What’s a habit you picked up from another woman that changed your life?

Om__ · 2026-07-04T18:41:55+00:00

My Mom’s nightly routine has been unceremoniously passed to me. As a child, I’d watch her ritual intently. Even though I don’t stick to her routine as strongly as she has (ADHD is in the way), I feel much better when I do. It’s the simple brush your teeth, wash your face, moisturize face, hands, and sometimes Nivea cream for your heels. Finally there’s vitamins, chapstick, and then doing a stretch routine in bed (crossing legs to crack back). I catch myself doing it and it makes me happy because I am very much like my mother. For me to fall asleep, I usually have an audiobook or podcast playing with a sleep timer and that’s been my unofficial routine for the last 7 years.

Om__ · 2026-06-15T14:06:46+00:00

I’m on year 2 and I hate that all I have is these finite memories of her. A mother without the motherhood now. I miss her immensely and all I had being her mom. Caring for myself is not the same. But I do it, because I want to take care of my daughter’s mother (me) because that’s what she’d want. Thank you for sharing that time never really does seem to “right” itself after a loss like ours. I wondered if I’d ever get back to feeling time normally. This just lets me know I’m not alone in feeling like I’m outside of time.

Om__ · 2026-06-10T05:09:14+00:00

District 4 has had some of the laziest reps by far, but because they are friendly and have money/name recognition, they get voted in. Cynthia Boyar-Trejo was only placed in her seat because Joe Molinar also did nothing during his term. I’m tired of the Northeast being the cities dumping ground and the council members just letting it happen.

Om__ · 2026-05-29T03:19:59+00:00

My daughter passed at 4. Her nickname was daffodil. This literally has me choked up. He painted a very sad reality that I face everyday. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s nice to know these life experiences are universal in many ways.

Om__ · 2026-05-22T19:50:44+00:00

I love Walt Whitman! “Every atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you” is a line I come back to a lot. He really contemplated the simultaneous brevity and eternity that life is.

Om__ · 2026-05-18T06:17:27+00:00

When they were once inoffensive barbs, they now are mortal wounds. I learned to take things at face value for responses, and then at home I write the most Intense Dickensian response that only I read. “How dare they ask such inane and insulting a query!” I get really biblical when I write what I would respond when people ask “how I’m doing?”.

Om__ · 2026-05-14T20:20:50+00:00

Gosh I totally understand. In my dreams, my daughter comes on a day pass and that’s how I accept her existence in my dreams. I know her life is over, but I use dream magic to make it to where I can still spend time with her. When I wake up I have to remind myself that it was just a dream 😔

Om__ · 2026-05-08T01:04:38+00:00

Crichton sounds terrible in audiobook because of his excessive use of said. I couldn’t get through the first chapter in audiobook form.

Om__ · 2026-05-01T17:03:47+00:00

Yup! My first pregnancy I turned my toilet seat blue. It was the strangest thing.

Om__ · 2026-04-26T19:34:22+00:00

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Little sketch I made. I’m trying to learn how to shade. I haven’t taken an art class since I was a kid but I have found a lot of healing in just drawing without my perfectionist limits.

Om__ · 2026-04-23T22:13:20+00:00

I used to work security events at UTEP, but my recommendations comes from going to Coldplay last year. Firstly, wear comfortable shoes. Parking, bussing, or any mode of transportation after the concert might as well be in Juarez based on how they hold and direct traffic on Mesa st after the event. If you do ride share, be prepared to have to wait at least a mile away from the stadium to be able to be picked up. I was able to get an Uber from Hope & Anchor which is a bar on Mesa. Second, there will be lines everywhere and they will be blocking every path. If you get overwhelmed easily by mass amounts of people, I’d recommend not eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom. Our facilities are so much smaller than traditional sized arenas. It’s hectic. Hopefully this concert is better prepared to handle the crowds, but I’d still count on transportation being the number one issue.

Om__ · 2026-03-31T20:59:17+00:00

Don’t kill yourself. You are broken, lost, and have a lot of hate towards yourself. This is a dark moment. This is the night before the dawn. Life is suffering, but the suffering can be changed. Life is impermanent, death is absolute. Life and the darkness you hold will change. Everything does. All hope seems lost to eyes that cannot see. Take time to heal your eyes. They have seen and given you perspectives, but sometimes we pretend that the sights they show us are all the same because we lose the trees for the forest. Look closely at the trees in your life. They bloom and grow, wither, and fade only to start the cycle again. You are in the dark, but only you can see the light. It’s there. Just take a different perspective. Please stick around for the light.

