My favourite day of the year is here! 😀
Here’s my message for Bell Let’s Talk Day 2018!
Remember to be kind and spread the love! ❤
And as always,
Fight the good fight!
-A xo
Tag: PTSD
Bell’s Let’s Talk Day is Back Tomorrow!
Bell’s Let’s Talk Day 2018 is TOMORROW, and I’m preparing for an all-day event of sharing, promoting, and offering good and positive mental health advocacy!
It’s truly the best day of the year! 😀
Join me tomorrow for all the excitement and let’s raise money to support national mental health initiatives!
And as always,
Fight the good fight!
-A xo
New Year, Same Illness
I started off my 2018 the best way I know how.
By finishing another manuscript to one of the many novels I am working on. (Cue loud cheering!) After months of hunkering down and locking myself up in my writing den, I finally finished my NL novel, which is now officially titled, Where the Land Meets the Sea. Hopefully, with much luck and wishful thinking, I can get it published later this year.
But besides finishing another novel that I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into, I’m sure like many of you, I too sat down and wrote out some New Year resolutions and some goals I wanted to have completed by the end of 2018, both personal and professional.
And while maybe I have already broken a few of them (cutting back on Tim Horton’s ice capps…I am failing miserably so far!), there are some things in my life, no matter now much I plot and plan for, I have no control over.
That includes my mental health issues. Keep Reading!
Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than the Last
Well folks,
Here we are at the end. Somehow most of us managed to survive the Christmas season mostly intact and if you’re anything like me, you spent the last few days in a haze of confusion while filled up on too many sweets and too many home cooked meals. It didn’t even really occur to me how close New Years Eve was until my friend texted me and asked what she could bring to our NYE party.
Oops. Keep Reading!
5 Tips to Help Your Mental Health This Christmas
This is it folks.
This time next week, the big man in the red suit will start making his rounds around the world, delivering treats and presents to everyone who was good this year. Kids will be leaving out milk and cookies (and maybe some carrots for the reindeer), and parents will be scrambling to wrap last minutes gifts and stock stuffers. (Ahem…I mean for the gifts that Santa won’t be bringing ;)!)
These next seven days are probably going to bring around chaos, both at work, at home, and of course stores and malls will be jammed packed with people who leave their shopping to the last possible minute. Homes will be bustling with laughter and cheer, while kitchens bubble with aromas of Christmas baked goods and preparations for large holiday feasts.
And while there is enjoyment in the chaos, these last ditch-efforts to prepare for a perfect holiday experience can be overwhelming. And if you’re like me, living with a mental illness that prevents you from processing stress on a normal-functioning level, these chaotic moments are severely overwhelming. It only takes one little thing to go wrong, or too much noise, or sensing someone else’s frustrations or tension to make me waver. It takes virtually nothing to send my brain into overdrive and suddenly I’m an anxious mess. Keep Reading!
Why the Holidays are Sometimes Difficult for Someone Like Me
Disclaimer: If you are really struggling during this time of the year, you can contact the NL Mental Health 24 Hour Crisis Line at 1-888-737-4668. Or if you’re not in crisis and just need to talk, call the CHANNAL Provincial Warm Line at 1-855-753-2560.
Remember to check in with loved ones who you know could be struggling.
It could mean the world to them.
Ah, December.
The one month of the year were suddenly everything turns from calm and relaxed into chaos and confusion. Where even the most organized and put-together person somehow manages to fall off the rails and suddenly there are gifts not bought, decorations not put up, and within the first week of December you’re already sick of hearing Michael Buble’s renditions of our favourite Christmas carols. (Sorry Michael Buble). In Canada, you just barely have the poppies off before Christmas is shoved in your face. Keep Reading!
The 2017 Liebster Award – Thank You!
Hello beautiful humans.
If there is one thing I am trying to improve on, it is checking my blog mail. Seriously, I know procrastination is an arch nemesis of mine, but as dedicated and loyal I try to be to my blog, I tend to forget to filter through my emails. Sometimes I overlook them, sometimes I open them when I’m scrolling through my phone in the morning – before the caffeine has kicked in yet – and completely forget to reply. I know, it’s no excuse, but I’m working on it. Let’s just say I have lots of “Oh Crap!” moments several days later when I realize how stunned I have been.
But I’m working on being more diligent with my blog mail, I promise!
Why do I bring this up you may ask? Keep Reading!
The One Question I Wish People Would Stop Asking Me
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I really started coming into my own since I started publicly sharing my story, my battles with PTSD, and my advocacy for better mental health rights and services.
The world threw lemons at me so I decided to make lemonade. (See what I did there?) *Insert shameless book promo here!*
I started advocating for mental health in 2015, and since then I have been given and have stumbled upon some of the greatest opportunities. These past three years have been the best in my life, not because my writing career has started to take off, but because I am also making a small difference for others like me. I started doing my part to help advocate for change, for the end of the stigma, for a better understanding. I fully believe I have found my calling and that has given me great joy.
But there is one thing that happens when you open yourself up to others. You also have to endure and entail all sorts of questions from other people. Keep Reading!
Six Years Ago
Six years ago my life changed.
Six years ago I had to make a heart-wrenching phone call to my boyfriend.
“I don’t want to live anymore.”
Six years ago I had to finally admit out loud that I wanted to take my own life, that I had spent two hours contemplating swallowing a bottle of pills and ending it all.
Six years ago my life had reached a breaking point; I had hit rock bottom and I didn’t know if I had the strength to get up. Everything hurt despite my heart being numb. Keep Reading!
Lemonade Stand (Official Author Debut)
(Author Note: If you would like to purchase a copy of Lemonade Stand, selling information can be found at the bottom of this post!)
A wise man once said, “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.”
And I am proud to announce that after many months of hard work, sleepless nights, a lot of tears and frustrations, I can officially say for the first time, “I am a published author”!! Keep Reading!
authoramandawilson.com 