I'm popping in
So many links, so little time
I’m sure you are waiting with bated breath for the second part of my Roma recap. Sorry to disappoint, but it will be a little while longer. I have been consumed with a “28 Day Workshop Challenge” on making editorial comics, hosted by InkyGoodness.
We’re currently 15 days in, and it has been suuuper duper busy, but chock FULL of awesome guidance, inspiration, and knowledge.
One of my favorite masterclasses from the workshop so far was by illustrator Hyesu Lee, who I’ve been a big fan of for a while now. She is an expert at creating comics about anything – from her daily commute to snuggling with her dog.
In her masterclass, she prompted us to create a simple 4-panel comic about something basic and familiar to us. Here is mine:
Aside from that, I attended a SAW Friday Night Comics workshop a few weeks ago with Sacha Mardou, where I learned of her new book, “Past Tense.” She talked a bit about the type of therapy touched on in her book – called IFS – and walked us through a comics exercise utilizing this sort of “internal parts” methodology. It was really enlightening. Here is the comic I made in the workshop:
I decided to buy her book, and WHEW am I glad I did.
It includes 3 things that bring me joy: visual storytelling, hearing how people have successfully changed their life for the better, and getting a peek inside other people’s complicated family dynamics.
Here’s the bookseller synopsis:
A brave and captivating graphic memoir about the power of therapy to heal anxiety and generational trauma
When Sacha Mardou turned forty-years-old, she was leading a life that looked perfect on the outside: happily married to the love of her life, enjoying motherhood and her six-year-old daughter, and her first book had just been published. But for reasons she couldn’t explain, the anxiety that had always plagued her only seemed to be getting worse and then, without warning, she began breaking out in terrible acne.
The product of a stoic, working-class British family, Sacha had a deeply seeded distrust of mental health treatment, but now, living the life she’d built in the US and desperate for relief, she finds herself in a therapist’s office for the first time. There she begins the real work of growing up: learning to understand her family of origin and the childhood trauma she thought she’d left hidden in the past but is still entangled in her present life.
Past Tense takes us inside Sacha’s therapy sessions, which over time become life-changing: She begins to come to terms with her turbulent and complicated upbringing, which centered around her now estranged father, who had a violent relationship with her mother and would later go to prison for sexually abusing her stepsister. With her therapist’s guidance, she sees how these wounds and other generational trauma has been passed through her family as far back as her grandmother’s experiences during The Blitz of World War Two. And she discovers modalities that powerfully shape her healing along the way, including the work of Bessel Van der Kolk and Richard Schwartz (Internal Family Systems).
As Sacha’s emotional life begins to unfreeze and she lets go of the shame she’s long held, she realizes that the work she’s doing and her love for her family can ripple outward too, changing her relationships now, and creating a new legacy for her daughter.
Bravely told, visceral, and profoundly moving, Past Tense is a story about our power to break free of the past–once and for all–and find hope.
– via Penguin Random House (you can also find Past Tense on Crapazon for a tiny bit cheaper)
Sacha’s Instagram is a treasure trove of therapy comics and book excerpts, like this one:
I had never heard of the IFS (“Internal Family Systems”) method before the book. (I find the name misleading – it’s nothing to do with family, but everything to do with your internal self.)
Nevertheless, Sacha’s book has helped light a fire under my arse to follow my own advice about therapy and mental health.
I have seen a couple of different therapists in my life for different reasons. They were all helpful in some way, even though I’ve never quite found a therapist I wanted to stick with for a long time (or else I had to stop seeing them due to moving out of state, or a change of insurance).
The last therapist I saw was for grief counseling in 2021. There’ve been many times since that I knew I still needed therapy, but for one reason or another, I put off the search.
I am constantly nudging the people in my life to seek out therapy, even just as a part of their general wellness. But I’m also aware that therapy is hard and uncomfortable before it gets good. It is literally like committing to a workout routine (something I’m terrible at). It is a steady practice for your mind and spirit – a good therapist is like a good trainer, helping guide you to find what machines and methods work in helping you reach the version of yourself you want to be.
Something I want for myself, that I’m committed to nurturing in 2025, is a long-term therapist relationship. That basically requires engaging in some sort of therapist dating (which is why I’ve been putting this search off for so long. I never enjoyed dating.)
Luckily, when a friend in the same boat was searching for a sort of “Tinder for therapists,” she came upon Mental Health Match and has had good results so far.
I’m still in the initial contact email or 15-minute phone consultation stage of this hopeful meet-cute, but I feel good about my options. So I recommend trying Mental Health Match for an easy way to search for therapists in your insurance network or budget, and that specialize in what you want to work on.
More helpful apps/sites
If my last newsletter was any indication, I’m very fed up politically. One teeny tiny bit of power I can wield in this grand ole slop’ry of a world is where I put my money.
Goods Unite Us – an app that lets you see where corporations are aligned politically, so you can be informed about who or what you may be ultimately supporting.
Commons Earth – their tagline is “Sustainability made simple.” It’s an app geared towards climate health, aimed at helping us individually lower our carbon footprint, but in a fun, semi-gamified way.
In the interest of sustainability and generally contributing less to fast fashion and over-consumerism, I’ve been making a concerted effort over the past few years to buy less, and buy better. When I do buy new clothes, I try to opt for higher quality materials that will actually last more than a few wears (and withstand seasonal trend cycles). Buying used has also been really insightful, because I’m able to find clothes that were made in previous seasons that were actually made better than current brand standards. (Oh yes, I have dove deep into Reddit on this.)
I’ve used the online thrift/consignment shop ThredUp for a couple of years now, and highly recommend. Below you can see I’ve sent in 5 “clean out” bags or boxes since 2019, with a recent one still processing. And for the payout that reads “$0.00,” it’s because I spent the money on more shoes from the app rather than opting for the payout. 😆
One last thing!
My essay “Getting Somewhere” was recently published in Human Parts. My favorite thing has been the wonderful responses from total strangers around the world, relating to and connecting with the story. It made my heart full. 💛
Ok, that’s all I got. If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope it’s filled with family and friends that make you feel fully loved, supported, and welcomed.