Hello!! Thank you for visiting my blog. I am not very happy with my picture above nor are my family and friends but I had easy access to it and here it is. This was taken by a professional photographer at a photo shoot in NYC. I am attempting to enter the plus-size modeling industry. It is a tough go to this dream. And I will continue to try to achieve that goal.
I am a mother of two grown sons. I was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom to my children. And when I count my blessings that is at the top of the list. I have great relationships with both of my sons which was my goal from the very beginning. We have good communication and they both know that they can bring any subject to me.
When my sons were two and three months I entered the psychiatric hospital for the first time. There I was diagnosed with postpartum depression, then postpartum psychosis, and finally bipolar disorder. In some ways, it was a relief for me to get the diagnosis because I could look back and now my life made sense and I could put a name to it. All the plentiful tears over the years, the high highs, and the roller coaster because I bounced between these two extremes frequently. I began therapy and started meeting with a psychiatrist regularly. It was a very rough time. Subsequently, for the following sixteen years, I was hospitalized twice a year. I am happy to report that it has been over four years since I was last hospitalized. What did I do? I took the DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) course three times. I was finally incorporating the skills and tools into my everyday life. Mindfulness, doing one thing in the moment has been a huge plus in helping me to stay present, and when I am present in the moment I am usually okay.
I enjoy creating art, zentangles, writing poems, and drawing, and practicing yoga. I recently went back to playing the piano. I was classically trained as a young girl and it has been a long time since I practiced so I am teaching myself how to play again. I have six sisters and numerous friends so my support network is alive and well. I have always been a person who needed extra help to handle life so the many people I have in my life are necessary.
I am so happy you found my blog. Thank you for visiting! I hope to help educate, encourage, reduce stigma, and provide hope to those living with mental illness and to those who love them.
Take good care,
Christine
To thine own self be true. -- William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet