I've attempted suicide twice -- once a short time after I was disowned by my mother for being gay, and again after a bad break-up with my first real boyfriend. Both times, I felt completely unmoored after severing fundamental relationships that also disconnected the fragile support networks that came with them. There was no one … Continue reading The Overnight Walk to Prevent Suicide 2019
Tag: mental health issues
Depressional Confessional
I like to think I'm a pro at being depressed. Some of my earliest memories as a kid, looking back, suggest to me that I've had severe depressive episodes all the way back to elementary school. One particular experience I had in middle school, now that I think about it, had to have been an … Continue reading Depressional Confessional
(Mental Health) My Comorbidity
One of the reasons it can be difficult to talk about mental illness is the simple fact that so many diagnoses feel poorly defined, or that just when our understanding of terms starts to stick in the public consciousness experts change the game on us, or that those of us with mental illnesses seem to … Continue reading (Mental Health) My Comorbidity
(Personal) My Sister, One Year Later
One year ago today, my sister died. My mother, my two nephews and their father were gathered in the conference room down the hall from her room in the hospital when we got the news -- even though her heart was beating and she was breathing (with help), her brain hadn't registered any activity for … Continue reading (Personal) My Sister, One Year Later
(Writing) Writing and the Anxious Rabbit
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a mental illness that can be difficult to talk about, mostly because it looks like one of those 'special snowflake' disorders that someone claims to have in order to justify certain behaviors. Even with an official diagnosis and some significant time in a group therapy class, it's the aspect of my … Continue reading (Writing) Writing and the Anxious Rabbit
(Personal) What Makes Me Anxious
One of the new podcasts I've picked up recently is Fear The Boot, this great gaming podcast that talks about aspects of role-playing in tabletop games, MMORPGs and other things. It's really a bunch of gamers who get along really well shooting the shit and offering their perspective on games both modern and...historical? They recently … Continue reading (Personal) What Makes Me Anxious
(Personal) What I Learned by Being Alone
There's this idea in Buddhism about the Noble Eightfold Path -- after you've taken every step along the path, what comes next? You've attained Right View and Intention, Right Speech and Action and Livelihood, Right Effort and Mindfulness and Concentration. Where do you go from there? You attain Right View after that. Like the wheel … Continue reading (Personal) What I Learned by Being Alone
(Personal) San Francisco by Starlight – Walking for Suicide Prevention
The first time I attempted suicide was the lowest moment of my life. I was sprawled out on the couch of a relative stranger, miles away from home, certain that I would never see my family again. It was the summer of 1999, and I had been outed by my therapist to my mother as … Continue reading (Personal) San Francisco by Starlight – Walking for Suicide Prevention
Self-Care and Conventions
Further Confusion 2016 will begin tomorrow, and for most of us furries we're just counting down the hours until we can head to San Jose to immerse ourselves in fandom for four glorious days. I know I'm itching to get there myself. But one of the things that rarely gets talked about at these conventions … Continue reading Self-Care and Conventions
(Personal) A Rabbit Thinks About Fear
Earlier this year I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I'm still wrapping my brain around it. I never thought of myself as a particularly anxious person; sure, there were a lot of things that I had an outsized reaction against, but I always thought that was tied up with self-esteem issues or concentration … Continue reading (Personal) A Rabbit Thinks About Fear
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 