Last week, the tragic news of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s deaths flooded our newsfeeds and shocked us to our cores. In April it was the passing of 28 year-old Swedish DJ and producer, Avicci, and just over a year ago, we mourned the deaths...
October 10th is World Mental Health Day-- an international day devoted to raising awareness and promoting education around mental illness. In solidarity with this very important day, we want to make our own contribution by launching an initiative--one that we hope will make a dent in the...
If you’ve been following my blogs here on Wise Women Canada, you know that I’ve had a lifelong battle against anxiety and depression. You also know that I refuse to sit back and let them have their way with me. I’m proud of being proactive,...
Growing up, I didn’t always get a lot of positive reinforcement. When I was young, I longed to be acknowledged; to be praised and told that I was great or smart or funny. Despite this lack of affirmation, I still somehow managed to develop confidence and a strong sense of self. I learned to become my own cheerleader and to find validation from within. I’m not exactly sure where this self-assurance came from, but I realized that being strong and fearless were my survival skills.
Mental illness seems to be getting a lot of airplay these days. While we’re still far from a place where it is accepted and legitimized as a genuine health issue, at the very least we’re hearing more about it. Just the other day, we shared...
When it began. That's me on the left.[/caption]
When I was a kid, I couldn’t go to sleep unless I completed a very specific set of nightly routines. I was inexplicably terrified of water dripping from the bathroom tap, so I worked at tightening the faucet until I was sure I was safe. The bathroom light switch had to be flicked on and off exactly 10 times. Each item on my shelves and desk needed to be perfectly aligned and I felt compelled to yell, “Goodnight Ma!”, from my bed at least a dozen times.
He didn't freak out![/caption]
A few weeks ago, I published a blog I’d written about my fight against anxiety and depression. I’d actually written the post a couple of months before it went online, around the time of Robin William’s tragic death. It hung around in the back end of WordPress for a while until I found the nerve to put it out there for the world, or at least the West Island, to see.