I’m not sure what my legacy will be but I hope it will be a good one.
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On World Mental Health Day, I’m glad that part of my legacy is this song.
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Lasting thanks to all who are here for this legacy post, including YOU!
Posts Tagged With: “Don’t Kill Yourself”
Day 5000: Five Thousand Days
Well, folks, today — the day I fly back to the USA after the best vacation of my long life — is my 5000th day of daily blogging.
For 5000 days, I’ve woken up wondering how I’m going to yet again shape my previous day into some form that helps me and — perhaps! — others.
Blogging daily for 5000 days has strengthened my confidence that my random thoughts, feelings, and intuitively-snapped images are worth sharing.
These five thousand days have included my travels at home and elsewhere, good days and bad days, quirky moments/images I like to call “bloggy,” and my appreciation of humans, cats, and other creatures.
Yesterday, at the Lugano train station, I luckily ran into the incredible Thomas Hampson, who was the star of my 4999th day of blogging. Besides figuring out we were both on our way to Zurich, telling Thomas “You changed my life!”, letting him know that I had taken so many notes at his Master Class for opera singers because his wisdom applied to singing AND life, and identifying myself as a singer/songwriter, I also told him I had been blogging daily since 2013. Why oh why did I even mention that in the few precious moments I had to interact with one of the best singers and teachers in the world, who has one of kindest faces I have ever seen?
That reminds me that when I attended the profound one-man show about magic and identity In & Of Itself in NYC years ago, I chose to identify myself as “blogger.”
So I guess, despite all my multiple identities, blogging is important to me. As a group therapist, I appreciate the healing power of groups, and this group — you, my readers — has been very healing for me.
No matter where I go, I hold the belief that you are somehow with me and interested enough to stay for the precious moments we have together, every day.
And I hold the belief that I’ll be able to create something worthwhile and still make it to my next destination on time.
So, for the 5000th day, here we go again!
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Because my 5000th day of blogging is World Suicide Prevention Day, here’s my original song “Don’t Kill Yourself.”
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On Day 1 of this daily blog, I was working on getting up the nerve to sing other people’s songs in public. Now, on Day 5000, I’m a singer-songwriter/blogger/group therapist/mother/wife/friend/heart-condition survivor who can share what’s important to me, here and now.
Thanks to everyone who helps me along this daily journey, including YOU!
Day 4937: Where would you rather be now?
Because I saw this bumper sticker yesterday …
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… I decided to ask people, “Where would you rather be now?”
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Where would I rather be now? Right here, sharing these images with you.
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Here’s what I find when I search for “where would you rather be now?” on YouTube.
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Even though some of us would rather not be here, please don’t kill yourself.
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As usual, I’m grateful to be here, now with YOU.
Day 4897: You’ll Be Missed
“You’ll be missed,” is something my husband Michael says ironically when I’m thinking of terminating the services of a supplier.
Me: I’m going to tell them that if they don’t fix this, I’m going to take my business elsewhere!
Michael (pretending to be them): You’ll be missed.
“You’ll be missed” is funny in that context, but I actually hope that I will be missed, even by a corporation.
“You’ll be missed” implies that we don’t matter. We do matter, even if others don’t seem to value us.
I hope you know that if you leave, you’ll be missed.
Do you see any evidence that you’ll be missed in my images for today?
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I wrote the song “Don’t Kill Yourself” because you’ll be missed.
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If you don’t leave a comment, you’ll be missed, but I’ll live. (“You’ll live” is something else Michael says.)
Thanks to all who didn’t miss this you’ll-be-missed post, including YOU!
Day 4833: For anyone who needs this today
Since the USA and Israel started bombing Iran, I’ve been posting daily pictures of our cat Joan on social media with the intro “For anyone who needs this today.”
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For anyone who needs this today, here are my other images for this blog post.
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For anyone who needs this today, here is my song “Don’t Kill Yourself.”
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For anyone who needs this today, I am so grateful for you!
Day 4805: Life saving
Last night, somebody in my Coping and Healing group said they found the group life saving. This was very gratifying to hear.
