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The Benefits of Living Together
Around Christmas time, I was walking Star–my dog–and stopped to talk to my neighbor. I told him how excited I was that this was going to be my second Christmas with Marc. His immediate question was, “So when are you getting married?” Shocked, I said that we were already married. His next reaction was priceless. “Good. As it should be.” Wait, what? Why is it that we presume all young adults who are living together aren’t married? Maybe because less and less people delay marriage until they’re in their upper 20’s and early 30’s. Maybe because young adults in church look (and act) no different from those not in church.…
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The Sirens of Anxiety
[Guest Post by Abby Norman] – It feels like a siren, coming at you as you drive through your day. Maybe you are headed to work like you always are, listening to your favorite radio program, maybe it is the weekend, you are headed nowhere in particular but hope to land some place special. Maybe you are driving around and around your block because the baby in the back seat refuses to sleep any other way. It doesn’t really matter where you are driving, what you are doing. You hear the siren somewhere in the distance–and you wonder if it is coming for you. There are days when I am…
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On Depression: A Wounded Healer
[Guest Blog by Sonny Lemmons] – “I’m going to start you on this, at a low dosage, and I’d like to begin seeing you twice a week.” Wait – what? No. No! See, that’s not how this was supposed to turn out at all. Physician, Heal Thyself! It was my second semester of grad school. My degree was counseling based, so the university required students to sit in on one counseling session, as a patient, in order for us to begin to hone our listening skills. I figured I could just learn how to parrot the appropriate times when I’d need to nod my head, look concerned, or interlace my…
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Suicide And Depression
[Guest Post by Karen Neumair] – I like to run. Notice I didn’t call myself a runner, because that would imply that I am actually good at it. Me and my 13-minute mile–look out, world! Most people assume that I started running to lose weight, and I tend to let most people think that. Because the real reason is a lot less glamorous, a lot darker. I started running to beat depression. And not just your average, run-of-the-mill depressive episode that many of us experience from time to time, but the more sinister, dark-night-of-the-soul depression, the kind where you don’t remember to eat, you don’t have the strength to get…
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On Depression: Everything Is Not Okay
[Guest Post by Hannah Kingsley] – I have been through periods of life where every day has been characterized by some kind of anxiety. Sometimes it could be seen on the surface. And sometimes my anxiety brewed more dangerously beneath the surface. As a predominantly “happy” person, bouts of depression cause a conflict in my soul between the need to be authentic about my struggles and the desire to maintain a cheerful exterior. It can make asking for help all that much more difficult. It is easy to assume that the happy, cheerful, strong person has no need of assistance and suffers no lows–but nothing could be further from the…
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On Anxiety: Why I'm Not Ready For Kids
I’m not ready for kids because I have anxiety. I never thought I’d share this information publicly, but I never thought I’d be married and dealing with this problem privately. As some of you already may know, I was single for 12 years, 10 months, and 24 days. That’s a long time to forget about having children. Also long enough to realize I probably won’t have more than one or two kids when I do get married. I’m 30, so it’s not like I don’t time to figure out this kid business. I never realized my doctor would tell me I shouldn’t have kids. It’s not enough to know that…
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On Depression: A Broken Dream
[Guest Post by Rachel Berry] – I certainly never thought a broken dream would end in depression. I had chased my dream of becoming Miss America for 7 years–and at the abrupt end of my journey, it wasn’t welcomed with warm memories and joyful reflections. I felt numb. And when I could feel, it was only fear, anxiety, and purposeless that saturated me. I competed in my first Miss America preliminary when I was a junior in college. I was reserved, self conscious, and carrying an extra fifteen pounds. I was excited to earn scholarship money, but what I really wanted was to win the preliminary title that would send me to…
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On Anxiety: Celiac Disease
[Guest Post by Casey] – At the age of 24, I had everything I wanted; and all of a sudden, none of it meant anything. I had just finished up my master’s degree, received a great job offer and moved in with my boyfriend of three years after dealing with long distance most of our relationship. If I wasn’t feeling anxious, I wasn’t feeling anything at all. I dreaded going out; I was snapping at loved ones and it took every ounce of discipline I had to drag myself out of bed. Nothing was fun anymore, including me. There was no Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I was straight up…
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On Anxiety: An Adulterous Relationship Breakup
[Guest Post by Rebecca Halton] – Entangled in an adulterous relationship in my early 20s, I was no stranger to anxiety. I lost unhealthy amounts of weight and sleep. I isolated myself, sequestered by secrecy and shame. I was drowning under the weight of worry, fear, paranoia, shame and self-loathing. And even as a believer already, I felt too “disqualified,” too unworthy, to seek the One who I knew could rescue me. What then? That’s when I started to “circle the wagons”– to rally people in my life for prayer and counsel. The concept isn’t mine, but I know it’s inspired by the defense mechanism of settlers pioneering the West.…
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On Depression: Okay, God Help Me!
[Guest Post by Sharon Paavola] – Okay, God help me! You’re beckoning me to hand you my mental and emotional health. You want me to jump off the cliff from what I’ve known, the safety of the last 30 years of security in waking up every morning, swallowing my pills, and not thinking anything more about my stability. Now the rug has been pulled out. The medications are totally changed and there is no going back. I fell apart and now we have to glue together the pieces but will they fit again? Or maybe they will fall into place better than before? I’m realizing that you want me to…
