Mental Health Awareness: Fighting the Battle of the Mind

Commentary | Mental Health | by ReDDVoice

For many who suffer with mental illnesses, fighting the battle of the mind during a crisis is their biggest challenge. 

Testimony: 
Tracy was severely depressed. She couldn't stop crying. This dark episode was triggered by a major event in her life. After a messy divorce, she began to withdraw and have suicidal thoughts. She started to believe all the negative things that were being said about her. She questioned her worthiness, as both a wife and a mother. She was consumed by negative thoughts, battling feelings of sadness and despair. 

Here are a few tools:

1. Positive Self-Talk ~ Recite positive affirmations daily and focus on all of the good things in your life.

2. Counseling ~ Seek professional help immediately if you're feeling suicidal.

3. Triggers ~ Know what factors affect you negativity and how to respond.

4. "WRAP" Plan ~ Create and implement a plan of action for dealing with crisis situations.

5. Support Team ~ Have a list of people you can call on for help.

"Black Butterfly"

Short Story | Fiction | by ReDDVoice

College Bound...
It was Spring of 1989 and Amber had just graduated from high school. She was all beauty and brains and had a bright future ahead of her. Amber lived with her mother and step-father in a small, country town in North Carolina, where most graduates either worked in local manufacturing plants or went away for college and never returned. As the valedictorian, Amber had colleges offering her full academic scholarships. However, her only dilemma was choosing which one she wanted to attend. Amber was excited about her new journey, as she had dreams of becoming an attorney. A dream that her parents didn't quite share. They needed her to stay and get a job to help pay the bills, but Amber had other plans. She couldn't wait to leave town and start a new life. In the fall, Amber left to get her pre-law degree just a few hours away in the city of Charlotte. Amber was a virgin and had never been away from home. She was in for the college experience of her life!

The Wrong Crowd...
In the beginning, Amber didn't enjoy her newfound freedom. She was a little homesick because she didn't know anyone and living in a big city was quite intimidating. As months passed, she started meeting new friends and starting hanging out with her roommate. One day, she was introduced to a young man named Nick, a handsome jock who played on the college football team. He liked Amber and she was quite smitten with him. However, she was a little shy, as she had never been with a boy before other than making out at the movies. The two dated for several weeks and he introduced her to his friends. They were a wild crew of thirsty college girls and some of his football teammates who spent most of their time partying and drinking. Amber wanted to fit in so she started drinking too.

One day she got drunk and passed out at a frat party. Nick took her back to her dorm where they had sex. When she woke up the next day, she was half-naked and her sheets were smeared with dried blood. Hung over, Amber managed to get up and take a shower. She had a feeling Nick had done something to her. However, she was too embarrassed to ask or to tell anyone about what happened. After several weeks, Amber stopped seeing Nick because she could no longer trust him. And her grades were starting to slip. She went from making the Dean's list to being on academic probation. She was just a freshman and her college life had taken a turn for the worst.

Death Upon Her...
After a couple of weeks, Amber starting isolating herself to her room. She was trying to focus on bringing her grades back up. After going to classes all day, she was so tired she just went to sleep. One day on her way to class, she passed out and was taken to the hospital. It's was then that she found out that she was pregnant. Surprised by the findings, Amber frantically tried to come up with a plan. She didn't want to lose her scholarship, and she couldn't figure out how she could go to law school with a baby. Her options were limited. However, she had heard about a place on the shady side of town that does illegal abortions for a nominal fee. Amber had a few dollars saved up so she decided to go through with it alone. On the day of her appointment, she was so terrified. The building looked creepy and the office was hidden on a basement floor. A dark-haired woman escorted her to the back and gave her a solution to drink. The cold, sterile table felt like ice to her back. With her feet strapped in stirrups, they extracted the still-born fetus. The pain was intense, nothing like she'd ever felt before. All of a sudden she started to hemorrhage. During the procedure, an artery was punctured and they couldn't get the bleeding to stop. This wasn't the first time this had happened and the clinic didn't want to get in trouble. They did something unthinkable to cover up their mistake. Instead of taking Amber to the hospital, they took her into another room and let her bleed to death.

As she lay there in a pool of blood, her life flashed before her eyes. Amber was alone and for the first time had come to terms with what was happening to her. First, she was raped and now she was dying. She thought about her dreams of becoming an attorney and how much she wanted to live to see another day. In that moment, she garnered the strength to get up and found a phone to call 9-1-1. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital where she had to undergo surgery to repair the damage that caused her to bleed out. The woman who ran the illegal clinic was arrested. Amber recovered from her near-death experience and developed into a beautiful young woman. She was no longer that naive, country little girl. In fact, she was stronger. Despite all that she endured, she finished her undergraduate degree and went on to law school. Amber passed the bar and became a successful lawyer. Wanting to make a difference, she later returned to her hometown to open her own law firm and to take care of her family. Amber is proof that, just like a butterfly, your life can go through changes...But something positive can come out of it!

