Missing Pieces

Maia Chasin

Description

Maia shares her authentic experiences with anxiety and depression and how it has affected her life. She shares tangible strategies to support others on their healing journey in hopes they know that they are not alone.
This book begins with Maia's journey and the joyful and despairing surprises along the way. Throughout her battle with depression and anxiety, Maia has found concrete resources and strategies that have helped her and she wants to share them to help others on their journey. Maia's faith in God is interwoven throughout the book and has been the foundation of her healing.

Sujets

• Self-Help
• Mental Health
• Self-help (disambiguation)
• Healing
• Self-help
• Depression
• Prayer
• Anxiety
• Faith

Informations

• Publié par: Balboa Press
• Date de parution: 03 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9798765225356
• Langue: English

Extrait

Missing Pieces
 
A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY, FAITH, HEALING AND FINDING MY TRUTH
 
 
 
 
MAIA CHASIN
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Maia Chasin.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.balboapress.com
844-682-1282
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
ISBN: 979-8-7652-2534-9 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-2536-3 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-2535-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022918245
 
Balboa Press rev. date:  10/28/2022
 
 
 
Thank you to my husband, son, and all my family and friends who have stood by my side, especially on my tough days. Thank you for your genuine love and support.
My deepest gratitude to Tracy for being my listening ear and my editor-in-chief through this process. Our decades-long friendship has been an immense blessing in my life.
I want to dedicate this book to all those who battle mental illness (past, present and future). It is a real thing, and the fact that it often isn’t visible makes the mountain of healing taller and harder to climb. You are not alone.
 
 
 
 
 
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-pat, pat. One isolated raindrop causes no harm. As the storm builds, the drops accumulate; and before you know it, you’re underwater, gasping for one breath at a time, frantically treading water, uncertain if the next breath will come.
CONTENTS
1.Early Years
2.Off to College
3.The World Wide Web
4.Decision Time
5.Leaving Things Behind
6.What Comes Around Goes Around
7.A Healthier Love
8.The Stigma
9.Not about Me
10.Moving Forward
11.The Next Generation
12.God Enters In
13.Glass Half Empty
14.Smiling on the Outside, Hurting on the Inside
15.Deficiency Mindset
16.Double Dose
17.Connection/Not Good Enough
18.Explain It All Away: Hashimoto’s Disease
19.Here’s a Pill
20.Undiscovered Trauma
21.Make-Believe or Memory
22.Seeking and Coping
23.To Judge or To Be Judged
24.Fight or Flight
25.Shining the Light on Shame
26.Puzzle Pieces
27.Prayer and Faith
28.Scripture
29.Saintly Friends
30.Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
31.ACE in the Hole
32.Gratitude and Joy
33.The Grid
34.Meditation
35.The Power of Silence
36.Mind, Body, Spirit Connection
37.Chakras
38.Energy Work
39.Essence of the Earth
40.You Are What You Eat
41.Awakening Your Innate Intelligence
42.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
43.Untraditional Therapy
44.Affirmations
45.Discover Your Nature
46.Additional Strategies for Health and Well-Being
47.Forgiveness
48.Mercy
49.Optimize Your Brain
50.The Fix
51.Honor Yourself
References
1 EARLY YEARS
I was wanted. My parents tried for nine years to have a baby. When I was born, I was adorned with love and attention and my younger brother was equally wanted and loved. We had an idyllic family and life, including a loving extended family, whom we saw often.
I started kindergarten, and from the beginning, I was a rule follower and wanted to please everyone. At the time, I didn’t know what anxiety or depression were, but looking back, I recognized some characteristics of anxiety very early on. Certain events began to shape who I was to become and how I would perceive myself.
One wintry afternoon, the school bus stopped in front of my house after kindergarten. I stood up to get out and walked down the stairs. Unbeknownst to me, my coat had gotten caught in the door, and I fell. I was mortified and everyone laughed. You might be thinking, “No big deal.” But I felt ashamed.
I internalized that shame. I felt that I had done something wrong, and that others were laughing at who I was. That memory and those feelings stuck. I don’t know why I’ve always had difficulty letting things “roll off,” but I have. This pattern became a part of my persona. Even at the young age of five, I began paving the stone path toward shame and self-loathing.
I was a kind child and liked to play with other kids. In second and third grade, several classmates decided to start picking on others who they thought were different. Hence, the commencement of the “they have cooties” game. I knew it wasn’t right, and I didn’t join in the teasing. The result was that I was soon a target. But amid the teasing, I continued to have a couple of friends with whom I did things after school.
My main memories of grade school were in fifth and sixth grade. I was targeted by a girl who emotionally and verbally bullied me. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I started to believe that what she was saying was true. I felt alone and I cried a lot. I reached out to my parents, who were supportive. They tried to intervene, but to no avail. By sixth grade, it was unbearable, and I spent many nights crying myself to sleep. My parents, after many meetings with the principal and talks with me, decided that transferring me to another school was the best option.
Seventh grade was a fresh start, and I made friends quickly. I continued to be studious and a rule follower. I got involved in many activities and spent a lot of time with my family. Anxiety was not on my radar, but I tended to overthink and worry. There were things that in and of themselves weren’t interfering, but when added together, they were signs of issues to come. Some of these signs were when I would beg my dad to get gas if the gas gauge in our car was at or below half a tank and asking my parents to double-check the house locks each night.
In high school, I was very outgoing and social, and I got good grades. I remember liking boys, but the feeling wasn’t always mutual. I had my first boyfriend during my sophomore year, but it was platonic, which I realize now was a very good thing. Although I was fun-loving and things seemed great, I didn’t have a lot of confidence. I was driven to be a good student and accomplish goals, and I enjoyed the affirmation and approval that came with those accomplishments.
During my senior year I was at a meeting for a club. We had to write down a nomination to represent our club as the sweetheart queen. When I was announced as the nominee, I was shocked. It hadn’t occurred to me that I would be nominated, much less selected. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Something inside myself had told me that I wasn’t good enough, even with a supportive family and friends surrounding me.
2 OFF TO COLLEGE
A fter graduating from high school, I went to college. I was interested in occupational therapy as a career, and I started on the path toward earning prerequisites to get into graduate school. I really liked my college experience. I was focused on my path, but I also had time for friends and fun. I began dating one of my best friends from high school. He came up to visit me one weekend, and things took off from there.
The interesting thing was that I never found him attractive. I craved attention and wanted to be loved, and he was the one giving me that attention and love. I didn’t know who I was. Although it was a long-distance relationship, we were very close and saw each other when we could. We dated for over a year, until he broke it off. The breakup was upsetting for me, and I internalized that there was something wrong with me.
I eventually moved on, and I welcomed the attention I was beginning to get from boys. It helped me feel good about myself. I was in my next committed relationship during my junior year of college. In the beginning everything was great; I loved Kyle. However, after some time, he started talking about and introducing me to things that I didn’t want and shouldn’t have been exposed to.
Kyle shared that he had been exposed to pornography when he was very young by his older brother. It was clear that this was something that he was very into but being exposed to it made me feel degraded and horrible inside. I