Personal News

  • Why Photography is Mental Health Self-Care for Me.

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Personally, I struggle with mindfulness. My brain tends to move a million miles an hour in six different directions most days. On good days, I can reign it in and focus on one or two things. On bad days, well, it’s chaotic in there. A hobby like photography requires not only that I focus, but that I still my brain long enough to notice my surroundings. It’s a kind of forced mindfulness for me because I enjoy taking photos, and getting better at photography is an ongoing lesson in slowing down and paying attention. 

  • Why Finding your Current Baseline Matters

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Many people give up on healing because they can’t see how far they’ve come. They can only see how far away their ideal self is from where they are now. Sadly, this ideal is often unrealistic. We are also blind to our progress because we didn’t set the baseline. We look at our status today and can only compare it to what we think we should be instead of looking back and seeing how much improvement there was. 

  • The Difference Between Knowledge and Life Experience

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    You should not feel sorry for me. This post isn’t about me. As I said, I have a condition that millions of people deal with every day. I’ll do the same. It’s about the reality that people around us are living with things that require efforts that we don’t understand. Just showing up for life every day requires effort and dedication from everyone you know. The amount of effort and challenges are different, and they are not distributed equally. You shouldn’t dismiss anyone’s struggles, especially if you’ve not been in those same circumstances yourself. 

    Some things have to be experienced to see all the details. When someone is willing to share the details of their challenges, listen and learn. Raise their voices instead of assuming you know the answers. 

    Experience is a hard teacher. We all can learn the lessons from those who’ve lived it. 

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    Reasons I Didn’t Tell Anyone I was Being Sexually Abused

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 6 minutes

    That’s why when people approach me with ideas for how to prevent childhood sexual abuse, the only two things I focus on are education and honesty. I didn’t even know I was being abused because I lacked any education, and I didn’t talk to anyone because there were no safe adults for me to talk to. 

    If you want to prevent abuse, do those things. Talk to kids about sex, abuse, rape, violence, and LGBTQ issues. Please give them the vocabulary to talk about what is happening to them, to define what is right and wrong, and a place to get their questions answered honestly, get good information on the topic, and have open conversations without judgment. 

    If you aren’t willing to provide that for kids, I guarantee you there is a predator out there who will be more than happy to fill in the spaces for the kids around you and teach them about sex. You’re not going to like what they teach them. 

  • Sad News – The loss of a mental health advocate and friend

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

    It’s been some time since I was a guest on her show, and it’d even been a few months since we talked, so it wasn’t until today that I learned about the loss of Tiffany Werhner earlier this week. To say that I was shocked, and saddened, doesn’t even come close to what I’m really feeling today.

  • A long five years since I turned 50

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    If 50 was all about celebrating still being alive, 55 is more about just being tired. It feels old. It is getting harder and harder to find the things worth celebrating, but I know that they are still there. It just takes more work to focus on them than it used to.

    Most importantly, I know that being alive at this age means I can still make a difference. I