Category Archives: Mental Illness

Power Of Positive Words – L

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Light-hearted – Even before my episode of Major/Severe Depression my life was pretty dark. I was a very negative person, and – truth be told – not very happy. I was not happy with myself, consequently I was not happy with anyone or anything in my life. When I began experiencing depression symptoms my already dark world became darker, more painful and closed in on me. It was a horrible existence. Coming out of that darkness has been a difficult process. Now that I am on the other side of things I feel light – light-hearted. I love the beauty I see in the world. My heart feels happy.

Power Of Positive Words – K

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Knowledge – This word makes me positively happy because I realize the more knowledge I have the more power I have. I have power over my Major Depression, I have power over my diabetes, I have power over my asthma. I learn as much as I can – and keep learning – about each one of these diseases, and how to treat/manage them. I gain knowledge from other people’s experiences, and life stories. I gain knowledge from books, and the internet. I gain knowledge from my doctors. I gain knowledge by paying attention to what treatments, medications, and support systems work for me.

Fun February Blog Giveaway

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Are you ready for another giveaway? I am!

I love the two little items in this month’s giveaway. They are crazy toys that are fun to watch. I even bought one for one of my mother’s dogs.

What You Can Win:


These are Battle Hamsters from the Kung Zhu Ninja Warrior Pet Collection.

How To Enter:

You can enter more than once! To  enter the contest, make a separate comment below for each qualified entry. (For example, if you subscribe to my newsletter, comment and let me know. If you like my Facebook page, comment and let me know for a second entry. And so on. Also, you get credit if you are already doing any of the following entry-worthy things. Just leave your comment(s) saying so. Please leave your email address in each of your comments. It will make it easier for me to contact you if are awarded the items.

*Please remember to leave a comment below for each of your entries. It makes it much easier for me to keep up with all the entries.

MANDATORY ENTRY (comment once – worth 1 entry):

  • Tell me what your favorite Valentine Chocolate is.

EXTRA ENTRIES (worth 1 entry each, but you must comment separately for each entry):

  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Subscribe  to the Sugar Filled Emotions Newsletter
  • Like Sugar Filled Emotions on Facebook
  • Follow me with Google Friend Connect – widget can be found on the right side of the blog.
  • Follow me with Networked Blogs – widget can be found on the right side of the blog
  • Tweet the following once daily: I just entered to win some great prizes on the Sugar Filled Emotions Fun February Blog Giveaway http://bit.ly/fj2uq7
  • Place the following in your Facebook Status once daily: I just entered to win some great prizes on the Sugar Filled Emotions Fun February Blog Giveaway http://bit.ly/fj2uq7

Contest ends February 28th, 11 pm EST. Winner will be drawn via random number generator. Anyone related to me is not eligible to participate in this giveaway.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Melissa Shell

Power Of Positive Words – J

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Journey – This word makes me positively happy, because my life has been, and will continue to be a journey. On my journey, I have gone from an angry child, to a rebellious teen. From a sad, and lonely adult, to a wonderful, woman who enjoys life, laughter, and love.

The Power Of Positive Words – I

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Imagine – This word makes me feel positively happy because the things I imagine now – for myself and my life – are positive, and full of beauty. I no longer have the habit of imagining a life full of pain, and bad things. I imagine myself having a full life – containing joy, and laughter.

Power Of Positive Words – H

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Healthy – This word makes me feel positively happy because my physical, and mental health has drastically improved. Being healthy is something I used to take for granted. When my health began to decline – including my mental health – I gave up on life. With the help of awesome doctors, an awesome medical support system, and an awesome personal support system my overall health is improving by leaps, and bounds. I no longer take being healthy for granted – I have to be an active participant in my own health care.  Being healthier has opened a world of new possibilities for me. I think that is pretty AWESOME!

Power Of Positive Words – G

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Grown – This word makes me feel positively happy because I can see how much I have grown, and changed over the last few years. It is not just that I have learned how to manage my mental health better, it also has to do with the fact that I am much happier than I have been in many, many years. I look at my old self – remembering how negative, and pessimistic I used to be – and I feel so sad for that person. She was someone who did not value herself, and did not believe she had the right to happiness. I am glad I can recognize who I used to be. It makes me really appreciate how I have grown.