In a few minutes, I’ll be getting ready to go to the hospital to give a presentation about these life saving groups to a group of life saving interns.
Let’s see if there’s anything life saving in my images for today.
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My hope is that this song of mine might be life saving.
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Thanks to all who are life saving (even if you don’t know it), including YOU!
Day 4773: Therapy
Because of the snowstorm, I’ll be providing individual therapy remotely today. Because of the snowstorm, I had to cancel my in-person therapy group.
Do you see therapy in my images for today?
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I write songs for therapy, including this one:
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What’s your therapy?
Expressing gratitude is also therapy, so many thanks to YOU.
Day 4689: What is therapeutic?
What is therapeutic?
For me, it is
- music,
- nature,
- nutritious and delicious food,
- humor,
- cats, and
- connecting with others.
Do you see anything therapeutic in my images for today?
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I wonder if anybody finds this when they search for “what is therapeutic?”
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Here’s what I find when I search for “what is therapeutic?” on YouTube:
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Now I need to leave for a therapeutic ferry ride into Boston so I can facilitate a therapeutic group.
What is therapeutic? Expressing gratitude, every day.
Categories: original song, personal growth, photojournalism
Tags: applying for a show at the Edinburgh Fringe, “Don’t Kill Yourself”, “Psychotherapy: A New Normal” TED talk by Aruna Gopakumar, Brandi Carlile, cats, group therapy, Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy Foundation gala, November 3 2025, The Daily Bitch Calendar, The Singing Therapist, therapeutic music
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Day 4677: Enough
Yesterday, in my Coping and Healing Group, we did enough, including this mindfulness exercise:
I also did that “enough” mindfulness exercise last night right before I performed my original songs “Artificial Intelligence” and “Don’t Kill Yourself” for my fellow social workers at the hospital. They let me know that wasn’t enough by holding up cell phones until I did this encore.
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Because there is enough misunderstanding in this world, that is not a video from last night — that’s from the recording of my live album “The Singing Therapist Live at the Lilypad!”
I have been working hard to promote my music but I don’t know if it’s enough.
Enough? Enough for what? Enough to make me happy? Enough to make others happy?
I think it’s enough to remember this …
… and this:
I think that the rest of images for today will be enough.
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I don’t know if anything is ever enough for the Daily Bitch.
Thanks to everyone who showed up for this post and remember — you are enough!
Categories: group therapy, original song, personal growth, photojournalism
Tags: "Everybody's Somebody's Asshole", Artificial Intelligence, “Don’t Kill Yourself”, “Secure Relating” by Sue Marriott and Ann Kelley, cats, mindfulness exercises, October 22 2025, The Daily Bitch Calendar, The Singing Therapist, Twitter
8 Comments
Day 4676: Statistics
Last night, I asked a question about statistics on social media. 100% of the answers were interesting and I am including less than 100% of the answers here.
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My show biz coach suggested that I promote my music by getting on podcasts about behavioral health issues. I am happy to report that, so far, 100% of the podcasts I contacted have invited me on.
The statistics about the reach of that podcast are very impressive …
… and a good percentage of me is very nervous about appearing and also wondering if I am jinxing the whole thing by writing about it today.
I approve of 100% of the images in today’s blog post.
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I can relate to a percentage of today’s observances as I plan on checking my meds and babbling when I introduce a small percentage of my original songs at a gathering of social workers in my hospital this evening.
Here are the two songs I will perform tonight:
https://on.soundcloud.com/c7rc9GTZr3LfydRJ7y
https://open.spotify.com/track/2DAvl5g5OCDhwvpoeGibUX?si=GyidQsTQSBqpcSlDBO0Jzw
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The second song — “Don’t Kill Yourself” — is (1) 100% of my completely serious songs, (2) getting the most listens of all my songs on Apple Music, and (3) probably the title of the podcast episode of Therapist Uncensored I’ll be on.
Now I have to calm down some percentage of my nervous system before proceeding with this precious day.
100% thanks to all who are here for this statistics post, including YOU!
