Heading into the Holidays and the end of 2025
Child Abuse Survivor - Issue #180
For many of us, 2025 has been a struggle. If you’re a regular reader here, you already know some of the reasons it has been frustrating to advocate for mental health and underrepresented people in the current climate.
I don’t have much more to say about that beyond the importance of community. We need each other to get through this life.
We also sometimes need a break.
Thank you for reading the Child Abuse and Mental Health Survivors newsletter. Each week, I share new blog posts and other resources that aim to help survivors of childhood abuse and those who are struggling with mental health issues feel less alone as we discuss the issues surrounding our issues.
For more information about me and why this newsletter exists, visit the website, Child Abuse Survivor.
Regarding both of those things, I am taking a little newsletter break over the holidays. This will be the last issue of 2025. The normally biweekly schedule would have me sending an issue on December 26th. I’m skipping that. Partially because it’s the holidays, and partially because the firm where I work is completing a merger effective January 1. I will be working quite a lot over the next few weeks.
Expect to get the next issue on Jan 9th. But I will still be posting on the blog and sharing on social media, so feel free to follow me there for similar content.
When I do come back to your inbox, however, I want to bring new ideas as well, specifically around building this into a community. I love writing for you all. I love sharing what I read and learn. It’s part of my DNA. I also want to spend more time highlighting what you’re learning and sharing, too. I’m working through some ideas to make it easy for you to send me recommendations, tips, tricks, etc., that I can include in the newsletter as we move forward. I don’t have any details yet, but I’ll share with you when I do.
In the meantime, what’s your tip for getting through the holidays? It can be a difficult time for many of us. Many of us have created our own traditions and practices that may not look like the traditional holiday paintings, but work for us. That’s the important thing.
See you in 2026. I hope that whatever your holidays look like, you can acknowledge the wins we’ve made just by continuing to be here with each other at the end of 2025.
I’m proud of us.
New from the Blogs
Last Weekend, I Fed a Giant Anteater - The Benefits of Hobbies and Adventures
What I was, however, during this experience, was engrossed in interacting with the animal and learning about it from the keeper. I wasn’t thinking about work, politics, or anything else, just being in the moment with my mind fully engaged in that one thing.
That is what is missing for many of us, and it’s absolutely leading to burnout, stress, and mental health issues.
When Stigma Hits The Ones We Love
Can you imagine the double blow it must be to have your spouse struggling with addiction or severe mental illness, and know that your friends are likely avoiding you as well? Is there stigma directed at you for being married to someone with mental health issues?
Worth Reading - The mental toll of continuous transformation
This feels like a small hand being raised in the corner of a deafening room, trying to point out the obvious. We’re only human. We need a break. That unsettled feeling you get every day at work might not be imposter syndrome or everyday stress, but the sheer exhaustion of knowing that you can never pause and focus on getting work done. The skills and knowledge you have now will be worthless tomorrow.
Sharing - The Mental Illness Recovery Paradox
It took me a long time to be comfortable with what happened. Most of that was internal: the embarrassment of being the guy who had public mental health issues and spent a long time in therapy, and trying to build a new life. Part of it was also watching people be uncomfortable in my presence. I didn’t have a choice about who knew about it, and I learned to embrace it as part of my story. That didn’t happen immediately.
Shared from Elsewhere
It is the time of year when we need these kinds of tips:
Mental Health Matters: ‘No’ is a complete sentence: boundaries 101 for the holidays
Music often helps my mood - How music is like food for the brain.
Some other things that may help this season:
The Helper’s High: Why Giving Back is Good for Your Mental Health
Mental Health Benefits of Donating: How Giving Back Supports Emotional Well-Being
Effects of Childhood Trauma: Frozen In Time - this quote is enlightening:
Because trauma memories are not stored in a linear fashion, when triggered, the body doesn’t recall the past — it relives it as present.
Some podcasts on mental health that may interest you:
Making a Difference:
America’s Mental Health Crisis and the Religious Sister Who’s Confronting It in California
Richmond poet B Lovee creates Peace Pod to help the community prioritize mental health
From the Archives
Why Are We Lonely? It’s Too Easy to Let Things Slide
It’s sad, but we all do it. Instead of staying connected to the people we care about, we get busy, and our actions suggest they might not be as important to us. And then, we see the chronic loneliness and mental health struggles and wonder why.
The Meaning of Being Traumatized as a Child
The question we often ask ourselves about being abused is the simplest one to answer, but we’ve gotten it twisted.
Why was I abused? Because someone else decided to abuse me.
The Difference Between Knowledge and Life Experience
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 effort and challenges differ, and they are not distributed equally. You shouldn’t dismiss anyone’s struggles, especially if you’ve not been in those same circumstances yourself.
Thanks for reading. If you find this newsletter informative and helpful, please share it with others. That’s the best way to express gratitude for my weekly efforts.