#healing-lee

[there-will-be-a-way]

When you get this you have to answer with 5 things u like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)✨💝

Hiii 🤗 Thank you for sending this!! 💕💕

That I like myself so much that it's easy for me to come up with things lol

That I move forward no matter what.

My passion for writing and telling stories.

That I can move my body well. 💃🏻

That I can handle difficult situations with patience and mindfulness.

[clever-and-unique-name]

Hi 💙 I don't think fav tree is technically one of the plant questions, but can I ask what your favorite tree is? And why? If you're comfortable :)

I actually have two favorites, and both remind me of nice things so I’m happy to talk about them. ^^

The first is the weeping willow tree. When I was about 4-6 years old, my family used to go visit a park/lake that had a weeping willow by the water’s edge. I remember climbing all over that tree and sitting behind its curtain of leaves, pretending I was in my own little magical nature world. It was a bit like this:

Even to this day, seeing a weeping willow tree makes me feel a bit of that childish glee, and sitting under one makes me feel safe.

The second is the Japanese maple tree, particularly when they have bright scarlet or rich plum-colored leaves. My grandmother’s house had a small Japanese maple right in the front lawn and I remember being so very entranced by it as a child--it was like nothing I’d ever seen before! The limbs were so delicate and the leaves were SO bright and beautifully shaped. I always thought that if I ever had a house of my own, I would want one in my garden.

Thank you for asking, and giving me a nice trip down memory lane!

[honeysuckle-venom]

Did you have a favorite teacher/professor/mentor growing up?

Thank you so so much for this question!

I definitely did. I was really lucky to have several people who could fit that bill, but I’m going to talk about two of them.

The first was my English (well, kind of, it was a weird school and English was called something else but whatever) teacher in 4th and 5th grade. I’ll call him Mr. N. Mr. N was a very very strange guy, and an absolutely incredibly teacher. He was one of those larger than life personalities who manages to inspire you whenever he speaks. He treated us like people, not like kids, and we studied really interesting things; we did a 3 month unit on the concept of irony for example. We also did so many fun projects in his class. We read the Hobbit and he had us decode Dwarvish together as a class project, he told us four letters and we had to figure it out from there, and then over winter break we had to translate and solve riddles. Cool stuff like that. He was just so passionate about reading and writing and the art of storytelling and he instilled that passion in every student.

The second teacher I’ll talk about is one of my college professors, A. A was my professor for several classes, and she was also my advisor. I’m still very much in touch with her, and in fact I reference her on this blog; she’s the person I refer to as my mentor, and I consider her both a mentor and a friend. She’s an incredibly funny and engaging professor, and I loved the way she structured her classes and did her exams, but much more than that she is simply one of the best human beings I’ve ever met. In many ways she’s the glue that held a lot of my college together, and most of the students there know and love her. She and I met once a week for 4 years and she would do everything from helping me write scary emails to helping with my math homework the one terrible semester I took math. She made it possible for me to get through college, I probably wouldn’t have graduated without her. She is incredibly generous with her time and efforts and attention towards me and towards many students at that school. I graduated a few years ago but stayed in the area, and before covid we would regularly get dinner together. Nowadays we hang out once a week, I’m showing her Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She knows about my DID and schizophrenia and is always happy to talk about anything, and she still helps me even though she has no real reason to. In fact I think later this week she’s going to come and help me organize clothes in my apartment. She is, quite frankly, an angel, and I am so so blessed to have her in my life. She’s one of my biggest role models. I hope one day to bring as much kindness to people’s lives as she has brought to mine.

Thank you so much for asking this wonderful question!

[adirabennett]

When you first started drawing/painting, what was your favorite thing to draw? And least favorite? When did you start writing poetry? You're awesome 💙 -Lee

I started teaching myself to make art as a very little kid, and for reasons I will probably never be able to figure out, I was drawn to two subjects: skeletons and shoes. I drew so many skeletons I filled a whole giant sketchbook with them and called it “The Book of Skeletons,” which my mother later borrowed for the title of her second poetry book (it’s really good; everyone should read my mom’s poetry!). And shoes, oh my goodness... pages upon pages of all sorts of shoes. I was particularly excited about drawing shoes after visiting an amazing place in Toronto called the Bata Shoe Museum. Again, I really have no idea why it was bones and footwear that captured my creativity, but there you have it!

As for poetry, I’ve already mentioned that my mother is a published poet, so I grew up with lots of poetry books in the house. I also had the great fortune of attending an elementary school that — in a totally anomalous move for city public schools —actually taught us about poetry. Every April (which is National Poetry Month), all of us, from kindergarten through to fifth grade, were encouraged to read, recite, and write poems. I quickly became passionate about poetry and worked my way up from anthologies of children’s poems to Emily Dickinson, Anna Akhmatova, and Elizabeth Bishop. In my mid-teen years, I discovered the slam-influenced confessional/political sort of poetry I now tend to write (thanks to Warsan Shire’s Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, Sierra DeMulder’s The Bones Below, and the inventory of Write Bloody Publishing).

Thank you very much for the ask, and for the compliment! I appreciate your support so much. 💙💙💙

[puppyenergy]

Loving your infographics!! Good stuff my friend

thanks for your support, lee! 💙

[clever-and-unique-name]

If you could have 1 conversation with future you (say, you in 5 years) what would the topic be about?

Oh, this is an interesting question, thank you friend! 

I used to spend a lot of time imagining what I would want my future-self to say to me, back in the bad times. I imagined them telling me that it was all worth it. I still do that sometimes, especially when I’m feeling particularly hopeless--I imagine what I’d want a future-me to say that would give me something to look forward to. Some bit of hope that things get better, even a little bit.

So I think we would talk about that. I would ask what things future-me was really enjoying about the future. I would probably ask what lessons they’ve learned, too--not so that I could pressure myself to learn them, but to feel secure in knowing that I’d get there someday.

I think I tend to look back on things with a clearer and more positive perspective than I have in the moment. So maybe I would ask their perspective on my current struggles too.

[there-will-be-a-way]

Hi! 3 and 4? :)

Hiii, thank you for sending these!! Hope you're doing alright 😊❤️

3) whats your favorite/least favorite quality about yourself; why

Another thing I like about myself is that I change my opinions and stances on things as time moves on and as I learn more. I'm never stagnat which I think is awesome! It's so important to be open to change!! I think that makes me mature 😂

Another thing I don't like about myself is that I don't value myself enough. I'm really awesome and once I truly realize this and learn to stand my ground, I will become unstoppable 😎

4) do you smile at strangers

Unless I'm having a rough day I do!! I smiled at pretty much everyone I came across when I went for a run this morning and I always greet people in my village and neighbor villages too. I even stop to do some small talk from time to time. 😅 Sometimes I run into so many people that I run out of energy though and then I only greet them and smile at them when they do it first. 🤭

[clever-and-unique-name]

Random question hehe but what's your fav kind of cloud? And what do you like better...full moon or crescent moon?

💙🌟

aaa thank you!! I love your random questions! 

I like those clouds that happen around twilight that look darker and more blue than the sky, and they make my brain struggle to figure out which part is sky and which part is cloud. I think the inversion looks really cool!

I actually can’t pick a favorite between full moon and crescent because I love them both so much!! crescent moons make me think of the cheshire cat and I called them “cheshire moons” for the longest time. but a big full moon just makes me feel so safe and happy. so I like them both!

- reki