The Disaster Spiral

January 10, 2013 in Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Money

Around December every year, and a few times throughout the year if we’re honest, I tend to find myself caught in the disaster spiral. If you’re unfamiliar with the disaster spiral (lucky you!) it’s when you go from a rational thought that’s a little bit stressful to complete disaster in only a few steps. For me, particularly around the holidays, it goes like this: We have too many people to buy Christmas presents for. We have to pay for Stepdaughter to visit. We’re going to spend too much money. We don’t have any money. We can’t afford to go overseas. [...]

Is There A Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness?

July 23, 2012 in Entertainment, Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health

Are all great artists, be it painting, writing, music etc. tortured, haunted, pained? Does this lead to a higher quality of work being produced? “My afflictions belong to me and my art- they have become one with me. Without illness and anxiety I would have been a rudderless ship.” Edvard Munch. I clearly remember the first time I saw ‘The Scream’  (painted 1895) by Edvard Munch. Why did that particular painting affect me so personally? Because I saw myself in the distortion, the craziness, the eeriness, the chaos. I sympathized with a human figure that was obviously suffering tremendously, but [...]

100 Naked People Changed My Perspective (SFW)

June 20, 2012 in Body, Body Image, Entertainment, Fitness, Health, People, Self, Sex, Society, Stories

The first life drawing class I ever took went as you would expect it to. A bunch of immature people, giggling and trying to look but not stare at the naked woman sitting in the middle of the room. Do we draw the pubic hair? Do we draw her nipples? What is polite and not polite? Oh no, she’s moving! Do we look or not look? By the end of that 3 hours, we were old hats with nudity, and over the next two years we would see more naked people than I can even remember, for at least 3 [...]