Why as Young Women are we Never Happy with Our Bodies when they’re so Beautiful

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Nicky Young, heroine in Shadow Heart hates her body. She only wants to fit in, and she doesn’t, often getting looks from older men because of the curves of her body and a face that looks twenty-one. She struggles with insecurity and fears that relationships will only be temporary, even with her closest friends.  Finally, she feels like she’s met women she can trust, two that are wives of the players on the professional baseball team, The San ...

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Intimacy-how can I get it? What conversations do I need to have?

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“You don’t date?” Alex asked, once again joining Tara and me sitting in the bleachers.

“No,” I said.
“Why ever not,” she asked.

I was ridiculously naïve and socially backward in so many ways. Being raised in an alcoholic family can do that. It was better to hide away and shut down rather than feel the extreme joy or intense pain of life.

Like most of us, I had learned from what my parents taught by how they relate to one ...

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Emotional and Physical Shock: How do we numb ourselves?

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My sister came home in shock.
She looked dead.
In some ways, emotionally, we were all dead.
My father numbed his body and mind with alcohol.
I numbed myself with staying busy.
My mom numbed herself escaping into her romance novels.
Now my sister would be numb in a different way.

“Where have you been?” My mother asked angrily. “I was so worried.” Calmly and without emotion, her body in shock, Jenise answered, “I was raped.”

I saw my mother’s face become stone, trying her best ...

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A Love Story-Is that what our lives should be about?

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Our lives are ultimately a love story, aren’t they?

We strive to move through and dodge the pain, keep it away, sometimes embrace it, and other times we swear, scream, lash out, beat another down, with words, fists . . . all to make us safe, our family safe, our friends . . . because we love them.

Or we fear them. Or we want them to fear us, or love us, or forgive us.

Do we love ourselves in the same way?

Do ...

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Vulnerability-Can we just love without judgement?

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I knew my sister was hurt, and hurt badly.

Still, I judged. What did she do to bring this on?

Why couldn’t I put my arms around her?

Was I like my mom?

Was the way people got hurt too much for dad? Is that why he drank?

Weren’t we all numb in my family? Afraid to reach out, to put our arms around each other, to say “I love you”

We numbed with alcohol, detachment, being busy . . . the ways stayed ...

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