In this post I tried to share a parent’s exhilaration and gratitude at the sound of a toilet being flushed! I fully understand if you are confused and I invite you to step into my shoes by reading along…ACCEPTANCE!
Have you or your children struggled with the impact of school bullying? How did it impact your/their/your families life/lives? Can you recall the first sign of recovery and how it made you feel?
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
I’m always grateful when readers share their experiences with me, it starts a conversation on bullying and prompts further reflection.
I’d like to share two such responses to my post, Bullying & Beyond… 10.Painting the pain, part three.
Paula at Paula Light https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/74951
bravely said “I was bullied for being fat and nerdy and bad at sports. Thank God I could get away from the kids outside of school and escape into books and tv shows. I also found my own hobbies, such as needlepoint. But today, with social media, there’s no escape. That’s the worst ~ I can’t imagine the horror of never escaping the peer group.”
Parikhit Dutta at Weeping Pines https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/56154764
responded with empathy saying…
“I’m so glad for you Paula. It can be so frustrating to live the pains of bullying always, never being able to escape. And isn’t it a silent killer”.
My thanks to both Paula and Parikhit for prompting this post.
I can, from experience, confirm that bullying via social media is as noxious as poison gas, it is a silent killer!
One Christmas while we were enjoying a family gathering our daughter was suffering in silence in the midst of us, as bullies targeted her with vile and upsetting messages on social media. We were oblivious to this happening until our daughter could no longer contain her distress and broke down telling us. Even after the girls in question were reprimanded and made close their social media accounts, the bullying continued because they were able to create new accounts using fake identification.
Bullying & Beyond… 10.Painting the Pain, part one.
Social media enables bullies to infiltrate the victim’s home; often the only safe space victims have. Online bullying is omnipresent, affecting children, adults and even Politicians, as we’ve seen during the United Kingdom’s Brexit attempts.
When bullying is frequent and continues over a protracted period it can cripple the victim leaving them distressed and confused. The implications can be life long, leaving them with low confidence and self-esteem, and can cause them intense dislike of themselves for being too fat, too thin, nerdy, shy or a miriad of other perfectly normal human characteristics just because a bully decided these traits were “unacceptable”.
Other sign of distress can include mood swings, anxiety, depression, insomnia, panic attacks, eating disorders, OCD, and finally but not exhaustively, self-harm until another innocent, tormented life could be lost to bullying.
Having witnessed the effect of online bullying I’d like to highlight to parents the distress children feel at, the horror of never escaping from this silent killer.” I’d also like to stress the lasting impact of bullying and encourage parents, adults & society to be vigilant.
Have you or your children been bullied? Did you/they experience “the horror of never escaping the peer group” because of the pervasiveness of social media? Did you watch this silent killer in action?
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
Welcome to Monday’s memory lane where I share an old post…
In this post I tried to describe anxiety through the five senses… ABSTRACT ANXIETY
If you could see, hear, taste, smell and touch anxiety how would you describe it?
Le grá,
Mindfully Marie xx
If you arrived home on Friday and felt like this…
I hope you’ve made time to do something you enjoyed, something just for you and that you are refuelled now and ready to face the week ahead!
How did you feel? How do you feel now?Please share what worked for you?
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
It has been just two weeks since I shared my last post in this Bullying & Beyond series. It is not an easy read and comes with a trigger warning. You might like to access it, to give you some background to today’s post… you will find it here… Bullying & Beyond… 10.Painting the Pain, part one.
Those past two weeks have been very challenging for our daughter as she tries to cope with her anxiety but she refuses to give in and her resilience is remarkable. She has been pressing political representatives and support organisations for many months to try and access the support of a Psychiatric Service Dog. Sadly in Ireland this support is unheard of. While there are guide dogs for the blind and companion dogs for autism, access to Psychiatric Support Dogs does not exist. To understand the whole area of Psychiatric Support Dogs, Emma has been busy educating and informing herself via books, online sites and Youtube and has decided to go it solo for the moment.
She hopes that in time and with the correct training Andy will be able to pre-empt the onset of panic attacks which are having a life limiting effect on her.
She has just started an Instagram account and she would love you to visit her and Andy @reallyhandyandy where she will document and share their journey towards improved mental health and where she hopes to fulfill her dream and goal of paving the way towards the availability of Psychiatric Service Dogs in Ireland.
Do you struggle with mental health issues? Do you have panic attacks? What do you know about Psychiatric Service Dogs? Do you know anybody who would benefit from reading this post, if so, please feel free to share.
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
My wish for you today… is that you, like me, find the greatest adventures in the simple things, like having a car picnic or watching the wind scattering leaves like confetti, across your lawn!
In what simple things do you find the greatest adventure?
Much love,
Marie xx
You owe it to yourself to cultivate your dreams. You don’t have to start out big…just begin.
Small children grow into great adults and similarly if small projects are tended with the same love and kindness, they too grow beyond measure!
Did you cultivate your dreams lately? Have you seen them blossom? Can you share any tips that worked for you?
Much love,
Marie xx
Recently while on holiday, I practiced my ‘Just One Minute Monday’ as we walked to the shops for our groceries. My son and his girlfriend were walking in front of me, the shops were a ten minute walk each way. The average temperature from 10am to 8pm was 30 degrees. It wasn’t an easy walk in that heat. I’m not into counting steps and I don’t own a step counter but lots of people exercise now by counting their steps and increasing the number of steps they take daily.
I thought about the amount we walk everyday and particularly the pace we have become accustomed to.
I wondered how often do we actually slow down our steps? Have you ever even noticed how fast you walk? Do you constantly rush from one task to the next? Because I was on holiday I paused and focused on my steps. I slowed down my steps. I noticed the inclines and the declines.
I listened to the sound our steps made. I felt my heart rate slow its pace. I felt grateful for those moments, those steps I was able to enjoy in the company of two young adults.
When have you last paid attention to how fast you walk? Have you ever deliberately focused on your steps? Maybe today is the day to focus one minute on your footsteps.
Much love,
Marie xx
