Welcome!

To Cleansing Fresh Water.  

If you haven't read the Disclaimer yet, please take a few moments and check it out. It will explain quite a few things that are essential prior to diving into this blog. If you have, I welcome you again!

I've wrestled with where to start. There's so much that goes into mental health and the stories behind it that it's difficult to pinpoint a starting place. However, I thought I'd provide a bit of background information to help clarify the viewpoint with which I write. 

I initially wanted to name this blog: Wash, Rinse, Repeat. But alas, that blog name and domain name were occupied. So I found Cleansing Fresh Water. Here we can laugh, cry, and vent about what we need to to start over as many times as we need. In fact, I find myself starting over frequently: in the middle of the day, after a week of mental instability, after a crying fit, or just a day where things aren't going right. The beautiful thing about starting over is it makes us like the phoenix, once we're finished with whatever no longer serves us, we can burn it off and start over. 

Never be afraid to start over. In the United States we have this fear of doing so. There's a lot of pressure to grow up, graduate from college, get a job, get married, have kids. All hetero-normative stuff that puts undue pressure on us from a young age. The number one question kids are asked is: What do you want to be when you grow up? Whatever happened to just playing and using our imagination? Why do we always have to have end goals that may or may not change along the way? What if instead, we revisit the things that made us happy in our childhoods and restarted life? Yeah, it sounds crazy because as adults we have a massive amount of expectations: pay the bills, do good work, get that promotion, keep a clean house, the list goes on and on. I formally give you permission to start over. Find what makes you happy. Because as much as we have responsibilities if we're not happy, can we ever truly fulfill them?

Some book suggestions that I've ready that just might help in your pursuit of happiness:

The Proximity Principle, by Ken Coleman

You are a Badass, by Jen Sincero

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

The Audacity to Be Queen by Gina DeVee

I can literally hear your eyes rolling, why would this crazy lady recommend self-help books? First, that category has been renamed Self Development. Second, the more you find what makes you tick, the better off you'll be. It's always going to be a work in progress, never ending just like the dishes in the sink. So cut yourself some slack. No one is expecting you to be perfect except that nagging voice in side your head that tells you (and me) we're never good enough. You are enough. You are perfect with all your flaws. Of course we always can grow and change, no one is saying that we shouldn't or can't. Just know, you are enough and you are loved. 

<3

E