Pamela Leavey

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Category: Depression

Daily Affirmations: Today, I Affirm That I Will Find My Way

Sometimes the path seems so obscured. We’ve lost track of where we’re going and how to get there. It’s only natural that in life we have times that cause us to lose focus, retreat into the dilemmas and circumstances of our lives that bring us down. Sometimes we drift so low that we feel trapped in a abyss of darkness, barely able to see the light. Everything that we’ve learned becomes a distant memory, as we sort through the mire that brought us to our knees.

Maudslay State Park, Newburyport, Massachusetts

Even when we start to feel our strength return, and our minds clear from the fog of sadness and sometimes depression, we still struggle to get back on track. This is where we learn to walk again. This is where we learn that we can’t rush back into action. We can and must move slowly to regain our footing and find our way once again.

Today, I re-mind myself that though the path may seem obscured, and though I have been to the abyss, I am slowly moving forward into the light once more.

Today, I affirm that I will find my way. Each day as I grow stronger, the veil of mist that obscures the path, lifts a little higher, as do I. And so it is, in my trust that all things do pass, I affirm the path I am looking for will be revealed.

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New Hampshire Mother Uses Art Therapy to Raise Heroin Addiction Awareness

13450033_10153852229215345_6907428901319467035_nAnne Marie Zanfagna’s gregarious nature is evident from the moment you start talking with her. One would be hard pressed to see the pain hidden behind her outgoing demeanor. Even as a life long friend, I do not always see the sadness Anne Marie carries with her.

When I sat down with her for an interview about her Angels of Addictions project, it quickly became evident that her sadness was what motivates her to paint the portraits of young heroin overdose victims. Anne Marie feels this work, painting portraits and talking about heroin addiction is now her life’s work, her mission.

Through her 501c3 non-profit organization, Angels Of Addictions, Anne Marie and her husband Jim work to raise awareness about heroin addiction, the stigma of heroin addiction and to help raise money for recovery services and a scholarship in their daughter Jackie’s name. Jackie died of a heroin overdose in October 2014.  (more…)

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If You’re Depressed, Be Open and Talk About It

An essay in today’s Washington Post about depression and suicide, details one young woman’s quest to be honest about her sister’s suicide, with the hope that she might help others think twice about suicide and get help:

I had to be honest. I had to tell the truth.

By the time I sat down to write my sister’s obituary I knew that the opening line could only be one thing: Aletha Meyer Pinnow, 31, of Duluth (formerly of Oswego and Chicago, IL) died from depression and suicide on February 20, 2016.

Eleni Pinnow said in her essay on her sister’s suicide:

The lies of depression can exist only in isolation. Brought out into the open, lies are revealed for what they are.

Here is the truth: You have value. You have worth. You are loved. Trust the voices of those who love you. Trust the enormous chorus of voices that say only one thing: You matter. Depression lies. We must tell the truth.

these-are-the-first-signs-of-depression-that-everyone-ignoresDepression is so common and yet we still have such a huge stigma about talking about it.

So many like this young woman in the story, Aletha Meyer Pinnow, who committed suicide at 31 years old, would rather keep their depression a secret than discuss it openly.

Here’s a few reason why that is wrong: (more…)

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