Category: On Mental Health

On Mental Health, On Publishing, On Writing, Thoughts

Sitting in Spilt Ink unveils new manifesto

H.R. Gordon

I’ve been blogging at Sitting in Spilt Ink since I was 16. I’m 23 now. The blog has been dormant for some time now—almost a year. It started as an accident. I was overwhelmed with life and school, and I just didn’t make blogging a priority. But I didn’t have the motivation to blog either; it didn’t feel like there was a purpose behind it.

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Excuse the red tongue. I had a sore throat and was eating cough drops.

In the past year, I also had some complicated health issues that made really knocked Sitting in Spilt Ink off my priority list. While dealing with those issues, I was finishing my master’s in integrated marketing communications. I graduated in May, and I was the recipient of the award for excellence in my program. Soon after, I left an spent a month in Denver, Colorado, where I completed a graduate certification program in book publishing from the Denver Publishing Institute.

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On Life, On Mental Health, On Writing, Thoughts

How to write yourself down from a panic attack in six paragraphs

H.R. Gordon

The feeling of my chest folding in on itself is familiar in a haunting way. It clenches the way that muscles flinch when something comes to close to your face—except it stays that way. There’s no immediate relief after you don’t get hit. There’s no sigh to release the tension.

The creature sneaks its way down the center of my body, spreading through my stomach. The roots seem to grab hold of whatever organ they can, squeezing as if I’m trying to rip it from my body. But the only violent one here is it. If you tug, it clings harder. Like Devil’s Snare, the more you fight, the worse it gets. Continue reading “How to write yourself down from a panic attack in six paragraphs” →

On Life, On Mental Health, Thoughts

Thank you, Tom Petty

H.R. Gordon

“You belong among the wildflowers. You belong in a boat out at sea.
Sail away, kill off the hours. You belong somewhere you feel free.”

Growing up, Tom Petty was a staple in my musical diet. His songs served as the perfect summer playlist—not that I didn’t play them year-round anyway. I guess as a student, summer has always meant a bit of relaxation to me, so that’s what I mean when I say Tom Petty’s music is the perfect summer playlist. I mean it is the perfect relaxation playlist. Even the upbeat songs have an everlasting chill vibe—a free vibe.

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On Life, On Mental Health, Thoughts

Content consciousness and calm clarity

H.R. Gordon

Today I treated myself to lunch at my favorite café in town.

I ordered a small pot of green apple green tea, a sweet ham and turkey panini with marion pickles, and a cup of she-crab soup. I sat near the door and welcomed in the chilly autumnal air that swept across my cheeks with the entrance and exit of customers.

With my cell phone on silent in my purse, I ate my meal slowly, savoring each bite and each moment of quiet reflection as I watched passerbys on the street.

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