Note:  I didn’t realize I had hit “publish” on this Saturday, because I wasn’t actually finished.  Since I want to comment on the blogs I’m nominating, it may take a while to get it done.  So I since I accidentally pre-published before completing my list, I’m going to go ahead and keep adding to it.  You might want to come back later and see what other talented bloggers I can lead you to.

I’m still learning about this thing called blogging, which has already brought me so much more than I ever imagined.  And then today, I learned about something new: awards.  Many warm thanks to Patricia J. Grace (https://patriciajgrace.wordpress.com/).  Hers was one of the first blogs I found and followed.  She and I share a lot, not in the details of our abuse experiences, but I think in our emotional reactions to that abuse.  She has a calm and wise voice that provides a thoughtful, realistic model of what sane recovery can look like.

What a pleasure to get to nominate other blogs that I love!

Telling Heavy Secrets and Alice (#s 1 and 2) – I know that Patricia already nominated them, but I love their blogs and read every post.  Telling Heavy Secrets is, indeed, telling dark stories about her life but using them to grow stronger; she’s very insightful.  Alice writes well-crafted, detailed accounts of her therapy sessions in a way that helps the rest of us learn from them as well.  She’s struggling through a very difficult time but her strength inspires me.

Then there is lily pups life: bipolar and recovery (#3), here: lily pups life.  This woman is so clear sighted and self-aware!  She also provides brilliant advice for others who suffer from depression.  You really have to read her blog on friends, one of my all-time favorites: https://lilypupslife.wordpress.com/author/lilypup1922/

If you are reading on the theme of abuse, depression, therapy and recovery, you’ll want to read ambivalence girl (#4).  She has some tremendously heavy challenges in her life right now.  She’s frank and brave and provides a rich description of what it’s like to be in a very dark space.  http://ambivalencegirl.wordpress.com/

I don’t share my blog with anyone I know, not even my beloved husband.  I barely talk about it, though I have told him I started one and that I read other people’s blogs.  The one that I keep talking to him about is A Journey With You: Surviving Schizophrenia (#5).  I have already learned so much from her; she has completely transformed my idea of what it is to have schizophrenia. Meet her here:  A Journey With You.

(By the way, I should say that the order of these has nothing to do with quality or preference.  I love them all.)

Indisposed & Undiagnosed (#6) is the blog of an immensely creative young woman whose life has been turned upside down by her mysterious illness.  She has a growing following (just hit 500 followers – congratulations Cassandra!) so you may already know her.

Yellow Walls (#7) at flyawaygrl.wordpress.com is another you’ll want to check out.  She’s unsparingly honest about what being bipolar has done to her life.  Like A Journey With You, she’s broaden your picture of what it means to be intensely intelligent and mentally ill.  I’m worried about her because on her last post several weeks ago (4/18/15), she wrote about possibly going to the hospital.

Here’s one I only recently discovered the counter stool (#8).  She has some wonderful posts, most recently one about realizing she had been mistaking her mother for a peach tree for years, wondering why she never got any peaches.  Then she finally figured out that her mother was a dogwood tree, blooming with brilliant flowers in the spring, but never, even providing any fruit.  And she’s had to be her own peach tree. I also love an earlier post about the hated table.

Seven Things About Me

1. Meeting my second husband online was probably the most random, luckiest thing that ever happened to me.  He’s more understanding, kind and supportive than anyone I have ever known.

2. I love traveling and learning languages.

4. I have an interesting, challenging job that I’ve managed to hang on to despite my depression.  Some days it’s been hard.  Other days I think the job is a lot of what keeps me going.

5. Much as I like the job, sometimes I wish I had pursued my lifelong love of writing instead of taking the route I did.  When I was younger, I wanted to be novelist.

5. Very few people know anything about the emotional turmoil inside of me.

6. I am sad about all the injustices in the world, and I am especially sad about our societal lack of compassion for people who struggle in life because of illness or disability or racism.  I am trying to become better about finding ways, even small ways, to do something about it.

7. I am still afraid to fully disclose my abuse history.  There are days I still doubt myself.  I do a lot of pretending that things are fine when they aren’t.

Ok nominees, here are the Versatile Blogger Award rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
2. Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
3. Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you have recently discovered or follow regularly.
4. Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link back to the post on your site announcing their nomination.
5. Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.