I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at 27, just one year older than you are now. Thank God there was no Twitter or Facebook or Instagram back then.
mental health
how to be
Yes, my last relationship was 10 years ago and it only lasted 10 months.
what's in a name
I'm currently in a "situation" and I have no idea what to call it or the person I'm in it with.
birthdays
I’m not the jetsetting 20-something with the world at her feet anymore. I’m more like the 30-something with her feet in comfy socks.
catholic church
My 5-year-old son, Boogie, loves Jesus.
clueless
I have friends who complain about being approached by strangers all the time. I don't know that life. It fascinates me.
college
My old college roommate is living in a homeless shelter.
beauty advice
This is what works for me and my sensitive, dry skin. I'm not saying it will work for you or your mom or your sorority sister or your Auntie Gerald. I'm not a dermatologist.
kale
A lot can be said for convenience. I mean, I’m not a farmer for a reason.
erica kennedy
The girl was loved. We might not have known her as intimately as we would have liked, she was like a butterfly or hummingbird that way but her importance to this world is undeniable.
boot camp
It's been 10 whole days of 5 am boot camp and afterward I am cranky and irritable and exhausted. When does the awesome kick in?
doctor's visits
When my son was small, I felt like I was doing it wrong. Like everyone in the world was judging me for the choices I'd made.
50 million uninsured
I can’t tell you how many medical issues I’ve just flat out ignored or waited out because the idea of seeing a doctor was not in the budget.
physical fitness
Over the course of the last nine months or so, I’ve noticed that my favorite skinny jeans were threatening to sue me for defamation of character.
emotional hoarding
On Oprah’s Life Class last week (stop laughing!), she talked about being addicted to your story. I realized that my “addictive story” was about who I used to be and who I should have been.
hoodies
My job as a parent is to make sure my son doesn’t carry the weight of society. I can’t raise him to fear. I won’t.
africa
During one rare opportunity to spend the night at a friend’s house, her father said something that stuck with me for years. “You need to eat all your dinner. There are people in Bassey’s family who don’t get anything to eat. Isn’t that right, Bassey?”
bipolar
Due to illness, I’ve made some really poor choices and the repercussions of that will follow me for the rest of my life. So as I read these messages calling me inspirational and brave, I feel like a fraud.
healthy
I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at the age of 27. Living with a mental illness is a study in survival. Every day, every emotion is questioned. What is this? Am I happy or am I starting to head towards mania?
adele
Boogie doesn't understand why I’m not friends with Justin Bieber and was more than a little disgusted with me when I told him I'd never met him.
lies
How do you teach a 5-year-old that just about every adult he meets is lying to him about this Santa guy?
creep store clerks
Or how I just spent $70 bucks at GNC on stuff I didn't want or need.
bellies
I try to look at my body's scars as healing and not as damning but the truth of the matter is, I kind of hate it.
discipline
I was so frustrated. I wanted to break down and cry watching this demon child scream. That's when I made an executive decision: I decided to spank him.
