Coping tools

Horse Platitudes

by Bill Brenner March 5, 2013 Communication Skills

PLATITUDE: A banal, trite, or stale remark —Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary CNN online has an article about “instant outrage,” something that has reached absurd levels in this age of social networking. In such moments of outrage, we’re dropping platitudes all over the place. A good example came after the Sandy Hook massacre, when the debate about gun control was re-ignited. Those against more gun control trotted out the old, tired, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Mood music:…  [Read More]

The Information Technology Burnout Project

by Bill Brenner February 11, 2013 Depression

The Information Technology Burnout Project, created by friends in the security community, addresses something most of us experience at one point or another: work-induced depression. Mood music: The website is only part of the project. Project members have also held panel discussions about job stress and burnout at various security conferences across the United States. During those discussions, people have been open about the depression, despair and hopelessness they’ve traveled through in the face of…  [Read More]

Lessons From the Hemingway Curse

by Bill Brenner January 25, 2013 Depression

I’ve always been drawn to Ernest Hemingway and his family, not because of his writings or his antics, but because of the deep stain mental illness has left on the Hemingway legacy. Mood music: [spotify:track:3dqpehdO04w6T38WB97sOF] I remember an English teacher talking about Hemingway’s 1961 suicide. The teacher suggested Hemingway was an asshole, that he was too macho to accept that he was getting too old to seek out adventure and thus gave up. I accepted…  [Read More]

The Snow Day Has Been Cancelled

by Bill Brenner January 22, 2013 Coping tools

Weather forecasters said we’d get a lot of snow, but only a dusting fell around here. School is on after all, and the kids will surely be disappointed. It goes to show that sometimes life doesn’t work out as planned. Mood music: [spotify:track:4wLjdZD9khhahbzhb3RxtJ] As a man with OCD, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. When you have a brain that never stops thinking, you tend to expect certain things out of your day. When…  [Read More]

Friends Of The Gifted Need To Learn Suicide Intervention Tactics

by Bill Brenner January 17, 2013 Depression

One thing I’ve learned over the years: Some super-smart, super-gifted, ahead-of-their-time people often battle with depression and eventually lose their war. So it was for my best friend who took his life 16 years ago. So it has been for far too many of my industry peers. Mood music: I’m thinking of them and for those who continue to struggle with depression daily. I’m grateful, particularly in my industry, for those who have stepped up…  [Read More]

Aaron Swartz and How to Deal With Suicide

by Bill Brenner January 14, 2013 Grief management

I read many articles this weekend about the suicide of Internet prodigy and activist Aaron Swartz. Most were about how we should view his legacy in the face of charges that he used MIT’s computers to gain illegal access to millions of scholarly papers kept by JSTOR, a subscription-only service for distributing scientific and literary journals. Mood music: [spotify:track:2UaBnTuNF4pSBHZDRhzvMy] Some call Swartz a hero who stood up for Internet freedoms. Others point out that he…  [Read More]

My ADD Ran Over My OCD

by Bill Brenner December 19, 2012 Mental health

As I struggle to get through all the stuff to be done at work and home before Christmas, something is occurring to me: My ADD runs over my OCD this time of year. Mood music: [spotify:track:5mR858YsHYG761aUqZoGkD] I guess I’ve understood what happens for a while now. It’s all part of the seasonal depression that whacks me upside the head come Christmastime. For most of the year my challenge is to control my OCD, to keep…  [Read More]

When Living in the Past Is Your Only Sanctuary

by Bill Brenner December 13, 2012 Fear and anxiety

I had coffee with a friend and former coworker recently, and we reminisced about some of the colorful characters we’ve worked with. One person we particularly admired has suffered through a life of depression, fear and anxiety and is mostly a recluse these days. Mood music: [spotify:track:6KfzBFMXEOs7LgBcG4ZxyT] When this person does surface to talk to someone, the topic is always the old days. He carefully avoids the present because it’s so painful. Talking about the…  [Read More]

The OCD Diaries in Book Form

by Bill Brenner December 12, 2012 Adventures in writing

Erin and I are making plans for 2013. One is to turn The OCD Diaries into book form. Mood music: [spotify:track:0PexPf8SzDe0xu0OS3p7ya] Almost since the beginning of this blog, readers have suggested that I do an OCD Diaries book. Flattering as that suggestion is, I sort of balked at the notion. This began as a memoir of sorts, and that might have been worth making a book out of. But the subject matter quickly evolved, and…  [Read More]

Starting Over

by Bill Brenner November 9, 2012 Fitness

In a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve been starting everything over this past week. Not in big, drastic ways, but in little ways that will hopefully add up to something good. Mood music: [spotify:track:3IRovqSVYx3CNtDWRebsET] There’s the afternoon tea I’ve been drinking instead of Red Bull and more coffee. There’s the meditation and yoga. And there’s the significant tightening of my food plan. What’s the reason for all this? I attribute some of it…  [Read More]

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