About

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” — Mitch Albom

You can call me Catalyst. I am a cisgender female and I use she/her pronouns. I am a lifelong, native-born Austinite, the island of blue in the sea of red that is Texas.  I work for a 501(c)(3) non-profit that endeavors to help our communities re-envision mental health care. I am beginning to accept and love the fact that although I don’t consciously realize it all the time, I am a very unusual person with a very unique perspective. That is why I have started this blog.

I have been Pagan for over twenty years, and I am intensely devoted to my community. I specifically follow a Wiccan path that focuses on Celtic and Labyrinth spirituality: I am a first-degree initiate and the Master Labyrinth Keeper for a Pagan non-profit. You can read more about Paganism and my volunteer work for the community here.

I have been married to my husband Epic for eight years, and we have two beautiful young daughters. I also have an (unofficial) adopted transgender female teenager. I am extremely proud to be a MOM.

My beautiful girls: Munchkin, Bitty, and Rose.

I consider my sexual and romantic orientations to be queer. I am bisexual; my husband and I are polyamorous (poly), which means we have multiple sexual and romantic partners, with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. We maintain a four-member group relationship we call the Poly-Pod (you’ll hear me reference “the pod” frequently, because they are basically my family). You can read more about polyamory here.

I was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a form of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, around thirteen years ago, although I showed sporadic symptoms throughout my childhood. This causes me to occasionally feel dizzy or faint, which is super fun and exciting in public or when it involves a collision with inanimate objects on the way down. You can read more about POTS here.

I have suffered from mental health challenges throughout my life: I have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BPD) – all of which I’m classifying under the Personality topic. I would not be surprised if I am eventually diagnosed with more. I have struggled with self-harm off and on for over twenty years. Intrusive thoughts of a self-hating and suicidal nature are a regular part of my life; I have done some really stupid things, but have made no suicide attempts mostly thanks to my amazing support system. There are circumstances in my life that probably triggered or exacerbated these things, but I honestly think I was born with them. I’ve never really been a “normal” person, only at different points on a spectrum of wellness and unwellness. Read more about my Personality (disorders) here.

My life is complicated and there is a lot that I struggle with, but my life is also amazing and full of love, friendship, and personal successes.