Friday, May 27, 2011

Is this REALLY a mental wellness blog? Well...

Yeah, in many ways it is! A friend of mine just joked with me that me writing a wellness blog would be like her (a Jewish Redhead) writing a Black womans blog. I know she was kidding, and it was a really funny comment, but it got me thinking that the people who read this page may not have had access to some of the writing from my old blog, when I was in the process of dealing with the end of a marriage, having been cheated on, and working through an episode of major depression. So, in order to justify my status in Circle of Moms Mental Wellness blogs list, here's some of the writing I've done on a few things in that catagory.

On depression and loss

On self esteem and relationships

On surviving major life changes

On the challenges of raising a child with autism

On being in the moment

You see what I do there? I'm a crafty little devil - I reel you in with humor and slip a little lesson in there when you're not looking! So yes, I feel justified in classifying this as a mental wellness blog!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Let's see how many projects I can juggle at one time...

If you see my Facebook page then you know by now that I've started writing on autism and parenting for Examiner.com. This isn't something new, I've been writing on what it's like to parent an autistic child since Wyatt was about 3, and I try to pass on links and local info to people who can use it, but this is on a bigger scale. Examiner is a pretty big site, and their writers come up fairly high on the list of Google searches of their subjects, plus I get paid for doing this!

I'm also starting rehearsal this week for Pump Boys and Dinettes at Winston Salem Theater Alliance in July. It's my first musical in over 10 years, it's a great role, and i can't wait to get started working on it.

my last little new project is adding my name to the list of candidates for top 25 mental wellness blogs on Circle of Moms. Why mental wellness? Because writing this blog (sporadic as I can be) is part of what keeps me sane! I've added a button to the page so if you want, you can vote for me! C'mon - how cool would it be to have a blog called Suburban Chicken as a top mental wellness blog?

So why do I take on so many things at one time? Really, is my life not just finally settling down after years of school and busting my tush to get Wyatt on track developmentally, academically and behaviorally? What is it in my nature that makes me need to have at least 3 pans in the fire at all times? Am I desperately trying to make up for the fact that most of my high school career was spent cutting gym class, smoking in the bathroom, ducking out for liquid lunches or hanging out in the Choir room?

Nah, probably not, I had WAY too much fun doing all that to actually regret it.

I think that part of why I take on so many things is that I've spent so many of the past years focused on taking care of everyone elses needs. Now that I have time free to do things that are just for me, there's so many that I want to do that I can't choose just one, I want the whole damn buffet!

I'm probably going to have to pick and choose a little more carefully, but for now I'm pretty happy with what's on my plate.