Posts under ‘shame’

Nightmares

Image credit: Photo by samzie2006 on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons I woke up this morning, muscles clenched like a fist and throat tight with anxiety, wanting to grab my son and never let him go. I crept to where he was sleeping and ran my fingers through his curls, reassuring myself he was there [...]

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How to Get the Man You Want (the Codependent Way)

Warning: this post is self-satirical in nature. It should not be read by the sarcasm impaired. Image credit: Photo by DaveAustria.com on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons So, you know, I'm not really codependent.  (I hate that word anyway.  Sincerely I do.)  I just like to do nice things for people.  Really nice things.  Like [...]

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Tallying up my Self-Worth

Image credit: Photo by boxercab on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons Last Monday I walked through the grocery store feeling like a weight was crushing my chest, a tight lump in my throat the only thing between me and tears. And part of me wanted to self-indulgently sit there on the linoleum floor under the [...]

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Ellie’s Towel

Image credit: Photo by limonada on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons A few years ago, I was visiting my friend Ellie and was a guest in her house for the first time in my life.  I had just taken a shower and was standing in her bathroom, a wet towel in my hand, at a [...]

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Lingerie, Sex Toys and Me?

Warning: this post, and the site I link to, may be triggering to sex addicts. Image credit: Photo by kchbrown on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a woman named Paula Saardchit. She told me she'd found my blog while doing research for an article she was [...]

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Experience, Strength and Hope

Image credit: Photo by jaxxon on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons A little less than a year ago, I moved my blog to its own URL, and when I did so, I had the opportunity to reread many of my old posts as I updated broken links (still not all fixed, by the way). As [...]

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In Which I Wish Addiction (and Recovery) on the World

Image credit: Photo by JustinLowery.com on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons This weekend, for the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to hear a sex addict from my husband's recovery group speaking about his experiences. I know my husband's story, about as intimately as anyone else can; in a way, it's my [...]

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Asking for What I Need

Image credit: Photo by c@rljones on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons Earlier this week, I had a rough morning with my daughter, my son was sick, I had an IEP meeting scheduled (those of you who don't know what that is, be glad you don't) and on top of it all, I couldn't find a [...]

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Opening Up

Image credit: Photo by casch52 on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons This week I plan to tell one of my best and oldest friends about my husband's addiction after nearly six years of silence around it. I've wanted to let her in to this part of my life, because keeping her out -- keeping anyone [...]

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Feeding the Emptiness

Image credit: Photo by Djuliet on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons Many years ago, before we had children, my husband bought me a small fish tank for my birthday. At the time, I wanted a car. I didn't really think he could buy a car, but I was relying on a very iffy public transit [...]

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