The Wolf Finally Frees Itself - a column by Brianna Albers

You can tell I got my master’s degree in mental health counseling because there are certain things I cannot tolerate. For example, baffling definitions of codependency. People sling “codependent” around like mud. Google codependency…

“I hate to say it,” my dad said, “but you’re getting a little heavy.” A miracle, really, when you consider my base weight of 50 pounds. I was a baby for the longest time. A young adult in a preteen body. One of my biggest challenges…

I keep hearing about “making the most of quarantine.” Learn a new skill! Finish that book you’ve been reading for months! Plant a garden! The possibilities are endless. The issue is that productivity and survival are two sides of the trauma response…

I cried, really cried, for the first time last week. My mom is working from home (WFH) and has transformed our basement into a makeshift office. My dad has become my full-time caregiver. Our cat, Josie, has been forced into quarantine with…

I’ve been thinking about Rare Disease Day on Feb. 29 for weeks. I’ve been trying to figure out how exactly I’m rare, and in what ways, and how I might address all the weird, rare, exhilaratingly absurd parts of me that make me…

I feel like it’s been forever since I last wrote one of these things. It may be because between the holidays, the start of a new month, year, and decade, and school (which is frankly turning out to be the semester from hell), I feel a little bit…

Like a decent percentage of the global population, I have part of the “Frozen II” soundtrack stuck in my head. The movie is about the unknown. Self-acceptance. Stepping into your power. Themes that are fitting for me, as the sun sets on the second decade of my…

I have this nagging feeling that I’m going to die in bed. My parents sleep in the basement, so when I need to be rolled at night, I scream at the top of my lungs until someone hears me. We have a baby monitor that works…

A few weeks ago, my mom and I went to Junk Bonanza, a vintage market that’s held twice a year at the local horse racing track. I feel twice my age while I’m there, but it’s a chance for Mom and…

As a kid, I assumed that happiness would be accompanied by a kiss in the rain, like the iconic scene between Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray in “A Cinderella Story.” Or that scene in “The Princess Diaries 2:…