Hello

Hi everybody. Let me start out by introducing myself, I am Cori Baker. A friend suggested I make this blog to get some of my writing "out there" and to hopefully be able to write about some of the things I can't talk about.

But I'm rambling. Let me try and clarify my intentions with this.

This is a recovery blog. I am a normal 19 year old Sophomore in college who has unfortunately had some hiccups in life over the past few years including but not limited to dealing with Endometriosis, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Hypothyroidism, an emotionally and physically abusive relationship, and Anorexia. And this is going to sound really bad, but I've gotten really messed up and have spent the past 3 months in psychotherapy.

I promise I'm normal and not a crazy person or anything. Please, keep this a judge free zone!

So as part of my therapy (and just because it's something I've always enjoyed) I write almost every day. Just random stuff, you know? Sometimes journals, sometimes personal essays (self evaluation and introspection, that sort of thing) sometimes total fiction. But I don't like anyone I know to read it because it can sometimes get kind of raw and very real. So hopefully this will be a safe place. I'm also hoping it will accompany the book I'm writing titled "Into the Rabbit Hole". Maybe I'll post some excerpts as I write them. As of now, I'm about half done.

The point of the book is to clear up some of the stigma and taboo against mental health and chronic illness. It's something we need to be able to be honest about and talk about. There are a lot of suffering people out there who are hiding and keeping secrets because they feel society will reject them and they will become a pariah if they admit their struggles and try to get help. I still have a long ways to go, but choosing to go into recovery has been one of the best decisions of my life and I have had such a wonderful network of supportive friends the whole way. My recovery started when I was able to stop keeping secrets.

I would like to make a note that there is a lot of social stigma against mental health. I'm not anorexic because I'm shallow and simply want to be skinny. I have trouble with anorexia for many deeper reasons, hopefully that I will be able to elaborate on later. So please, no hate and no judgement. I mean, I guess I don't really expect anyone to read this anyway, but in case some of you do, those are the rules. And if anyone has any questions about illness or recovery or any of that, I'd be happy to answer.

This will be a positive blog. I will talk about struggles, memories, and my past and future, but still smile. And hopefully it will be a helpful tool for me as I continue down my long journey of recovery.