"Peace, Be Still"

Poem | by ReDDVoice

When things don't go your way
And you're having a bad day...
Peace, Be Still

When you want peace in your life
But all you get is strife...
Peace, Be Still

When people talk about you
But you know it's not true...
Peace, Be Still

When you lost your faith in God
Because things got too hard...
Peace, Be Still

When you have no job
And all you can do is sob...
Peace, Be Still

When your life is good
Because you do as you should...
Peace, Be Still

When you try to be strong
And you're yet holding on...
Peace, Be Still

When you do what's right
But you still have to fight...
Peace, Be Still

When you give up trying
But the alternative is dying...
Peace, Be Still

"Ashes"

Short Story| Fiction | by ReDDVoice

A New Best Friend...
Capone was a beautiful red-nose American pit bull terrier. He resembled the dog from the old tv show, "The Little Rascals", with its unique brown and white brindle patches. At eight months, the dog was adopted by a young woman named Sasha. She suffered with symptoms of PTSD and needed a companion animal to help her get through some of the rough days. Sasha and Capone made a great match. She needed him as much as he needed to please her. Capone would follow her everywhere she went. The two were inseparable. Their favorite place to go was walking on the beach nearby.

Capone was very protective over Sasha. Whenever people got too close or made Sasha feel anxious, Capone would stand between them. He also alerted Sasha whenever the door bell would ring. She rarely had visitors but Capone would always be happy to great them, carefully sniffing people at the door as they stepped inside. Sasha's parents worried about her, as she often had anxiety attacks. She even had a few public episodes that ended up with her being hospitalized in a psych ward. But she felt safe with Capone around especially after what happened to her a year ago.

One Year Earlier...
One evening as Sasha was sleeping a man broke into her house. He snuck in through an unlocked bedroom window. At gun point, he tied her up and raped her. She tried to fight him off at first, but the more she struggled the more he pistol-whipped her in the head with the gun. With blood gushing from the side of her face, Sasha -succumbed by her injuries - gave up fighting. After he finished raping her, the assailant started taken items out of her house. It was such a traumatic experience that Sasha had to be hospitalized. She had become withdrawn and was severely depressed. She looked like she ways dying. Her fragile body was down to only 100 pounds. She wouldn't eat and began to lose more weight. After several months of psychiatric treatment, Sasha's condition had improved, but she was still traumatized. She could never return to the house where she was attacked and had to move. However, she still didn't feel safe in her new place either. At least until she met Capaone.

Another Attack...
As fate would have it, Sasha would become a victim of another break-in. But this time Capone was there to protect her. As the intruder tried to enter through a glass patio door, Capone grabbed him by the leg and started biting him, bringing him to his knees. During this time, Sasha called the police. What happened next set off a fatal chain of events. As the police entered her house, they saw Capone attacking the intruder. However, they couldn't get the dog off of him so they shot Capone twice in the back. Sasha screamed as she cuddled her companion while the police scuffled to arrest the man who tried to break in. Sasha was too distraught to care what else was going on. She cried as Capone died in her arms.

After the second attack and the loss of her best friend, Sasha became suicidal. She no longer had faith in humanity and felt she didn't want to be a part of this evil world anymore. After writing a suicidal note, Sasha killed herself with Capone's leash. After several days missing, her parents found her hanging from the pole in her bathroom. The suicide note read..."Dear loved ones...I am sorry but I can no longer live in a world like this!...A world where you can't feel safe in your own home...A world where your own dog is killed for doing his job in protecting you...He was the only thing that kept me sane...Made me feel alive...Gave me hope. And a world without my Capone is not worth living. Please cremate us and spread our ashes together over the ocean at our favorite place by the rocks." Reluctantly Sasha's parents fulfilled their daughter's dying wishes. Sasha and Capones's ashes are now part of the Pacific Ocean.

"Insatiable"

Short Story | Fiction | by ReDDVoice

Home Alone...
One of the saddest days for some military families is the day their loved ones have to leave. On any ordinary day, it wasn't unusual to see several buses in the commissary parking lot with crying families gathering to say their final goodbyes. The worst part was seeing the buses as they drove away. Watching the soldiers hands disappear in a distant, as they wave goodbye out the windows.

It was a sad day for Amber, but it wasn't her first rodeo. Her husband was always gone. This time, he was being deployed to Iraq. As a military wife, Amber expected to be alone from time to time, but she could never quite get used to it. Amber tried to keep busy, spending most of her days working or shopping at the PX on base. However, she was lonely and needed more. Unfortunately, her boring lifestyle didn't fulfill her insatiable appetite for sex. She loved her husband, but she gave in to her desires. As soon as Amber's husband left to go overseas, she started meeting and having sex with other military men. She never got caught, but her luck was running out.

Home Alone Forever...
It was time for Amber to say her goodbyes again. Her husband was to be gone for another six months. This time, he was going away to Japan for training. Immediately Amber started seeing other men again. But this time she was getting bolder. She started inviting them to her place and having sex in her bed. One day there was a knock at the door. It was a man dressed in a military uniform. Amber immediately jumped out of bed and put on her robe. Thinking it was her husband she ran downstairs only to find a soldier at the door. He announce that her husband was killed in a training accident. Amber was in shock. She dropped to her knees and cried out,"Nooooooo! This can't be true!"

After she shut the door, her lover came running down the stairs to see what was wrong. With tears in her eyes she looked at him then she put him out. Shutting the door behind him, Amber fell to the floor again. "God, why is this happening?" she yelled. In that moment, she realized she may have gotten away with cheating, but it was karma at the door that day. Amber learned the saddest day is not actually seeing your loved ones leave, but the day you find out they're never coming back.

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