Haircut

This is what Kelly looked like awhile back!  This is one of my all time favorite photos of her because it's just so funny!  Needless to say she needed a haircut, so the picture below is her "AFTER" photo. From "derelict" to "fabulous" lol!

Out of the darkness

 “There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” -Laurell K. Hamilton

The fog is beginning to clear in my mind.  Nine pounds heavier and a new medication later, I think I am finally on my way up and out of one the most crushing episodes of depression in my entire life.  Months of feeling incapable of doing simple tasks and overwhelming emotions of pain, anger and of course anxiety have begun to lift slowly.

I am so thankful for my loving husband, family and friends who have helped me to seek out the help I needed and get back on track.

This has truly been a dark night of the soul.

While much can be attributed to a medication failure, I can't overlook the fundamental spiritual and emotional changes I have gone through in  in the last few months.  I have learned much about myself and about other people, and begun to change long ingrained behaviors in regards to negative thoughts and people pleasing habits.  I have let go of many things I once thought were so vitally important to a contented life and embraced uncertainty.

I've learned to be more in tune with that "gut feeling" and respond appropriately.

I've learned how to be angry, really angry, in a healthy way.

I could list so many more important life lessons, but this is not the point of my post.  My only point is to thank those that have been extra kind and supportive during a time when I felt like the biggest failure on earth. Thank you for being patient with me, as I often isolate myself and forget to consider others while in the midst of my own pain. I've turned the proverbial corner, and walked away a better person because of my dark night.

Left, Right, Left?

Maybe it's just another one of my neurotic tendencies, but has anyone else noticed the increase in the amount of people who walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk?  I've particularly noticed it here on campus with the students.  I always thought walking was like driving, walk on the right, pass on the left.  Apparently, this is not a hard and fast rule anymore, considering the numerous times I have been practically shoved off the sidewalk because someone walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk refused to move!  I'm not just talking about gaggles of girls walking three abreast or people absorbed in their smartphones, there are actually people who have their heads up and are paying attention, but refuse to move.

I've decided to make a game of it.  Just like playing chicken in elementary school, I am going to refuse to budge and force the "wrong walker" to back down.  This is not easy though, as I am not typically a confrontational person, and have often stepped aside into the grass out of fear.  No more I say!  I will not back down!

 I've only successfully attempted this maneuver once, because I "chickened out" at the last moment for all the others, but this one successful refusal to step aside resulted in the person moving over to the correct side of the side walk, and an absolute look of dismay on their part.

While some of you may think this occurrence is not significant, I'm inclined to think it represents a larger issue, which is the increasing lack of common courtesy between human beings.  We are so stubborn and fearful of human interaction, and absorbed in our own problems, we actually physically refuse to budge, or make eye contact, despite knowing we are "walking on the wrong side of the road".

I realize that being just as deliberately stubborn may not be the best solution, but maybe it will start forcing people to look at the world around them, instead of remaining so stubbornly absorbed in their own problems.

Watch out world!