On Giving Second Chances And Getting Burned
Despite my anxiety-fueled relationship with him I always had an inkling we would end up together. We met in our improv for anxiety class at The Second City. I signed up on a whim and it ended up...
View ArticleWhy It’s So Hard For Us To Accept Help From Others
Over the years, I’ve gotten good at asking for help. But it’s still not easy. When was the last time you needed help? Stop and think about it for a minute. Now think about the last time you actually...
View ArticleThis Is My Biggest Secret. I Have Borderline Personality Disorder.
I’m taking a deep breath and telling the truth now. Sitting in a hospital interview room wearing my boyfriend’s oversized hoodie and a pair of 15 year-old boxer shorts I refuse to throw away, I’m...
View ArticleBreaking Up With My Best Friend Was Harder Than A Divorce
I still think of her daily. And it still hurts. Jessica and I had been inseparable since high school. As if we were joined at the hip, we did everything together. We sported matching leather backpacks,...
View ArticleThis Year, I’m Giving Thanks To All Of My Darkest Moments
I’m grateful for the six years I spent drinking to blackout and snorting various substances. I like Thanksgiving. In addition to it being socially acceptable to eat an entire pumpkin pie while wearing...
View ArticleWhen Your Addiction And Depression Are In A Codependent Relationship
Drugs softened the edges of the stranglehold of depression. I was seven the first time I actively thought about killing myself. I thought about it so actively that I clumsily and unsuccessfully tried...
View ArticleI Didn’t Ignore Sexist Comments For A Week. Here’s What Happened.
I stopped sitting there and taking it, and started calling people out. And the results were nothing like what I expected. A recent shopping endeavor to purchase a video game left an extremely sour...
View ArticleAn Open Letter To All The People Who Loved Me When It Was Impossible
Thanks for sticking with me, even when I’ve made it hard. To all of you, I know sometimes I make it hard to love me – hell, even like me – but I want to thank you for standing by my side, regardless....
View Article11 People Admit The Worst Thing They’ve Done To Get Revenge
“I filled the sugar jar with powder laxatives and made that bitch think she had IBS for six months.” Admit it. You’ve done something you’re not particularly proud of. …Or maybe you are? Because there...
View ArticleAll The Things I’ve Done To Be One Of The Pretty Girls
Pretty is as pretty does. I’ve faked being pretty since the day I discovered a rogue lipstick; rolling about unattended on my mother’s dresser. I’ve nipped, tucked and sucked every inch of flesh ever...
View ArticleThis Is How You Love Someone With A Mental Illness
We’re easy to love on our good days, and almost impossible to love on our bad days; but that doesn’t make us unloveable. Perhaps it’s because I work in a team of creative types, but work is one of the...
View ArticleMy Anxiety Is Part Of Who I Am – Deal With It Or Get Lost
Here’s the thing: I can’t do anything about my anxiety any more than I can make my hair naturally smooth or my boobs bigger – it’s part of who I am. When I was a kid, I used to wonder what I’d be like...
View ArticleWhen Grief Turns Superstition Into Compulsion
Content Notice: Death of a child Superstition ruled my mind. More than I realized. Was it left hand over the right shoulder for spilled salt? Or was it the reverse? Heads up coins go in the right shoe....
View ArticleWhat A 90-Year-Old Dementia Patient Taught Me About Privilege
All of the empathy training in the world pales in comparison to experiencing the effects of real, unmanufactured hatred based on an immutable aspect of your identity. When I saw her name on my list of...
View ArticleA Tattoo Helped Heal My Postpartum Blues
I wasn’t sure a tattoo would help me move through the hollowness, but I’m glad I spread my wings and took that chance. It was the emptiness that scared me. I felt like I’d removed a body part, like a...
View ArticleWhat I Wish People Knew About Living With Crippling Anxiety
Sometimes it feels like I’m drowning. One cold, sunny day in March, I was walking down Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn when my hands and feet started tingling. My chest felt tight and I couldn’t seem to...
View ArticleWhy I Gave Up My Best Friend For My Boyfriend
When they fought over me, he won — and I lost. One of this year’s more jarring Super Bowl commercials came from the NO MORE project’s campaign against domestic violence and sexual assault. It’s a...
View ArticleSexual Anxiety Is A Real Thing, And This Is What It Feels Like
Sex is supposed to be this wonderful and magical thing, but in my experience, it can also be really traumatizing. Sex is something I have always been uncomfortable about. I have known about it for a...
View ArticleThese Are The Most Annoying Things About You, According To Your Birth Order
Acceptance is the first step in changing your (terrible) behavior. The internet is good for so many things: keeping up with celebrity gossip, looking up your latest weird physical symptom to see...
View ArticleThis Is The Side Of Emotional Abuse You Don’t See
To everyone who has been through a loved one’s emotional abuse: It’s hard. Yeah, you’ve known me since elementary school. I never made it too much past being “Ryan’s sister” in the teacher’s eyes and...
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