Spreading Myself Too Thin

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One of the side effects of being an Approval Addict is I have a difficult time saying no. I tend to keep accepting projects, and responsibilities – to make other people happy, and not hurt anyone’s feelings – until I become absolutely overwhelmed. Once that happens, everything I do suffers.

Spreading myself too thin makes me sloppy. I feel like I am always rushing around – with not enough time to put things away properly. I do not pay attention to detail, and will not put as much effort into a project as I should. I will declare things “done”, when they really need a little more time and effort. It interferes with my creativity. I experience more bouts of writer’s block when I am feeling overwhelmed than at any other time. I even treat my relationships in a sloppy manner by not paying much attention to them. I feel as if I do not have the time to “deal” with the people in my life, because I am so busy trying to make them happy. At some point feelings of guilt set in.

Because I know I am not doing a “good enough” job managing all the responsibilities I accepted, I get hit by waves, waves of guilt. This makes things worse.  Guilt has a way of messing with my head. It very often leads to me having depression symptoms, anxiety attacks, and interferes with my concentration. It can paralyze me. Once I reach that point, I bail out of life, and all my responsibilities. Rather than let anyone know I am in over my head, I do not do anything – disappointing everyone – leading to even more feelings of guilt, and more severe depression symptoms.

I have learned that I have the right – duty – to eliminate things that make feel as if I am spread to thin. It benefits everyone involved. People are not left with incomplete projects, and feelings of disappointment. I am not left feeling guilty, and depressed.  As I have gained self confidence, and self worth, my need for the approval of others has drastically decreased – making it easier for me to use “no”. All of this is a huge indication of how much my mental health has improved.

Do you ever have a problem using the word “no”? If so, does this lead to feeling has if you have spread yourself too thin?

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Melissa Shell

Mental Health Hero Award

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There are a great many people in the Mental Health Community I admire. I admire some for their activism, and dedication for bringing awareness to mental health issues/mental illness. Others I admire for their daily struggles with their mental health issues. As difficult as their days, and nights may be, they never give up. They are my Mental Health Heroes. Some Mental Health Heroes are people I interact with often, and some are people I have never exchanged a word with. I gain inspiration, and hope from them all. This Mental Health Hero Award is dedicated to them.

Each month I am going to hand out the Mental Health Hero Award to a few of my Mental Health Heroes. Each time I give someone the award, their name will be added to Mental Health Hero Award list, as well as their blog url- if they have one – Facebook page, and Twitter username.

If you have Mental Health Heroes of your own, please feel free to give them the Mental Health Hero Award. If you will post their blog url, Facebook page, and/or Twitter username in the comments section, I will add their information to the Mental Health Heroes list.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sugarfilledemotions.com/mental-health-hero-award/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sugarfilledemotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/mentalhealthhero.png" alt="Mental Health Hero Award" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Chrisa Hickey ~ The Mindstorm – Raising A Mentally Ill Child ~ @Chrisa_Hickey ~ Chrisa Hickey Twitter Page

@witchyangl ~ witchyangl Twitter Page

The Coffee Klatch ~ @TheCoffeeKlatch ~ The Coffee Klatch Twitter Page

Chato B. Stewart ~ Mental Health Humor ~ Facebook Page ~ @chatobstewart Twitter Page

Mental Health ~ Facebook Page ~  @OurMentalHealth ~ Twitter Page

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Melissa Shell

Power Of Positive Words – F

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The power of positive words is life giving. They build me up, and provide me with encouragement. They have been known to empower me, giving me the confidence I need to face something difficult. Beginning with the letter A and ending it with Z….I am making a list of words for each letter (A-Z) and include why each word makes me feel positively happy.

Please feel free to list your own positive words for today’s letter. You are also more than welcome to “copy” this idea, and create your own list of positive words on your blog.

Fun – This word makes me feel positively happy because I have discovered that life is fun – even when things are going awry – if you can keep a positive outlook. There are those random – but amusing – moments that cause me to laugh. There is fun found in spending time with family. Having a meal with family and/or friends can be full of laughter, jokes, and fun. I have fun sitting, and staring at my fish. Having fun when times are hard helps ease my pain, and stress. Fun makes life easier.