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Jan 13, 2025 | 
twloha.com | Amanda Burr |Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
I used to think and hope that I just needed to heal to a certain degree so that I would no longer experience suicidality. While therapy, medication, and regular awareness of my mood state relating to bipolar disorder have helped me to cope and manage suicidal thoughts, I thought if I kept attending therapy and learned even more skills, maybe one day, suicidal thoughts would be a thing of the past.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
twloha.com | Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore |Julia Baysinger
The stillness of the morning after will haunt you. You might find yourself staring at the sky, trying to piece together how the world can still spin when you’re not sure you’re ready for it. Just like every other morning, your mom will make your favorite tea, but this time you’ll find solace in the honey packets and their sickly, syrupy promise:There is still sweetness to be found in the world, even when everything feels overwhelmingly bitter.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore |Aaron Woodall
Just as a Thanksgiving table may be overflowing with a hodgepodge of dishes, the holidays are a mixed bag when it comes to our feelings. For many, the upcoming holiday season means a whiplash of high emotions, difficult situations, and new environments. Some parts of this season might bring so much joy and love, while others are shrouded with grief and heaviness. And let’s be honest, sometimes it’s all of those things at once.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Cody Clendenen |Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
Earlier this year, in a piece titled “Deconstructing Me: Healing From Religious Trauma,” I touched on the topic of identity and deconstruction. But more specifically, I asked: Who am I when parts of my identity no longer belong to me? Who am I when I stray from my religion? Who am I when I am no longer in contact with a friend who held my hand through every major life event? Who am I when I no longer have the job that had such a profound impact on my life?
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
In June of 2024, my best friend died from leukemia. I thought it would take me days, months, or years to stop crying. Truth be told, I didn’t cry for three days after it happened. I was joking, laughing, sharing stories, and planning a funeral. I was too busy to be sad. I had his memory all around, and everyone else did too. I thought maybe it didn’t have to feel like I lost anything at all. I thought maybe, just maybe, my anticipatory grief had already taken all the grief from my body.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Becky Ebert |Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
Flow like water. Your emotions will flow like water, crash like waves, and ebb like the tide. The things you feel are expressions of moments. Joyous moments, challenging moments, heartbreaking moments—moments of all kinds. Feeling your emotions is healthy, and crucial even if you want to heal. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase: “You have to feel to heal” from your counselor or a wise friend before. But a big part of it, of healing and knowing peace, is not letting the feelings overstay their welcome.
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Oct 21, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Courtenay Jamieson |Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
Note: This piece talks about sexual abuse. Please use your discretion. I never felt fully safe in my body. I never trusted my brain either which meant I wasn’t capable of acknowledging that my body was harboring years of abuse and pain. None of it ready to be felt or brought to the surface—but always in the background lingering. Due to the young age that I first experienced sexual abuse, I was unable to fully comprehend what was happening.
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Oct 15, 2024 | 
onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Aaron Moore |Laura Goracci |Pedro Domingues |Tania Melo
ACD allergic contact dermatitis BC benzalkonium chloride Chol cholesterol CE cholesterol esters Cer ceramides DG diacylglycerols DNFB 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene FA fatty acids GlcCer glucosylceramides GPL glycerophospholipids HexnCer hexosylceramide KCs keratinocytes LLNA local lymph node assay PC phosphatidylcholines PC O- alkyl-acyl phosphatidylcholines PE O- alkyl-acyl phosphatidylethanolamines PI phosphatidylinositols PL phospholipids ROS reactive oxygen species SL sphingolipids SM...
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Sara Evelyne |Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
How do you navigate a world that you never got to know? The answer begins with self-compassion. We all have different paths, perspectives, and problems. Ironically, sometimes it isn’t the hardest or darkest of times that bring the most confusion or resistance, but the ones displaying promise and progress. Whether the day is amazing, terrible, or in-between, life—like breathing—isn’t linear. I would argue that neither is prescriptively achieved.
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
twloha.com | Aabye-Gayle D. Francis-Favilla |Aaron Baccash |Aaron Moore
What is the trajectory of shame over a lifetime? A lifetime. In the throes of anorexia, I remember wanting to be thin at any cost. My body and mind were wasting away, but I didn’t care. All I could focus on was the number on the scale and keeping myself thin. I thought I was in control—but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. My eating disorder had long since taken over. I was a shell of who I used to be. I became a walking, talking eating disorder in the flesh.
