Shadow of infinity over at recreating a beautiful mind has nominated me for the very inspiring blogger award. If you haven’t visited her blog, you should go check it out. She writes about love, life, healing, therapy, and other such things. Her writing is captivating.
I’m honored to be nominated. It’s always surprising to me when people like my blog and my writing. It’s a big ego boost, too. And, to that end, I’m totally going to include what she wrote about my blog when she nominated me (because it’s just so nice!):
“Falling Down The Rabbit Hole is another therapy blog I find inspiring. It’s very focused on the therapeutic relationship (I just love reading about her relationship with her therapist!), and her recovery from trauma. Very inspiring and I can relate to a lot of her writing.”
Okay. Onto the questions– which weren’t all that easy to answer!
Who is your favorite public figure?
My favorite public figure. This is a really hard question. I actually don’t pay a lot of attention to public figures, or things going on in the world. I truly do live under a rock, or possibly with my head stuck in the clouds. (Case in point, when the bird flu epidemic/scare hit a few years ago? I had no clue about this at all, until weeks later when a hair color client mentioned it casually. Yeah…..) I will say I like and respect public figures who stand for something and truly believe in it, people who use there fame and notoriety for the purpose of helping others.
What do you like most?
What I like most……this is so open ended, it’s hard. What I like most is being with my husband and my daughter, when life is calm for a few moments and feeling like I am really connected to them.
Do you follow trends?
Not really. I think it has to do with that “head stuck in the clouds” thing. I did follow trends when I was much younger, as my mother is very trendy and she directed most of my choices regarding clothing, hair and really, life in general. Now, I like what I like and being trendy doesn’t matter to me.
What do you do when someone gets angry?
I completely dissociate. And then I avoid that person for as long as possible. I’m afraid of anger, and afraid of people’s expression of being angry. I constantly feel that everyone in my life is mad at me, and double check with people often if they are angry at me.
What have you loved most?
Another more vague question. What do I love most above everything else? My daughter, Kat. She’s 4 1/2, and is the most amazing, wonderful, loving, frustrating, stubborn, inspiring, beautiful creature I have ever been blessed with knowing. Everyday she teaches me new lessons, hands me new frustration, shows me how to feel, and loves so hugely that I have no idea how she does it. The child has more love, empathy, and care in her little toe than most people in this world do. She is beautiful on the inside and that makes her outsides just glow. I watch her interactions with others, and she always leaves them with a smile. She’s magical, my daughter.
Do you have causes?
I suppose I do. I’ve been involved with autism and insurance reform since my daughter was diagnosed in 2013. One of my proudest accomplishments is that we convinced my hubby’s work to adopt autism coverage on their health insurance policy. This took almost a full year to accomplish, and because (he works for the county) they chose to adopt coverage and act as a leader in the community, that has led to other businesses also choosing coverage. One day, I’d like to create a network where newly diagnosed families can get connected with a “big sister/brother” family who has been through this diagnosis process and everything that follows. We were incredibly lucky that a man hubby works with also has a daughter on the spectrum and he reached out to hubby. That family was a mentor and a rock for our family in the busy, confusing months after after Kat was diagnosed with autism. (I want to add that we were relieved in getting a diagnosis, because it meant we could finally learn how to help Kat, and connect with her. Even with that relief, though, it was hard, because of all the different therapies, stuff your child needs, learning to coordinate everything, work with and understand insurance, ext. The hospitals and centers that diagnosis kids typically hand you a diagnosis, along with recommendations of what will help your child, and then throw you back into the world with no support what so ever.)
What quality do you admire most?
Authenticity. It’s so very hard to be real, to be authentic. It can make a person vulnerable, and that is scary. Authenticity, to me, means opening yourself up to connect with others, to really feel that they are feeling and to allow them to know what your are feeling. It means taking of the mask of the person you think you should be. It means going against other’s expectations if they aren’t right for you. I think it means having a quiet kind of self confidence, it means accepting yourself and others for who they truly are. It means having compassion for the bad parts of yourself, as well as the good. Authenticity is definitely the quality I admire most in others, and it’s a quality I hope to really have one day.
And of course, my nominees:
Patricia, at grace to survive. Her story is so poignant, and inspiring. She gives me hope of what it means to accept ugly things in our lives, and that it is possible to grow and heal and move on.
Ambivalence Girl , who is working through her own healing, while still being a mom and wife and maintaining her career. She inspires me so much with her honesty of what she goes through, and her ability to keep working through the process, no matter how tough things get.
BrownieMom, who is so courageous in her fear and struggles. She is trying to tame the monsters of past trauma, as well as deal with a troubled marriage. Even in her uncertainty and fears of trust, she inspires me by continuing to try to heal both herself and her marriage.
Janet Cate, over at living purposefully with severe chronic PTSD who inspires me with the hope that healing is possible. She writes about many things pertaining to PTSD and abuse, but shares with her readers the belief that we all have the inner wisdom to know what we need to heal.
Cat’s Meow, over at Living while Healing who is working through her trauma and still living her life. Her writing and story gripped me when I first found her blog. She is honest and real. Her choice to keep facing painful memories and heal parts of herself that never should have been wounded in the first place is inspiring.
The rules are to display the awards on your blog, to answer 7 questions (below), and to nominate up to 15 fellow bloggers. Have fun wit
Who is your favorite public figure?
What do you like most?
Do you follow trends?
What do you do when someone gets angry?
What have you loved most?
Do you have causes?
What quality do you admire most?
Falling down the rabbit hole 