TMS Week 3 and 4
Week 3 The TMS treatments have been helping Alice’s depression and anxiety. She continues to feel hopeful, even joyful, at times. She finds herself giggling at funny TV shows, visiting neighbors for a cup of tea, and finding light in day to day life. Alice can sit peacefully with herself instead of ruminating over the […]
Second Week of TMS Treatments
Last week, Alice completed her second week of TMS treatments. Anyone completing TMS treatments are given questionnaires to gauge the levels of depression and anxiety. On Alice’s first week her PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were incredibly high, but at the beginning of her second week the scores has already dropped by 21 points! Alice also […]
First Week of TMS Treatments
Last week, my friend Alice completed her first round of TMS and feels hopeful. The first day was scary for her, but most things are, if they are unknown. Alice’s mental health issues started in the mid 1970s. Because mental health was not widely discussed during this time, Alice’s family was unable to get her […]
Introduction to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Using EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy) to treat my fear of birth was liberating. And not only was I able to overcome my fears, but writing about it helped other women who were experiencing similar anxiety. My journey with EMDR opened my eyes to the incredible advancements in therapy and the resources that […]
When Christians Hurt You
Shortly after my mom became a Christian in her 20s, she was deeply hurt by someone who professed faith in Jesus. At the time, she didn’t understand how someone who said they believed in God’s redemptive love could be so unkind. Luckily, my mom had other strong, loving Christians to look up to. I’m thankful […]
Home is Where the Heart is
California had always been home. Anyone who’s lived or visited can attest to its unrivaled beauty and diversity. Growing up in Vacaville, I was a little over an hour from the mountains or the ocean in either direction and had world-class shopping and dining at my fingertips. I didn’t realize picking up authentic Mexican food […]
Why You Should Wake Up with the Sun
There is a lot of evidence that shows people are generally more productive in the morning and since science and faith are intertwined, I believe there’s a reason God wired us this way. Maybe it is no coincidence that “Early in the morning” appears so often in the Bible. It seems that “early in the […]
Are Word Names Stupid?
Baby name trends are constantly changing and “word names” or “thing names” such as Bear, Willow, East or River (my own baby’s name), are very trendy right now. I find the term “word names” interesting since, technically, all names are “word names”. I mean John is a word, is it not? The earliest names recorded […]
Quinn’s Hot Springs
For my birthday this year, Jake took me to Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort in Paradise, Montana. It is incredibly hard to get a reservation there, but Jake had been calling for a few weeks trying to catch a cancellation and just happened to score a room the weekend of my birthday! When he told me, […]
How An Anxious Attachment Style Impacts My Marriage
“Are you ok?” I asked my husband for the third time in an hour. Baffled that I was asking yet again, he replied, “Yes! I already told you, I’m fine.” This is a common conversation in our home which stems from my anxious attachment style. I first learned about attachment styles in premarital counseling. There […]
Modeling a Relationship with Technology for Your Kids
The other day, River was babbling sweetly and playing with me. I wanted to document the moment, so I set up my phone across the room to take a video. As soon as I did, she stopped babbling, turned her head, and stared intensely at my phone. I tried to get her to look at […]
The Truth About Breastfeeding
Before I begin this post, I’d like to acknowledge that every woman’s experience when it comes to feeding her child is unique. Not every woman is able to breastfeed and those who do sometimes experience hardship in that journey. Some encounter obstacles that push them to use formula and others may choose formula just because […]
Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Home
This year, my parents decided, with great pain and sadness, to sell their house. This house has been with our family for 43 years. My grandparents raised my dad and his brothers in this home and later, my sisters and I grew up here. It seems impossible to put a price on a home so […]
EMDR Helped Me Process My Fear of Childbirth
When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified. I know most women would be overjoyed to know they are growing life inside of them, but I didn’t feel that way. Since high school, I’d been scared of pregnancy and childbirth. It was hard to admit that I didn’t want to be pregnant. When […]
What Jimmy Chin’s Photoshoot With Jared Leto Says About Our Culture
If Jimmy Chin has every right to make money with his talents, and Jared Leto is not a poser, and the products are presumably sustainable, why did I feel so icky looking at these pictures?
The Freeing Power of Forgiveness
What happens when you forgive someone? And I mean really forgive? Last week, emotions overcame me. With everything going on in the world, I realized how short our time on Earth is. I realized that I did not want to leave this planet without forgiving those who had hurt me. I started praying, initially thinking […]
A Teacher’s Far-Reaching Impact
My high school experience could have been better. The faculty was the biggest reason why my school failed me. I clearly remember the many sins of my high school teachers. For example, my science teacher would actually flirt with the senior and junior male students. She would tickle and tease them in a way that […]
The Less You Wear, The More You Have
“I have nothing to wear!” I complained a few weeks ago, a statement commonly made by women in the western world. I had recently re-downloaded Instagram and immediately felt the need to be trendy. It’s funny, the reason I deleted it in the first place was so that I wouldn’t compare myself with women in […]
The Dangers of Anxiety
I live in a body that translates anxiety physically. It is hell. But I didn’t know how dangerous it was until this year. Ever since I was little, I had OCD-like habits. For example, I absolutely hated wearing certain clothes, and not for what they looked like. Rather, I hated the way some of them […]
Beer and Art
The Ruhstaller Brewery and Taproom is hidden in a small Nor-Cal town known as Dixon. Something that makes Ruhstaller special is its devotion to sustainability and using local products to brew their beer. Another thing that makes it special is the artistic mind behind the experimental beers Ruhstaller puts out. Somewhere in the back of […]
I Fell in Love in Paris
I woke up to rain pounding on the skylight above me. While there was no elevator in the ten-story building, being on the top floor had one deliverance and that was the skylight. I could have reached up to open it while still laying on the bed. Allowing the water to permeate that glass barrier […]
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Summer Zalesky 