Piece by Piece

Well....2016 is almost over and all I have to say is, 'Good Riddance!'  I think most everyone will agree that we are happy to see 2016 go.  For some reason this past year has been a terrible one for many people.  Social media has erupted with meme's, gifs and videos all declaring that 2016, for lack of better words, sucked. With the conclusion of the year approaching, I like to take some time to reflect on the past year, and as I do so I realize that while it has not been the easiest year personally, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot. We truly never know what someone else is going through:   Often times we walk around with a smile on our face, when inwardly we are feeling low.  This happy exterior is often a shield to protect ourselves from being vulnerable to our emotions and to others.  I think that we as human beings are more alike that we are different.  We all have our 'stuff' to deal with in life; no one is excluded from the...

I wish I could explain the feeling I get when it happens.  I wish I could describe the exact moment it happens and what goes through my head.  Below is my best attempt. There are times, especially around the holidays, when we are presented with lots of parties, and lots of food and festivities.  For someone with an eating disorder it's extremely difficult to be in the same room at these events.  Last year I did my best to avoid them all together.  I was too busy to attend the party, or if I felt as though I had no choice in the matter, I would pull apart my food to make it appeared as though I had eaten.  This year, I stayed in the room.  The first party of the season.  I stayed, I grew anxious, I picked, not ate, I left, I cried.  I cried because I felt like a failure.  I cried because I let Ed win.  He got in my head and caused me to restrict.   For some reason I have not been able to find a happy medium at parties, ...

Everything, every place, every person has a label whether we like it or not.  Labels can be things such as, cheap, tacky, ugly, mean, quirky, smart, scary, dangerous etc.  Most any word can be used to describe a thing, place or person.  Labels are like adjectives; they are descriptive words.  Labels are everywhere.  Have you ever used a hashtag?  Yep that's a label.  Heck, on this blog I can add 'labels', or words, that best describe the blog post so it can reach it's intended or inspired audience.  That's life, we can sit there and preach how we are such a good person, but we are all using these 'labels' in some way, shape or form in our daily lives.   I have fallen victim many times to labeling people, locations etc.  and have been labeled by others. You can judge me all me want, call me all sorts of names, and yes it will bother me, but I will get over it...eventually.  One label, however, I have not separated myself from is a ...