We’re not all the same
Tamara left me a comment on Facebook today that made me think. As you may or may not know, I’ve been doing a bit of traveling, and will continue to in the next couple of weeks, both as part of my work, and for some vacation. She noted that for her it would be difficult to be away from home, away from her “grounding” spot that much. I can certainly understand that, but for me it’s different. I need the ability to explore from time to time in order to get out of my own head and see the larger world around me. Traveling is a great way to do that, though it certainly isn’t the only way. There are plenty of other ways to get outside my own head without le

My Anger Over Roman Polanski
Last night, instead of relaxing and spending a quiet evening watching the latest episode of Ken Burns documentary on America’s National Parks, I sat by the TV with my laptop reading about the people defending Roman Polanski, and getting very angry that anyone would try and defend someone who raped a 13 year old girl. And my outrage, justified as it is, did no one any good. I broke one of my own rules about staying mentally healthy. I let my life be affected by something I have no power over. So, i vowed to keep an eye on the news stories, and to try my best to not support anyone who is making excuses for him, or arguing that he shouldn’t have to face justice f

Relationships Change, and That’s OK
I was reminded of this last week, and this month’s Carnival Against Child Abuse focus on relationships had me thinking even more about it. I think, as survivors, we have a tendency to want to hold on to the people we consider friends, for fear that we’ll be abandoned yet again, or be alone, etc. It’s a fear most people have, but it seems particularly acute among the survivors I’ve known in my life. On the other hand, as I’ve gotten older, I also realize that it’s somewhat ridiculous. People change, and not all friendships are meant to last a lifetime. Sure, there are some

Plan for Everything
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be part of a presentation talking about using various Social Networking sites and how to benefit from them. One of the examples I gave of how things could go badly, is if you don’t make decisions ahead of time about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. For example, when I first started writing about being a survivor, I decided to use my real name, and link it from my other site, which made it easy for folks to know who I am. I felt like it was important for me to be able to say “This is me, and I’m also a child abuse survivor”. On the other hand, I wasn’t prepared for everything

Light at the End of the Tunnel?
Maybe, just maybe, things are starting to get back to normal around here. After a couple of huge projects that had me working much more than my 40 hours per week, and taking up pretty much all of my mental energy, which ended just in time for the annual ILTA conference, where I was not only attending all week, but also speaking a couple of those days, I’m hopeful that things are settling down now. I admit that this site, and the Survivor Network, haven’t been the center of my attention for quite a while. I had to quit sending out the weekly updates to subscribers about activity on the site, because I’ve barely had enough time to look at it myself! So, as