Tag: acoa
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Gentleness Breaks
If you’ve been reading along on my journey for awhile, or even if you just started with the last blog (Dear Dad…), you may have noticed that this journey does not come easily or naturally. At times it can be very uncomfortable. It takes a lot of work. And that work can be hard. After…
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Dear Dad…
On and off for the last few months, I’ve been slowly trying to work through the chapters of Adult Children of Alcoholic Parents: An Evidence-Based Workbook to Heal Your Past by Kara Lissy, LCSW. My sister recommended this book awhile back and I really like it as a guide. It is a lot of work,…
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Overcommunicate With Me, Please
This past weekend I had another triggering moment. The moment itself was so small, hardly noticeable. To most other people, the event would have passed without so much as an acknowledgement. But for me, not only did I notice it, I felt beat across the face with it… hard. Lately, I’ve been doing pretty good…
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Journals of Old
This past week I decided to crack open a few very old journals. The first official journal I kept began when I was 13 years old. A lot of what was written is a bit ridiculous, dramatic, and all over the place as you would probably expect from any 13-year-old. Favorite bands and musicians, tv…
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The Final Disappointment
Disclaimer: This post feels a little longer and a little less clear… which is part of the reason I had to write it. It was three Christmases ago… maybe it was after Christmas… New Year? It’s foggy. It’s amazing to me how hard it is to remember certain landmark memories with our dad. I call…
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Brave
PROMPT: How are you brave? I felt the pull of this prompt, and even though I didn’t respond to it immediately, the question lingered in my heart. How am I brave? But really, I kind of want to know. So I looked around… Lipstick. I saw my reflection in my mirror and the leftover stain…
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Bloganuary?
We’ll see… I signed up for the blogging prompts for Bloguary, but I approach this as I do all other things in life, with caution and hesitancy. I have no large or grandiose plan, but I enjoy a good chance to write, so why not? PROMPT: What is something you want to achieve this year?…
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Self-Gaslighting
Yesterday, I walked to my mailbox, but in a rare moment of spontaneity, I decided to keep walking. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was neither hot nor cold, but rather comforting, making me feel perfectly cozy. As I walked farther down the sidewalk, the sun began to peek through the trees as if to…
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Christmas Gratitude
It’s Christmas morning. And I’m sitting here in the coffee shop I’ve become a regular to over this past week while I’m in town visiting family for the holidays. It’s a coffee shop I frequented with my sisters and friends as a teen when I lived here growing up… before the great escape. I’m sitting…
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To Blame or Not to Blame…
I’ve wrestled with this question for many years for many reasons, but have come to stare this question in the face moreso in the last year or two as I’ve begun my healing and discovery journey. If I acknowledge the pain that was done to me as a child, does that mean that I’m blaming…
That Scared Little Girl 