Cecilyinmemphis’s Weblog

Wow.  Let’s take a look-see on the journey of my waistline, shall we?  High School…I was about 115 max. and didn’t have a care in the world.  Undergrad (as a music major) was slightly more stressful and I moved up to 120-125 max.  Grad school I remained a solid 125 during my two years in school and internship.  Then I moved in with my now husband and started one of the most stressful jobs, and shot up to 135 in a manner of months, where I have stayed despite consistently working out and dieting on and off.   No matter how much I work out and healthy I eat, I cannot get back down to my happy 125lbs. 

I need to find better coping mechanisms to relieve the stress of my work OTHER than delicious coffee drinks and chocolately snacks.  Sheesh…

Yesterday, after getting home from work, I went into the bedroom to drop off my bag, and I saw a card and a 3 Musketeers Bar on my desk.  The card was a thinking of you card with the sweetest message from the husband, thanking me for being supportive of him during his doctorate adventure.  He had also remembered that I had mentioned how much I wanted chocolate recently, and had picked the “healthiest” candy bar for me (it really does have lesss fat than most).

He is one of the most wonderful caring individuals I know, and I am so lucky to have him as my partner.

Throughout our lives, we are always going to remember where we were when we heard the news of the Virginia Tech shooting.  Just as we will remember the day of 9/11/01 and where we were, this event won’t leave our memory soon enough.  I remember pretty clealy where I was.  I was living in Charlottesville, VA at the time.  Literally 2 hours north of Blacksburg, VA.  I arrived at work at about 8:15 (supposed to be there at 8, I am never on time to anything) and turned on my computer.  After checking my email, I went to cnn.com, where I usually check a few times a day.  That was when the news started to report on the shootings.

Throughout the day, reports came in with updates, and people at work were more focused on the news.  It was truely a heartbreaking horrible day.  The worst, however, was when the news started showing the homemade video of the killer.  Can you imagine being one of the victim’s parents and having to see that?  Truely disturbing in my opinion.

Being a mental health counselor with experience in a college setting, this whole situation really affected me.  On one hand, we have to recognize mental health as a disease that if left untreated could be dangerous and potentially life threatening.  On the other hand, this just feeds the mental health stigma even more, saying that if someone has a mental illness, they could be the next killer.  What is our responsibility as mental health counselors?  We have a huge responsibility of assessing clients and to determine whether to break confidentiality to report a potential danger.  Now, it seems that college counselors have to break confidentiality if a student comes in with mental health issues, even as far as to let their parents know why they are being treated.  Do you really think that students are going to go in for counseling if they know their parents are going to be called?  That was one of the benefits of college counseling, so that parents wouldn’t have to be burdened or if they didn’t feel like they could talk to their parents. 

I don’t like this new rule.  Counselors need to be trained further on assessing for potential danger, but I don’t think parents need to be told their child is coming in for counseling, espeically if there is no need.  What we really need to look at is gun control, but that is for a whole different discussion.

This story really spells out the change that college mental health systems are looking at.  I am also completely appauled by this story about a suicidal student at VA Tech. 

Glorious news in Memphis!  Not that I am a huge health nut, but I really like the fact that Memphis has a Whole Foods here, minutes from my office!!!  It is called “Wild Oats” which is why it took me so long to figure it out.  But I was in Boston this past weekend (more on that trip later) and I asked the Whole Foods people if they would ever build a store in Memphis.  That is when they told me about Wild Oats, which was exactly where I went for lunch this afternoon to walk around.  There is something about being in this store that makes me feel so healthy, and yet so unhealthy at the same time.  I want to make a more conscious effort to eating better, and even if it costs more in groceries, it might be worth it.  Isn’t that strange that eating more healthy actually costs more?  And we wonder why obesity is becoming more of a problem!

PS–Memphis as a whole is really depressed today.  The Tigers did their best, but we all really wanted the big win.  The husband is taking it pretty hard.  We’ll get ‘em next year boys, right??

More on my Boston trip and pictures to come!!!

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS
by Portia Nelson
I
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.
II
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place but, it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in … it’s a habit. My eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
IV
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
V
I walk down another street.