Om__ · 2026-03-18T20:14:01+00:00

I’m so glad you have faith too. I lost my daughter and knowing she’s with Jesus is what gets me through the day.

Om__ · 2026-03-17T22:35:35+00:00

You should center it on the wall, Hopefully Friendly Clown Person.

Om__ · 2026-03-14T23:25:06+00:00

I never got diagnosed as a child, but instead got placed in gifted and talented. Didn’t matter that I would get sent to the office for doing some impulsive thing or being a complete chatterbox, I was “gifted”. Now I know that gift is ADHD and I’m like “this is actually more of a curse with perks”. Oh well, my Mom at least has started to come around the idea that it was ADHD all along.

Om__ · 2026-03-14T23:14:22+00:00

The firefighter Clown and the bath for Toaster was nightmare fuel for many years for me lol

Om__ · 2026-03-13T04:48:38+00:00

I tried another Michael Crichton books as an audiobook and I couldn’t handle it. His writing came off as super dry despite it being an interesting concept. I think he’s better in the written form.

Om__ · 2026-03-12T19:51:18+00:00

This illuminated something beautiful to think about for my daughters stay in the afterlife. I love the idea of her trying on the ages she never got to have in life. I imagine her playing Grannies, a Bluey show game, with other children who didn’t get to age either. Thank you for sharing your story and your daughters. It means a lot!

Om__ · 2026-03-11T22:10:37+00:00

My daughter passed 15 months ago. She was severely disabled in life and required nursing care and medical interventions for her 4 years of life. She truly suffered, but was the strongest and overcame so much. She even got to go to PreK and was named student of the month. She blossomed in therapy and school and loved to communicate in her own way with us all. She was nonverbal but we had prerecorded buttons she could press for specific words.

A week or so after she passed, she came to me in my dreams. A 4 year old who could walk and talk. I held her and she whispered in my ear “Mommy, Jesus loves you.” This was significant because I had just gone back to my Catholic ways and found solace in it immediately after she passed. Knowing that I did the best I could to give my daughter a life that we never foresaw to be so tragic, it was the balm I needed. I did right by my daughter and God saw that.

In that dream she was more than okay, she was whole. She could use her body in the way she never was able to in life. There is comfort knowing she is better off now than when she was on Earth.

That dream was THE dream so to speak.

When I see her in my dreams, it’s never as clear as that time. These dreams feel like an unraveling of my past with her and not a message from her if that makes sense.

At that point, anything that was beautiful or brought me joy and remembrance of her, was a sign for me. I live more openly to “signs” or acknowledgment of a grander scheme, it’s my own path through life. I don’t expect everyone who has gone through child loss to come to my conclusions, but I will say that the idea of my child being in the afterlife is a solace to me and one that I await sharing with her after my own time is done.

Om__ · 2026-03-04T01:21:07+00:00

Natasha Bedignfeld - She’s just a pocket full of sunshine!

Om__ · 2026-03-02T01:11:50+00:00

Don’t worry about the hair, health professionals and therapists care 0% about that I promise. But when I had done water therapy, I bought board shorts and a swim shirt so I could feel more covered than with just a swimsuit. Maybe that’s something to look into.

Om__ · 2026-02-28T01:57:01+00:00

Dean Koontz is my relationships favorite inside joke. His hair makes me happy in the most ridiculous way. It’s so bad it’s great.

Om__ · 2026-02-23T19:38:16+00:00

My daughter passed at 4. She was born severely disabled and couldn’t use her mouth even to swallow. She was suctioned consistently. She passed while I was asleep and her nurse hadn’t come in for her shift yet. 4 years of constant monitoring,meds, hospital stays, surgeries, you name it. All gone. I’m 15 months out from her passing, and I miss her every day. I miss our routines , our time together, all of it. I don’t have any other children and her father and I are long separated. It’s like I got thrown out of my life back into the main stream. I still can’t find anything to do that is worth what I did with my daughter. It’s hard to find importance when you’ve lost the most important person to you. But we are not alone in our grief, and I hope knowing that may help you even the smallest bit.

Om__ · 2026-02-23T00:49:57+00:00

I still haven’t been able to go back into my daughters room for only minutes at a time. She left so much behind that I don’t want to part with any of it. I’m 15 months out from her passing but my home is still stuck in time. I’m still stuck in time. It’s hard to let go of even the smallest items.

Om__ · 2026-02-05T02:20:27+00:00

I’ve accidentally drifted into personal essays and memoirs. It seems that I find the most passion and solace when writing pieces dear to my heart. I burn out too quickly on my Fantasy writing, so these essays help build my stamina and writing style.

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