Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Back in March, I posted a blog titled “I’ve Been Struggling.” I shared that with you because I feel that it is important to talk about the rain and clouds in our lives. It is all too easy to filter our social media to include only the sunshine and rainbows, but I feel like this is a disservice to everyone. It creates this illusion that those who are having mental health struggles are alone in those struggles when that just isn’t the case. “It is estimated that more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (57.8 million in 2021).” [1] Which means that having mental health struggles is a common human experience.
Continue reading “I’m Still Struggling”Author: Zebra Pig
I am Myself
I am a Wife
Blessed with love
I am a Mother
Endowed with divinity
Through the power of creation
I am a Daughter
Brought into this world
With unending hope
And the promise of the future
I am a Sister
Made fierce and strong
While forged with kindness
Protector and protected
Spiraling together forever
I am a Nurse
Holding out the hands of healing
And offering the sick comfort
And the dying love
Knowing that through this
All things are healed and made whole
I am a Writer
Creating myself and world
Sharing the inner depths of humanity
Bringing together the divine
And the humble mortal
I tell the story of the Goddess
And am remembered forever
The Meaning of Freedom.
What does freedom mean to you?
-WordPress prompt
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about freedom. I have lived all my life in a country that claims to be the land of the free, yet I have never known a sense of personal freedom. Today, I want to talk about what freedom is and why I don’t feel that America is free.
Continue reading “The Meaning of Freedom.”You’re a Bully… What Now?
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about some of the things that you can do if you’ve come to the realization that you are a bully. The first thing that I want to express in this conversation is that I was a bully and I know that it is possible to become something different. Change is possible. It takes time. Years, probably. It is a hard change to make because it requires changing habits of behaviors that are engrained in your life. But that time and effort is worth it.
Continue reading “You’re a Bully… What Now?”Adults Can Be Bullies
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. I’m still on the topic of being a bully. Today I wanted to talk about how adults can be bullies and what that can look like. The idea behind this is to increase awareness around these behaviors. Often times, when we are raised in environments that are inappropriate, we are taught that unhealthy behaviors are normal without ever realizing that they are harmful. When we talk about these kinds of behaviors it gives us a chance to self evaluate and consider if there are things that we could be doing better.
Continue reading “Adults Can Be Bullies”Knowing Your ACE Score
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about having a high ACE score. The fact is that as a child, I was a both a victim and victimizer. I have talked about this before and am rather open about it. But today I wanted to talk about the ACE score and the reasons that I think it is an important number that everyone should know.
Continue reading “Knowing Your ACE Score”Being a Bully
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about being a bully. When we talk about bullying, it is generally from the perspective of being the victim rather then the victimizer. But one thing that I have learned while working in psychiatric nursing is that we are far more likely to prevent people from becoming victims if we can prevent people from becoming victimizers. Thus, it is essential that we understand what causes a person to become a bully and how we help them change course.
Continue reading “Being a Bully”Influential Teacher
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
Word Press Prompt
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about my experiences as a child in the public school system. The American public school system is not a great place for children and especially not for those children that have any kind of special needs; including those children that are exceptionally brilliant or gifted.
Continue reading “Influential Teacher”Myths and Misconceptions About Chronic Illness
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I wanted to address some of the myths that I frequently hear regarding people who have chronic illnesses.
Continue reading “Myths and Misconceptions About Chronic Illness”Dancing in the Rain
Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I wanted to talk about the weather. Unlike most people, I am not a huge fan of the bright and sunny days. For me, they are dangerous. I have to be very careful while spending time out in the sun or I end up with severe sun burns and heat stroke. This has created negative associations with that kind of weather.
Continue reading “Dancing in the Rain”Change of Posting Schedule
Hello Dazzle!
I have decided to go back to work as a nurse. I am not going to be working in direct patient care, but rather in a supportive nursing role. Because of that, I will no longer be able to post every day. I am changing the posting schedule to once a week and that will be every Friday. This change is starting this week which means that the next post you will see will be the Friday post.
Zebra Pig 