Written by Hannah Blum, author of the Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love When we are faced with challenges, it’s hard to believe that something positive will come out of these periods of darkness, but there is. Sometimes the most important lessons in life hide in places we would never think to look. … Continue reading 9 Things Mental Illness Has Taught Me About Life
Written by Hannah Blum, author of “Oh Mind, Where Have You Gone Today?” In 1961, a year before her death, Marilyn Monroe wrote a six-page letter letter to her psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson about her time at Payne-Whitney’s psychiatric ward. “Just now when I looked out the hospital window where the snow had covered everything … Continue reading Marilyn Monroe: What You Didn’t Know About Her Life with Mental Illness
Written by Hannah Blum, author of The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love Mental health is a topic that many people in society think they know so much about when in reality they know too little. Ignorance is the most devastating illness that plagues our society. The only cure is knowledge, so let me save … Continue reading 6 Truths About People with a Mental Illness
One of the best parts of being a mental health advocate is the connections you make to others with a similar passion for life and mental health. I was thrilled when Julie Kraft, author of the incredible book, The Other Side of Me: Memoir Of a Bipolar Mind, agreed to share part of her story with me. She is both beautiful on the outside and on the inside. In this interview, Julie shares her journey with bipolar disorder and opens up about motherhood, love, stigma and how a move from her home in Canada to Germany gave her clarity in a world that made her feel so clouded. Thank you, Julie, for speaking your truth. Continue reading “Beautiful with a Bipolar Mind: An Interview with Author Julie Kraft”
It was six years ago that I had my first major episode with bipolar disorder while in College.  I was  living with a group of girls who this story is about. In the last month before I withdrew from school, I kept my struggle hidden from others, especially myself.  Two days before I left, my parents were called by two of my friends.  They told them that I was falling apart.  Day by day I was getting worse.  They realized they couldn’t help me, and decided not to tell the other girls.  I do not like to talk about the pain of the past.  However, a few days ago I learned that sometimes it is necessary to walk down memory lane, no matter how dark the road is…
Continue reading “Then & Now: A Story About Friendship and Mental Illness”
The first man who had his heart broken by me was my father. One day the little girl who danced to the beat of her drum was laying in a hospital bed, withering away. My father has always kept me safe, but there was one person he could not shield me from, and that person was me. Continue reading “Dear Dad: A Letter From Your Daughter With Bipolar”
If you are looking for me to say how much I hate my life with bipolar 2 disorder, you will not find it in this post. It does not define me, but it is a significant part of who I am. If you erase bipolar, you erase me as a whole. I am never going to live without it, and I want to give others a taste of my reality. I do not place pressure on myself to be perfect. I am honest. This is my mind; this is my journey. Here is a little bit of what it is like to live in the mind of a woman diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder.
Continue reading “Inside the Mind of a Woman With Bipolar Disorder”
The day I arrived at the mental hospital, the last thing on my mind was the status of single guys at the facility. I don’t think these types of places have a location status on Bumble. However, it’s in the places unknown and unfamiliar to us that we meet some of the most important people along our journey. I did meet a guy, and his name is Jared.
Jared and I didn’t fall in love with each other. We fell in understanding with one another; two souls destined to meet, to help one another find peace in the midst of chaos. At my darkest, he reached for hope and built a key from the light he found within me; a key that would unlock the chains of stigma and finally set me free. This is not a love story; this is a life story about love.
Continue reading “A Love Story at a Mental Hospital: We Weren’t Falling in Love, We Were Falling in Life”
Blooming Mind Press 