CoffeeTattoos

Courtney of Courtney’s Voice has awarded me the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!! I’m shocked and honored almost beyond words that someone of her caliber would think of me as inspiring. When I got the Twitter notification informing me, I was blown away. Some of the other women she’s awarded/nominated have been blogging about mental health for longer than I have, so I almost feel a bit out of place. Especially because of how strong Courtney is with everything she’s been through and every incredible thing that she’s doing. The fact that she finds me, and what I do with my blog, inspiring encourages me to keep going with what I talk about.

Here are the rules of the award for me and for those I nominate.
Rules and Courtesies
1. Thank your nominator by posting a link to their blog on your Award post
2. List 7 to 10 Facts About Yourself
3. Nominate up to 15 other blogs for being inspirational
4. Post the rules so people know them
5. Notify your nominees via their About Page and send them the link to your Award Post with the rules on it – I will do so once I choose the lucky ones and I finish this post (or notify via twitter)
6. Post the award badge on your blog anywhere you like on your pages or posts.

I suppose I should commence giving you facts about myself… So here we go:

1) By the time I turned 20, I had had 7 eye surgeries on my left eye. The first of which was when I was 7 months old. My eyes have been two different colors pretty much my whole life, and we think that something happened during that first eye surgery that caused it.
2) For the last few years, I’ve wanted to write a book. I have absolutely no clue what I would write about, but the desire is there.
3) I am the middle child of three – four year gap on top, seven year gap on bottom. My older sister and I write letters back an forth, even though we live within driving distance of each other.
4) I was in swim classes for 9 years, from age 3 to 12.
5) I carry books around with me like they’re a security blanket. Even if I know I probably won’t have time to read, there’s still guaranteed to be a book in whatever bag I’m carrying.
6) I’m studying American Sign Language Interpreting at my local community college. There is no history of deafness in my family however. My sister took ASL in high school and loved it. So when I sucked at Spanish, I thought I’d give it a try. I fell in love with it too. When I was applying to colleges at the end of my senior year, I decided that I would make it my job. And I haven’t changed my mind since.
7) Even though I absolutely promote going to see a therapist in conjunction with taking medication for mental illness, I haven’t seen one in almost two and a half years. The reason for that is that the last therapist I had reacted in such a way that I walked away not trusting therapists anymore. However, recently I’ve started going to family appointments with someone’s therapist and I feel comfortable with them. They offered to do full session with me if I want, and I’ve begun thinking about it. I’m not sure at all when I’ll go in for a full session on my own, but the offer was made and I’m seriously considering it.
8) I was part of the Stigma Fighters community before it became its own website, when it was just a subsection of CEO Sarah Fader’s personal blog.

Now it’s time for me to nominate some people for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award for everything they do and how they’ve helped me along my journey. BTW, There’s no specific order to this list.

1. Sarah C of The Real Sarah C – for her amazing work in the Deaf community, and for being real about being a mom with bipolar disorder.

2. Nicole Lyons of The Lithium Chronicles – for her beautifully honest posts and the way she describes her bipolar disorder to her children – it’s just amazing.

3. Sarah Fader of Old School/New School Mom, the author of Three-Year-Olds Are A**holes, the CEO & founder of Stigma Fighters. She’s also an amazing person to talk to when you’re struggling.

4. Marisa Lancione of Mad Girl’s Lament – even when she’s struggling, she still finds the words to express herself. And she’s written some amazing pieces on depression and bipolar disorder.

5. Allie Burke – author of Paper Souls, founder of the OCH Literary Society

6. JC Hannigan of Sarcastica – author of the Collide Series, blogger for the MHE Coalition, and fabulous mother to 2 young boys and 2 dogs.

7. Amy Walker of Under the Surface – for her work toward shedding light on a lesser known mental health condition called dermatillomania.