The author writes an open letter to the RCIA Class of 2010 about Faith as a journey, not a destination. He warns that addiction, rage and other bad behavior won’t disappear the second water is dropped over their heads. Last night I attended the first of what will be a month’s worth of Tuesday-night meetings …
In honor of President’s Day, I direct you toward the following posts about past presidents and other leaders I respect for having carried the weight of the world on their heads while suffering from varying degrees of depression and other byproducts of mental illness. It’s all the more impressive because they did this long before …
Whenever I share my experiences with OCD and the related binge-eating disorder [See: The Most Uncool Addiction], there’s a word I always refrain from using if I’m outside the safe confines of my OA group: Abstinence. I don’t hate the word. But I don’t like it much, either. All anyone ever thinks about when it’s …
The author has found that service is an excellent tool for OCD management. Simply put, it forces him to stop being a selfish bastard. In OA, those of us in recovery from our compulsive eating disorders rely on a set of tools that go hand in hand with the 12 Steps. There’s the plan of …
As an obsessive-compulsive binge eater, the author feels it’s only proper that he (cough) weigh in (cough) on the notion that regulating junk food might help. Here’s why the answer is probably not. Since I know what it’s like to be deep in the muck of a binge-eating addiction, my wife thought I might find …
Continue reading “Regulating Addictive Food: A Lesson in Futility”
I wrote this in 2010, not long after starting this blog. Since then, Dad has had a series of strokes and has trouble walking, seeing and swallowing. His refusal to let it break his spirit reinforces my appreciation for him all the more. Thanks for the inspiration, Dad. The author has learned some surprising lessons …
Mental-illness sufferers often avoid therapists because the stigma around these “shrinks” is as thick as that of the disease. The author is here to explain why you shouldn’t fear them. Mood music for this post: “Just Another Psycho” by Motley Crue: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko23M-4AAbg&hl=en_US&fs=1&] It’s a funny thing when I talk to people suffering from depression, addiction …
Continue reading “Have Fun With Your Therapist (A.K.A.: The Shrink Stigma)”
This was one of those weekends where sickness ran through the house. Duncan threw up all over the place Friday night and was down for the count most of Saturday, as was I. Sunday it was Sean’s turn. During a birthday party at a friend’s house, he threw up all over their living room floor. …
Back in the day, when I was throwing parties in the basement of my house in Revere, Mass., I would reach a certain level of intoxication around 2 a.m. where I’d freeze in place, yell “mood swing!” and throw candy and other food items around the room. People seemed to enjoy it, so I kept …
Early in the life of this blog, I wrote about humor as one of my most indispensable OCD coping tools in “Laugh It Up, Fuzzball.” I expanded on it Monday in my “Power of Sarcasm” post. Today, I have fresh humor to share. A never-ending source of laughter is my kids. Every day they say …
