We will miss you.

Depression is a neurochemical imbalance, crippling to the point of not having control over your thoughts and feelings. What has helped me is the number one recommended treatment for depression; medication and therapy. I’m sure yoga, church, oils, diets, etc have helped others and that’s awesome for those people. However, some of us need medication and therapy. Then there are some who require more invasive measures like electroshock therapy and other experimental methods to treat their depression.

The main point I want to make for those who have never experienced depression, severe depression has absolutely nothing to do with other people. Depression in an internalized self-loathing prison only those who’ve experienced it could explain. There are no words from friends or relatives explaining how much you are loved or needed that will change a person’s mind in the depths of depression. This is why I need medication, this is why talk therapy sessions usually end up with a medical professional helping me through basic daily functions. Not reminding me how great I am, rather how to get out of bed, take a shower, and take my meds.

For those struggling with depression please remember you were prescribed medication and therapy for a reason. This is why I’m the friend who will openly ask “did you take your meds?”

If you suspect a person is struggling with depression, engage them. Talk about medication, doctors, and therapists. Drive them to their appointment, the pharmacy, watch them take their meds. Spend the night & the next morning watch them take their meds again and again……You cannot stop the self-loathing, the thoughts and feelings so don’t worry about what to “say” to a person with depression. It’s what you can do to assist in their treatment that could save their life.

Please don’t be angry at those who’ve lost the battle struggling with depression.

Bourdain lived a full life and always kept it real. I am eternally grateful to have lived on the planet at the same time and experienced his world. I would have spent my life interning for him 

Noonday Demon is the best written experience of depression I’ve ever come across.

Perks of 40

This is the best time of my life ❤️

“As I grow in age, I value women who are over forty most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over forty will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?” She doesn’t care what you think.

If a woman over forty doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it’s usually something more interesting.

A woman over forty knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of forty give a hoot what you might think about her or what she’s doing.

Women over forty are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.

A woman over forty has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. Women over forty couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over forty. They always know.

A woman over forty looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over forty is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one! You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over forty for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of forty-plus, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some twenty-two-year-old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize.

For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” here’s an update for you. Now 80 percent of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage.”

-Andy Rooney

my reason for living

my reason for living is named Mac.  he makes me a better human.  he slowed me down.  he taught me to stop worrying about the outside and focus on the inside.  everyday he shows me how to value and appreciate life.  he is my little jedi.

April 2015 World Autism Awareness Day