Trauma Doesn't Make You Stronger

 I absolutely despise the majority of representation bullying gets in the media. Every time I hear there's a new movie or TV show with bullying as a theme or major story component, I don't even want to have a look at it. It's extremely frustrating because somehow, I also manage to come across this content extremely often purely by accident. "Hey, check out this cool YouTube video on something funny that happened on the Internet– oh no, not THIS again, fuck me." "Here's a new TV show made from the perspective of young adults, trying to figure out their lives– when will this STOP???" Now don't get me wrong, I encourage representation – in fact, the more we talk about it, the better. Although the benefits of simply talking in the name of awareness does barely anything, it's still a good place to start with.  But when that representation is insanely stereotypical and sometimes downright insensitive, I can feel the BPD emotions brewing inside of m...

 It is strange how often I see people equating bullying to degradation. The internet is fantastic for this kind of rhetoric, especially in the form of memes. While irony dominates the humor and jokes of the online world, I find it interesting and also beneficial to analyze this kind of rhetoric as something more than just that. Because humor in itself is a rhetorical device that's used to convey different messages and tones – some more truthful than others. And in the case of these bullying/degradation jokes, I believe that there is at least some truth to them. Let's explore that thought here! There are two demographics who typically joke about bullying: the people who have been at the receiving end of such treatment, and the people who have no connection to it. What I have noticed over the years is that former bullied kids tend to joke about the experience of being bullied rather than the issue as a broader concept. In turn, those who have no personal connection to bullying a...

 It feels completely unreal that 18 weeks has already passed. 18 weeks since I started going to DBT sessions, 18 weeks since my treatment actually took off. At the beginning, it felt like such a long time, and I was wondering if I'd even be able to concentrate on therapy for so long and so intensely. But now, those 18 weeks have gone by, and I had my last session on Thursday.  I had been waiting for DBT for about a year at that point when I got accepted into the program. I knew it would be the first step I needed to take in order to help myself feel better. And sure enough, DBT proved to me why it is classified as the main therapy program for people with BPD. I learned so many new skills, so much about myself and other people alike. I was introduced to a whole bunch of practical methods I can do to cut down on the psychological pain I feel every single day – and that was exactly what I needed.  But that wasn't even the best part to me.  gratitude.  When I discov...