more...]
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Yes, I Deserve Help: Disability and Asking for What We Need
I went back to college this past fall after taking two years off. I've always been good at school, often to the detriment of my mental health, but I'd assumed that I would be able to pick up where I’d left off and keep up with the workload demanded of me. It wasn’t true. Suddenly, the workload was too much for me. During my first three weeks back in school, I must have had a … [Read more...]
“Take Your Time:” 10 Things to Say to Someone Who Has Anxiety
If I am honest with myself, I have no idea when my anxiety troubles started. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder about five years ago, but I exhibited symptoms years beforehand. Perhaps I was born with it. Whenever it started, I feel confident in saying that I have struggled with anxiety for long enough to know that the things people say to anxiety-sufferers can … [Read more...]
10 Toxic Things I’m Leaving in 2017
This New Year what if you resolved to deepen your radical self love journey? When you become a #NoBodiesInvisible subscriber at the $19.99/mo Radical Investor level you will receive our 10 Tools to Radical Self-Love 4-week e-course. You don’t need a new you. You need a YOU you love more! Visit www.tbinaa.com/subscriber to find out more … [Read more...]
Why As a Man, I Need Feminism
Originally published on aymankuzbari.blogspot on November 2012, published with permission. "I am a feminist." This statement has caused several kinds of reactions when coming from me, a male. Ranging from an inquisitive if not suspicious "why?" to sweet praise borne not out of understanding, but rather out of amazement if not amusement. And yet the one reaction I've … [Read more...]
3 Black Feminists Who Lived Radical Self-Love
I am a writer, and as such I am also a lover of words. The way some people might admire a pair of shoes, a car, or a work of art, I appreciate the masterful manipulation of language — especially when the message is both beautiful and intelligent. I regularly find inspiration between two quotation marks. My literary heroes are those who can use words like paint on a … [Read more...]
Top 3 Myths about Fat People and Food
I really like McDonald's. Call it being raised by a woman whose favourite cooking utensil is her car, but I have eaten a fair few fast foods and takeaways in my time, and McDonald’s is delicious. My favourite meals are the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and the Chicken Legend with Mayo, orange juice, and a sweet and sour sauce thrown in there, too. I try not to eat takeaways too … [Read more...]
Seeking Great-Aunt Sarah: Learning From the Abuse of My Disabled Ancestor
Great-aunt Sarah, age 12 [Image description: This 1921 black-and-white photograph shows the author's great-aunt Sarah as a girl of 12 standing on the grounds of a state school in Wrentham, MA. She is a white girl with shoulder-length brown hair pulled back on the top with a large bow. Her dress is white and extends below her knees, and she is wearing leather lace-up shoes. She … [Read more...]
7 Things I Wish People Knew About Being a Fat Woman
This article originally appeared on SHESAID and has been republished with permission. I used to spend a lot of time wondering if people were polite to my face and rude behind my back, probably because I’ve caught people doing that before. To my face they’d tell me how cute my outfit was. Then I’d turn around and they’d make a comment about how “brave” I was for wearing a skirt … [Read more...]
7 Ways To Resist Eurocentric Beauty Standards and Move Towards Radical Self-Love
Representation matters. When beauty is a standard and the only standards of beauty are Eurocentric -- and aggressively mired in sexist, cissexist restrictions of the gender binary -- we all lose, especially those of us who do not, cannot, and will not conform. It breeds a culture of toxicity, other-hatred, and self-hatred that we must fight. We can fight it … [Read more...]
The Dilemma of Privilege: Recognizing It In Myself
This morning, I made the bed. I walked back and forth, around the bottom of the bed to the other side. I didn’ t count how many times; but enough to straighten the sheet and the duvet, fluff the pillows, and place the extra blankets. Maybe you do this every morning, or maybe you’ re someone who doesn’ t like to or have to make your own bed. It’ s probably not something that you … [Read more...]
5 Steps for Taking Care of Myself When I Have a Panic Attack
When I say ‘panic attack’, what springs to mind? If you have never had a panic attack, or have never known someone who has ever had them, you might think panic attacks consist of people breathing into paper bags, clutching at their chests, and/or fainting. In other words, the sort of things they show on movies or tv shows. In actuality, panic attacks are generally felt, … [Read more...]
5 Steps for Taking Care of Myself After a Panic Attack
When I say ‘panic attack’, what springs to mind? If you have never had a panic attack, or have never known someone who has ever had them, you might think panic attacks consist of people breathing into paper bags, clutching at their chests, and/or fainting. In other words, the sort of things they show on movies or tv shows. In actuality, panic attacks are generally felt, … [Read more...]
Gender Differences in Asperger’s: Being a Trans Guy and a Female-Socialized Aspie
I have never been quite like most people. I was aware of my difference from a very early age. It was as though I viewed the world in an entirely different way from the people around me. Things that they took seriously seemed inconsequential to me. Things that I took seriously seemed inconsequential to them. I felt perpetually misunderstood. Adults were always telling me I … [Read more...]
New Year, Same You: An Anti-Resolution To Lose the Weight of Body Shame
For the past two years, I have worked in Online Marketing for a company that sells fast-moving consumer goods (grocery foods and small gifts, mostly). Every January, my company pushes so-called ‘diet’ items, and I am normally one of the people who does the copywriting for the relevant promotions. As my fingers tap out words like ‘detox’, ‘healthy’, and ‘new start,’ I feel a … [Read more...]
How the Trump Administration Is Hurting Older Folks
Despite what you might read in Trump’s daily tweets, many Americans are experiencing hardship under this current administration. This administration is hellbent on rolling back, changing or eliminating programs and legislation that directly impacts people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities and older Americans in negative and damaging ways. Every time … [Read more...]
“Do I Know How to Comfort Myself?”: How to Move Through a (Not-so-Sober) Mourning
I loved someone deeply. When she passed away, I drank excessively. My grief-logic was simple. She drank vodka. We drank vodka together. She’s dead. I’m not. She’s gone. Vodka’s not. The act of drinking vodka became entangled in a trippy continuum that made me feel connected to her. In my head, I could drink all the vodka I wanted because it was in her name – and God … [Read more...]
6 Situations Where Weight Loss May Not Make Sense – Even if You Think It Does
This post was originally published by EverydayFeminism under the title "6 Scenarios Where Intentionally Changing Your Weight Doesn't Make Sense -- Even If You Think It Does" and is republished here with permission. Content note: This article contains references to weight loss, dieting, and eating disorders. I met with a new specialist to talk about the osteoporosis I’ve … [Read more...]
