This morning my counselor and I were discussing a current situation and how it seems that most people are OK with walking alongside of you on your journey until they encounter something in your life that they don't agree with or don't know how to handle and then they often pull away. As we were talking, I was reminded of a memory of probably 10 years ago. I was living at an unaccredited and unlicensed counseling facility for women. At the breakfast table one was having a hard

Last Monday an individual I had told I want no contact with chose to surprise me. When you don't have a good relationship with an individual and you set a boundary to protect yourself and it is ignored, it does a lot of damage emotionally, mentally and physically. I cannot explain the effect that this individual's surprise appearance had on me other than that it was devastating and put me in danger of losing my job. This painting is trying to visualize the effect which still

The person stands there looking up into the dark sky "Why?" they ask "Why?" "What do I do with these emotions?" "How do I heal from this mess; this trampled mess of my life?" "How do I let myself deal with these emotions without being overwhelmed?" they ask as they stand there trying to hold this burning ball of emotions that threatens to drown them. Pain shoots through their body as they struggle to hold this burning mass that was handed to them by people who abused them in

Please be kind with your comments... https://www.wildernesstowild.com/community/public/posts/77356-is-your-pastor-doing-the-devil-s-work I think I would also add that when Christians imply to other hurting Christians that they shouldn't feel sad or angry or any other "negative" emotion. I read something the other day that mentioned that we are drawn to laughter but for some reason we as humans find it so hard to accept the emotions on the other end of the spectrum. We try to

⛔Trigger Warning: Proceed with caution⛔ Yesterday morning I was having a conversation with a friend and it reminded me of a memory: the first time I realized that I had rage inside of me and I had to work very hard to not endanger a child I was disciplining...in that moment I realized that my rage was towards my dad and that the child had nothing to do with it. It was just that this time I was on the authority side of things. I also remembered how I was puzzled in self defens

I've just been realizing lately that I don't have to eat food like I did at home. I don't have to eat Mennonite foods if I don't want to. I don't have to have baked goods and desserts in my diet if I don't want to. I don't know why I thought that I have to. Maybe because that is what used to be normal. Maybe because that's all I know. Now that I'm stepping out of that "used to be" normal in other areas, for what reason shouldn't I do the same with food? Maybe I'm just now rea

I'm being very vulnerable here...please be kind with your comments... I about want to say this and mean it except it's not my mind...it's my body...for years I just wanted to be normal and people looking at me might say I look normal but I certainly don't feel normal...I've been reading lately of how trauma and abuse affects the body and how the body stores abuse and trauma memories and pain resulting in physical issues and illnesses if the memories and pain are not processed

Today was a normal day. A normal day of being triggered. Today was one that doesn't happen very often. I was at work. I heard a baby crying. I didn't think about it at first but within a minute I felt rage rising inside of me. I was transported back into the world of a 6-8 yr old girl who had just gotten a new baby sister not long before and her mom was trying to rest while her dad tried to calm the crying baby. As she played with one or two other siblings she looked up as sh