TRIGGER WARNING: POST MENTIONS SUICIDAL IDEATION. I have a mental illness. I live with mental illness. We aren’t supposed to talk about it I know. Just recently, I was told that I tend to exaggerate my fears and make things out to be much worse than they really are. Yes, yes I do. This is…
My name is Sarah and I am a recovering alcoholic who is codependent
As a writer, I have never really been one for fiction, though I dabble here and there. No, instead, I am far more drawn to the genre of memoir. Memoir gives us a rare, brave insight into the human condition and how a person deals with the hand that life gave them. Good memoirists are…
Change is on the horizon
It’s been a while since my last post. The person about whom I wrote in that last post, read it and took to my personal FB page to tell me what a bully and an awful person I was in glorious detail. I thought by omitting her name, or indeed any personal detail about her,…
You are perfect as you are – please be kind to yourself
To many people, I am a conundrum. To those that don’t know me that well I appear strong, forthright and confident on the one hand, full of opinion and gusto especially when I am passionate about something. And then there are times when I can appear as a child – tearful, fearful, anxious about the…
Horace and the train trip to death
I’m on the 2:30 train to Cranbourne. I’ve just met a new friend, Jane, in Melbourne where we spent three lovely hours wandering around the Art of Banksy exhibition followed by a wonderful lunch at Dymocks bookshop. I had vegan shepherds pie accompanied by ginger & lemon tea. I’m feeling tired but also a little…
A journey of healing
I wake up to the burning sensation in my stomach. I clutch it, curling into a ball. 2am. I close my eyes, willing myself to breathe in, breathe out. Please, brain, don’t go into overdrive tonight. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. I feel the rise and fall of my burning abdomen. What…
The rambling recesses of my mind
I’ve been going through a thing. And it has been so hard to talk about, to compartmentalise, to rationalise, indeed to live. The thing itself has been harrowing enough, but it is the soul reaching thoughts and feelings that have left me reeling. Mr C and I were watching TV the other night; sometimes I…
Strong people: we need you to fight for our world
Recently, I was asked if I would consider standing as a councillor on our local Council. I laughed out loud. I’m pretty vocal in my own little community. I belong to an Owner’s Corporation that is only three years old. The inaugural committee at the time was pretty punitive in its approach, egged on by…
Coming home
I’ve been away. Two and a bit weeks ago Mr C decided I needed a break. He had snagged himself a job (oh the relief!), and we had a little of the redundancy money left, so he decided to send me back to the UK to where my dad lives. Just between you and me,…
Work and longing
And so it has arrived. The relief. The overwhelming unadulterated release. After 10 months and 4 days of unemployment, Mr C has finally been offered a job. He got the phone call. I heard him talking. I knew it was THE call. After three interviews, we hoped it would be what we wanted to hear….