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When your mind betrays you: depression rears its ugly head again
I haven’t been silent about my (past) battles with depression, anxiety, and insomnia. All those issues hit me as a teen and came back in my 20s, 30s, and now 40s. I was fortunate not to experience postpartum depression after my two pregnancies, but I’ve known women who have. Mental illness is rarely a “one-and-done” situation. It’s often a lifelong battle. There’s less of a stigma about mental health than ever before, but it can still be isolating feeling trapped in your own mind—a mind that’s betrayed you when you thought you were okay again. Triggers I think everyone has different triggers that can jump-start a depressive episode. Sometimes, there’s…
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My 30 Favorite Male Singer-Songwriters
Let’s hear it for the boys (male singer-songwriters, that is) I recently wrote about my favorite female singer-songwriters, so now I’m writing about the male ones. My initial list was long, and it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to my top 30. That’s why you’ll see a lengthy list of honorable mentions. I’m not saying any of the artists are better or worse; I’m just basing the list on my favorites and the songs that have meant the most to me. A key difference in a lot of the male singer-songwriters is that more of them are lead singers of a band than the songwriters I admire who…
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My 30 Favorite Female Singer-Songwriters
Female-led music that inspires me I’m an artist of the written word, and I adore music. It inspires my writing and helps me time-travel for stories I set in the past. Lyrics are poetry set to music with a universal quality to help us feel less alone in the world. My favorite songs come from talented singer-songwriters who share their work with the world. In prep for this post, I started listing female singer-songwriters with works I enjoy and soon had a huge list of over 40 talented ladies. It was too big of an undertaking, so I tried to cut the list down to my top 15, but I…
