Tag Archives: Bi-polar

Glorious Weakness by Alia Joy

By Ordinary Servant | Published June 23, 2019

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Baker Books
Price: $15.99
Purchase: Amazon | BN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description

As a girl, Alia Joy came face to face with weakness, poverty, and loss in ways that made her doubt God was good. There were times when it felt as if God had abandoned her. What she didn’t realize then was that God was always there, calling her to abandon herself.

In this deeply personal exploration of what it means to be “poor in spirit,” Joy challenges our cultural proclivity to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” She calls on readers to embrace true vulnerability and authenticity with God and with one another, showing how weakness does not disqualify us from inclusion in the kingdom of God–instead, it is our very invitation to enter in.

Anyone who has struggled with feeling inadequate, disillusioned, or just too broken will find hope. This message is an antidote to despair, helping readers reclaim the ways God is good, even when life is anything but.

Review

It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a memoir which closely parallels my life and experiences. I feel like Alia Joy is my long lost soul sister.

She writes in the beginning of her book that Glorious Weakness is not for everyone. However, her book certainly was for me. And if others kept it real, they would see parts of themselves in her memoir, too.

Whether you’re a Christian or not, no one escapes pain and suffering in life. Pain and suffering is universal to the human experience that we all can identify to some level or degree. Alia had a fair share of it and then some. All of which I can relate to and identify with. It was as if she was writing my story.

Alia Joy’s writing style is descriptive and her use of metaphors is breathtaking. Her writing is poetic and lyrical. I enjoyed and relished reading her profound and touching memoir.

What I most appreciate about her memoir is that it’s not your typical Christian book. She doesn’t sugar coat anything.

I can’t relate to the popsicle Christian books being marketed and sold today. Glorious Weakness is real. Whereas, today’s Christian books lack depth, aren’t relatable and are impractical. Alia Joy’s book is the complete opposite. I have trouble sinking my teeth into those fluffy Christian books which make me sneeze with all their fuzzy platitudes.

Glorious Weakness is my kind of Christian memoir and I highly recommend it.

 

 Alia Joy is an author who believes the darkness is illuminated when we grasp each other’s hand and walk into the night together. She writes poignantly about her life with bipolar disorder as well as grief, faith, marriage, poverty, race, embodiment, and keeping fluent in the language of hope. Sushi is her love language and she balances her cynical idealism with humor and awkward pauses. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband, her tiny Asian mother, her three kids, a dog, a bunny, and a bunch of chickens.

Visit www.aliajoy.com.
Twitter: @aliajoy

 

 

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What Mental Illness Should Not Be

By Ordinary Servant | Published May 23, 2019

I hear terms like, “the weather is so bi-polar,” or “I’m just a little OCD,” and I cringe. When people say things like this, they have no idea what they are saying.

Photo by Callie Gibson on Unsplash

Terms like these are used loosely all the time. For the record, there is no such thing as being a little OCD.

Just because you are clean and meticulous doesn’t mean you suffer from OCD. OCD is a serious mental illness and those who have it suffer a lot and it’s no laughing matter.

Being clean and organized has nothing to do with the fastidiousness of washing your hands countless times a day to the point of bleeding. Those who suffer from OCD will tell you unabashedly, it’s like living a reoccurring nightmare.

OCD is a debilitating disease that never goes away. And, as with most mental illnesses, there is no cure.

Sometimes people associate all mental illnesses with psychosis which is a separate diagnosis. Here is a short clip of what psychosis is like: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0783qvh.

Society dumps everything in one batch. When they think bi-polar or schizophrenia, they automatically associate it with being “crazy or like I mentioned in my previous post, “Psycho.” But, nothing could be further from the truth.

Mental illness is the result of a brain disorder that affects your mood, thinking and behavior.

For example, with OCD, there’s a barrage of uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over. They can’t stop it or snap out of it either.

According to the National Institute for Mental Health, bi-polar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

Bottomline, mental illness (i.e., OCD, bi-polar, schizophrenia) should not be the butt of jokes, the brunt of mockery, or made light of nor misinterpreted, misrepresented or stigmatized. Because mental illness is not fun or funny. Those suffering from it live in constant torment and daily torture and they  hide in shame and suffer in silence due to all the ignorance floating around.

Which is why I’m speaking up to help end the stigma on #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth.

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The Truth About Sinéad O’Connor

By Ordinary Servant | Published October 4, 2013

There is a feud in cyberspace between Sinéad O’Connor and Miley Cyrus. Miley revealed that her Wrecking Ball video (which I have not seen, nor care to), was inspired by Sinead’s iconic video of Nothing Compares 2 U.

This comment prompted a response from Sinéad by way of an open letter to Miley, which I found to be beautiful and caring of her to write in the first place.

I agree wholeheartedly with what Sinéad wrote, minus the curse words, and voiced similar thoughts in a recent post.

Unfortunately, Miley’s response to Sinéad’s letter was by posting derogatory tweets to demean and discredit her. Miley went further as to include Amanda Byrnes’ in this exchange, which honestly, I thought was a low blow.

Sinéad and I are the same age. We grew up in the same era. I love her voice. I identify with her, in the past and now. She has been severely misunderstood. I’ve always admire her courage. She is blunt, forthright and honest, which I can relate to.

I believe the media did awful things to her. When Sinéad wrote to Miley it was out of compassion and life experience. Miley’s response was distasteful. She lacked respect, and even poked fun at her struggle with mental illness.

Miley displayed a lack of sensitivity and maturity, not only by attacking Sinéad, but the entire community of victims who have been abused, suffering from depression and any other form of mental illness.

No one has walked a mile in Sinéad O’Connor’s shoes to know what it’s been like for her. They have tried to make her out as some crazy person, when she’s not. She has the guts to tell it like it is and some powerful people didn’t like it.

These same people manipulated the media to speak out against her and make her look like she was crazy. They knew by discrediting her, this would guarantee that no one would take her seriously or listen to what she had to say anymore.

Sinéad struggled with bi-polar. So what. This doesn’t make her crazy. She or anyone struggling with mental illness shouldn’t be dismissed as not credible. I know many people struggling with this disease who are exceptionally bright and articulate people. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Furthermore, I believe the music industry provokes mental illness. The lifestyle, lack of sleep, incessant commitments, performances, interviews, drugs, alcohol, so on and so forth can break even the strongest of wills. The kind of pressure these performers are put under is enough to make anyone sick.

This is why Sinéad wrote to Miley. She was trying to convey the truth. She wrote from her heart because she remembers what happened to her in the industry. She wrote from the perspective of  her own personal experience.  She doesn’t want Miley to wind up they she did. Sinéad displayed care, concern and compassion while Miley responded with a slap in the face.

Unfortunately, Miley hurt Sinéad by what she said and posted on Twitter, and now, Sinéad wrote two other letters in response to what Miley callously said and did. What she meant for good, turned ugly and it’s sad.

I can only hope that Miley Cyrus apologizes to Sinéad O’Connor, as she deserves an apology. I pray she apologizes for attacking Sinéad O’Connor and anyone who struggle with mental illness too. Miley had better hope and pray she doesn’t find herself in a similar situation one day.

Mental illness is no joking matter.

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