Welcome to Dymphna's Diary

Although I am not Catholic, I find it interesting that "Dymphna" is the patron saint of those who suffer from clinical depression and other mental illnesses. Considering the purpose of this site is to offer inspiration and spiritual guidance to my readers, I felt it was only right I chose her namesake for the title.

In 2010, this site was set up to pass along personal information about how depression has affected my life and the lives of my family. Since then, it has EVOLVED. In 2011, I attempted to present posts that were INSPIRATIONAL to you, my readers. In 2012, I went even deeper with personal stories from people across the United States via touching videos, songs, and interviews. My hope was to show each of you that even when you feel that you are in a situation that no one else could understand, you are not alone. Through it all, my comments have remained to be my personal opinions and spiritual reflections. I will continue to occasionally post information that I feel is beneficial in removing the stigma of mental illness, but regardless I feel blessed to have been given this platform to spread God's love and compassion for ALL people. I wouldn't be where I am today without the strength I receive daily from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My hope is that this blog will help you find some comfort in your life. It most certainly is helping me find comfort in mine.

I want to make it perfectly clear, though, that when I make generalizations regarding mental illness, I am NOT giving advice to anyone. I'm just passing along information that I have found helpful in my life. I'm writing about MY PERSONAL experiences and thoughts. Mental illness affects everyone differently and your situation may not be reflective of mine.


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Beat of a Different Drum


My dogs have a plastic tub full of “toys”, but each one has their favorite items. Unfortunately, for me and my husband, one of my baby’s most precious possessions is a stuffed bunny rabbit. This bunny has big floppy ears that hang over its sad, little blue eyes, and every time my dog bites down on this rabbit’s tummy, it says – “Peek-a-Boo, I see you” – as its ears rise over its eyes. Now, the first 375 times this happened (in the middle of the night), it was cute… not anymore.

But, here’s the thing: My dog refuses to live by human standards. He has evidently read Loretta LaRoche’s book - Life is Short, Wear Your Party Pants - and he decided that life is indeed short and he will not only wear his party pants – he is taking his bunny to the party with him!

Babies and Toddlers carry blankets or binkies with them to give them security. Kids pack along some of their favorite items… DS games, IPods, etc. What if we ALL lived life to the fullest? What if we took our favorite “toys” with us everywhere we went? What if we didn’t have to worry about what someone else was going to think about us or our actions? Well, we don’t!

This weekend, I went away with some friends, and I had the wonderful opportunity to take my “toy” along with me – my camera. I was out taking pictures of the changing leaves, etc and I happened upon a Magnolia cone. I have seen a million Pine cones in my lifetime, but I have never seen a Magnolia cone, so I was very curious.

Anyway, the cone was in the parking lot of the hotel where we were staying, and I got down and begin taking pictures of what looked like a close-up of a parking space but what really was the Magnolia cone. When I got back to our room, one of my friends said that everyone outside was staring at me. She even wanted to know why I was taking a picture of the parking lot! At one time that would have made me feel a little weird, but now I know I'm an odd duck of sorts... lol.

I’ve always admired people that dance to the beat of a different drum. Ironically, because of my history of Manic Depression, you could say that I’ve been on a bit of a different beat most of my life. I hear those Bongos in the distance… Tango anyone?

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