You know when you have a group of something and its referred to by a different name. A group of birds is a flock, unless it's geese then it can also be a gaggle or crows are a murder. You have schools of fish, herds of cattle, pods of whales. What is the name for a group of whiny, overweight, female sad sacks??
Every Monday I will be participating in a Dialectical Behavioural Therapy group (DBT) for managing my illness. For a brief explanation of DBT click HERE. There are 12 of us in total. Eight of us are overweight or obese, the other four are too skinny. There are two coordinators that lead the group, both male. If I could describe them as colours, the one would be beige and the other would be beige that was left out in the desert sun to bake and fade away. He is less exciting than that teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Anyway I'm very bored with the group already and my mind wanders so I've started to nickname/apply archetypes to the women in the group. I haven't named all of us yet. This is what I have so far:
* Self-Pity Angry Lesbian
* Woman-Child Know It All
* Drugged Out Porn Blond
* Sad Mom
* Emo Girl
* Butch Tammy Faye
* Quiet Girl
* Loud Mouth (BTW that's me...)
These people drive me nuts. I have 18 more weeks to go.
I will say YES to tolerance. I will say YES to tolerance.
18 more weeks to go! Hoo boy!
ReplyDeleteIt will be difficult. That also means 18 more posts at least and it will give me time to coin a phrase for a group of sad sacks.
ReplyDeleteLove the Monday update. Very brave to share and funny to read.
ReplyDeleteYou are taking the stigma out of having an illness and making it ok to talk about it.
My mom has struggled for a very long time and I think the shame was worse at times than the actual illness. The shame and guilt then spread to everyone in our family. I grew up with a fear of being "crazy".
I remember the first time someone told me that their mom had manic depression and I thought - wow - you just said that out loud and told me??!! Is that allowed??!! It started to lift the secret we all were trying to hide. It made it ok. Lifted the fear of "crazy".
So, thanks for making illness ok.
Well thanks! I was hoping to educate/raise awareness or at least generate acceptance. Mental illness affects 1 in 3 people and should be talked about. We talk about cancer and MS and AIDS and heart disease. Being mentally ill doesn't make you a bad person and the more you understand about it, the easier it is for everyone involved. I'll be interested in what you have to say about future Mental Monday posts.
ReplyDelete