Is there anything better than a rose? Yes, of course there is… lot’s of roses. All these photos were taken right in the backyard where I live. I can’t take credit for their cultivation though. That is my landlady’s doing.
Currently, I live in a house with three women. We’re sorta like the Golden Girls, I suppose, except we’re not as old and collectively our heritages are extremely more diverse. I’m sure we’re not nearly as much fun either but I’m really enjoying it anyway.
You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been taking some time off from this blog. The reasons are twofold. First, I’ve been writing a lot on Medium and guess what, I’ve actually been making money. In fact I’m already making more money on Medium than I’m making with this blog! Remarkable and I’m kicking myself for not taking Medium more seriously before now.
Second, I’ve been contemplating different directions I can go with this blog. Mental health is no longer in the shadows as it once was when I first started to blog about it in 2018. The transformation I’ve begun to see in the just the last year alone has been amazing. Simone Biles, Meghan Markle, Naomi Osaka and many others are stepping up and saying enough is enough. It’s ok to address it. Let other people deal with their own hang-ups. If COVID had no other benefit, I think it has helped people open up and talk about it like never before.
There’s still plenty of work to be done though and I’m not going to abandon the topic altogether but I would like to change my central focus. Still brainstorming on that. Until then I will definitely continue to work on establishing myself on the Medium platform. The miniscule membership fee truly pays off!
Hope everyone is doing well and having a not-so-moody Monday.
The Sunstone Journal 
The pink flowers are so gorgeous! 😍
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Thank you my dear!
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You’re very welcome. 🤓
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The picture you took of the flower are really nice and awesome. Flowers are really in focus which I like a lot of these pics.
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Thank you so much. I do try. The flowers do the really hard work though don’t they
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Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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Thank you for mentioning, Medium. I hadn’t heard of it before. And, btw, I DO agree there is less stigma surrounding mental health, but there still are plenty of people who don’t have a clue and don’t want a clue. It’s awesome you do. I think Simone Biles was extremely brave and I commend her. Also, I learned a bit about sports psychology, which I never took as a psych major at USF. I also live in the Orlando-metro area. Nice bumping into your blog.
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Oh nice that you live here. I’m getting ready to travel for a few months. I’m so happy to be taking a break from Orlando. I haven’t hardly been anywhere since I moved here 9 years ago.
Something that took me far too long to realize is that if I’m ok with my own mental health then other people can accept it too and if they don’t then they can just deal with it all by themselves!
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Well, I hope you have a safe, fun trip. I haven’t had a vacation since 2005.
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That’s no good
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Unfortunately, mental health isn’t quite in the sunlight, either.
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No but it’s gotten tremendously better. I’ve found that talking to people about my mental health in everyday life is so much easier than it used to be. In fact, people seem to feel much more comfortable once I start talking about it because then they know it’s ok for them to talk about it, too.
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Good. I think talking about it incrementally, helps mitigate the stigma. Mental health is as important as physical health. I don’t see why that’s so hard to understand. Of course, people have trouble understanding that wearing a mask helps mitigate the spread of COVID.
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Yes, unfortunately
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Great to interact with you again, JoAnn! Plus, Medium hasn’t been forgotten, either. In a few months, once I catch up to a few things, I intend to give the site the attention it deserves, and to explore the promise you describe here.
In the meantime, it’s encouraging to read of the progress you’ve noticed in our willingness to discuss mental health issues. Why not? All of us endure various conditions; the only difference is their frequency and their intensity. In listening to others, we also are listening to ourselves. …and vice-versa.
Pretty awesome landlady you have, at least as far as her landscaping choices go. Honestly, I didn’t realize those flowers did well in FL. My grandparents lived in the state for twenty years (albeit on the Atlantic coast), though they never tried roses, despite their affinity for gardening.
Of course, my main interest is in the petals (i.e., cooking). I only have begun to explore Near Eastern cuisine! You just knew I’d go there, didn’t you?
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Glad to hear that you will soon be giving Medium a try. It has a lot of quirkiness to get used to but that just makes it that more fun. I think you will do well on Medium actually because it’s a platform that very much rewards reciprocal engagement. Those who don’t tend to fall flat I believe. It’s blogging in microcosm!
Her roses do well but then she seems to be an attentive gardener so that helps.
Petal cuisine is a topic that needs much more exploration–you could do a lot with that. I’ve never eaten rose petals but I’ve had rose water in drinks. Interesting flavor for sure.
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That it is, JoAnn. Even better, in my book, is orange blossom water, but that’s a topic for another day.
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Orange blossom water sounds crazy interesting. I will look forward to that.
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Most of the people have been enlightened about mental health so far, which is great.
All the best with Medium JoAnn👍💙
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Yes, I’m glad that things are finally changing in regards to this.
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Yes, I did notice, but you had announced that your posts won’t be so regular at the moment, so I did not worry. I have to check out Medium, never heard of it.
Best regards from Denmark 🙂
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Yes, you should definitely should check it out. It’s a great community and lots of niche publications. Hope you are doing well!
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Yes, thank you, we are fine, no floods, no fires, no earthquakes, no volcanos … yet … forgot hurricanes … it is so crazy at the moment.
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That’s all good!
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