Long Reads

Photo by Dmitry Schemelev on Unsplash

When Mental Illness Hurts Too Much To Talk About 

I have a mental illness. I am mentally ill. I can barely bring myself to say the words. I have not uttered the phrase “I am mentally ill” out loud.

Read...
I learned to hide my lupus diagnosis as if it were a crime. (Photo by Jurica Koletić on Unsplash)

The One Thing Lupus Took From Me That I Don't Miss At All

I learned to hide my lupus diagnosis as if it were a crime. I became skilled in the art of misdirection.

Read...
Photo by Jonatán Becerra on Unsplash

Why Are You So Sensitive?

The echo. It’s there. It’s what women are told. We’re too sensitive, too emotional; we’re overreacting. Why can’t we be rational, reasonable?

Read...
Photo by Nick Grant on Unsplash

My Bipolar Disorder In Five Dates​

Once I learned how to discuss my bipolar disorder, I stopped defining myself by my illness and started talking about my emotions as well as my struggles.

Read...
We believed that we were always just one prayer away from seeing the fire. The fire was everything we hoped and prayed for and prophesized; we believed it could start with us.

Holy Fire: How My Pentecostal Faith Burnt My Life To The Ground

I was terrified of falling away from the faith I once believed in so strongly. We had to believe in the miracles because our day-to-day lives were so empty.

Read...
Daughters are experts on their mothers; my sister and I see precisely what is changed — so changed — in my mother’s face.

Still Eleanor: The Brain Hemorrhage That Stole My Mother From Herself

Daughters are experts on their mothers; my sister and I see precisely what is changed — so changed — in my mother’s face.

Read...
So many times in life, Daisy grew through the cracks, through what seemed like impossible obstacles.

Daisies Grow Through The Cracks: Losing A Friend To Suicide

I knew before I truly knew. When the icon revealing the new Facebook message from Daisy’s brother flashed on my screen, my heart fell to my feet.

Read...
Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash

When Grief Turns Superstition Into Compulsion

Superstition ruled my mind. More than I realized. I had no idea, within hours, there’d be no child to mother. And then he was gone. And we were childless.

Read...