Mental Illness with Substance Abuse Category

Focus on the Path, Not the Problem

I remember seeing the images of Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and thinking, There’s no way that they will ever be able to clean that up.  It’s too overwhelming, too big, too painful.  Where would they even start?   Of course, the answer is quite simple… they had to start in the […]

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Through the Eyes of PTSD (A day in the life…)

In honor of our military families past and present, and in reflection on our upcoming Independence Day, I wrote this as a reminder to myself and to others that the freedoms we enjoy every day are most certainly NOT free.  Many people have heard of PTSD, but very few understand the painful daily struggles and […]

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Keep your raft upright!

I’ve never been whitewater rafting — not quite that adventurous.  But I have been on a simple floating raft, and I know one important thing– if you want to keep your raft upright, you need to maintain the proper balance.  The weight of the various people on the raft must be distributed evenly.  Even a […]

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Don’t Settle for the Puddle!

When I am in the middle of difficult circumstances, I want to take the easy path.  I want the quick fix, the easy answer, the one-minute cure.  I don’t want to work hard — not when I’m hurting so much.  And yet, aren’t the greatest rewards in life often behind the highest mountain? When my husband was in […]

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Once a soldier, always a soldier

  There’s something everyone should know about soldiers —  they never stop being a soldier, even long after the uniform is retired.  I wish I had known that before I married my husband.  Not that it would have kept me from marrying him….a nuclear bomb couldn’t have stopped me back then.  But at least I would […]

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