Category: Human Condition
Essays about the human endurement.
Posted on April 4, 2020
by Kēphen
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Pulled from the archives and originally written in 2012, updated and expanded. Please be advised this entry discusses difficult emotions and suicide, it may not be appropriate for those easily disturbed or triggered by such topics. Support resources are provided at the end of… Continue Reading “A Journey Called Hope”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Behavioral Health, Human Condition, LGBTQ+Tags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bipolar Disorder, Childhood Trauma, Closeted, Coming Out, Coming Out Story, Depression, Homophobia, LGBTQ+, Major Depression, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Religious PTSD, Religious Trauma, Religious Trauma Syndrome, RTS, Self-Acceptance, Self-Hatred, Spiritual Trauma, Suicidal, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidality, Suicide, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, Trauma
Posted on January 26, 2020
by Kēphen
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The Scars of Loss We never forget the people we have lost. Sometimes our losses are so close to our heart that we lose a part of ourselves with the passing of our loved one. The pain from this kind of loss is initially… Continue Reading “The Scars of Loss”
Category: All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's CommentaryTags: *See All Posts, Bereaved, Bereavement, Death, Death of a Loved One, Dying, Grief, Grief-Stricken, Grieved, Grieving Child, Grieving Parent, Loss, Loss of a Loved One, Pain of Loss, Scars of Loss, Widow, Widower
Posted on April 16, 2019
by Kēphen
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The Dying Light of Unrequited Love We spend most of our lives trying to emotionally connect with other people, only to realize that we cannot emotionally connect with most of the people we meet. I could probably write a book about the experiences I’ve… Continue Reading “The Dying Light of Unrequited Love”
Category: All, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Ambiguous, Betrayel, Emotional Attachment, Emotional Connection, Friend-Zone, Friendship, Human Connection, Love, Mixed Signals, Unrequited Love, Used
Posted on January 20, 2019
by Kēphen
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The Perfect Life: An Unexpected Loss In order to protect the identity of his family, I will only refer to the young man in this article as “A.J.” A.J. was in his senior year of high school, where he was active in… Continue Reading “The Perfect Life”
Posted on January 2, 2019
by Kēphen
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Love Me Not:A Conversation About Mental Health & Relationships If you’ve read my previous work, you know that I’m often very personal and brutally honest about my experiences and my mistakes. This essay will be no different. I want to share with you some… Continue Reading “Love Me Not”
Category: All, Behavioral Health, Human Condition, LGBTQ+, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, American Midwest, Behavioral Health, Boyhood, Bullying, Coming of Age, Dating, Erectile Dysfunction, Growing Up, Homophobia, Life, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Orientation, Performance Anxiety, Relationships, Repressed, Romance, Self-Hatred, Sexual Dysfunction, Sexual Experiences, Sexuality
Posted on November 12, 2018
by Kēphen
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Chasing the Westward Sun: One Week and 3,500 Miles In the summer of 2017 I went on a one-week 3,500 mile road trip through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. The road trip had spawned after the death of my mom the year… Continue Reading “Chasing the Westward Sun”
Category: All, Environment, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, America, Cattle, Childhood, Choteau Montana, Colorado, Creek, Farm Life, Farmland, Glacier National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Inspiration, Jackson Lake, Life, Memories, Midwest, Montana, Nature, Parachute Colorado, Pinedale Wyoming, Road Trip, Rocky Mountain National Park, Valley, Woods, Wyoming, Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park
Posted on October 24, 2018
by Kēphen
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Recovery for me is a multi-faceted term. It means acknowledging my behavioral condition, understanding it and understanding that I and it are not one in the same – that I am more than my condition. It means that I recognize the signs and symptoms… Continue Reading “Life After”
Category: All, Behavioral Health, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, Health, Inspiration, Life After Trauma, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Recovery, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention
Posted on October 22, 2018
by Kēphen
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[Reader Discretion Strongly Advised: this article discusses the sexual assault of men and boys and may not be appropriate for readers under the age of thirteen, it may also be triggering for those who have experienced similar trauma. Resources and reading recommendations follow the… Continue Reading “The Past That’s Not Forgotten”
Category: All, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Grooming, Male on Male Rape, Male Rape, Male Sexual Abuse, Male Sexual Assault, Molestation, Predatory Grooming, Prolonged Sexual Abuse, Sextortion, Sexual Assault on Boys, Sexual Assault on Men, Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Extortion, Sexual Predators, Sodomy, Statistics, Survivors, Teen Sexual Assault, Victims of Sexual Abuse, Victims of Sexual Assault
Posted on September 22, 2018
by Kēphen
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In the Twilight of Memory Calling to me in the distance, I can hear them all say my name. Reaching out from the past, from moments that used to be. I drift beyond the precipice of wakefulness, I let go of my consciousness and… Continue Reading “In the Twilight of Memory”
Posted on September 20, 2018
by Kēphen
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My name is Kephen Merancis and there’s really no easy way to start the conversation that we need to have. It takes a lot of courage to break the wall of silence that stigma builds. It takes at least a little bit of hope… Continue Reading “Out of the Darkness: My Experience with a Mental Health Condition”
Category: All, Behavioral Health, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, MCRD, Mental Health, Mental Illness, San Diego, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, USMC
The Ardent Axiom 
The Scars of Loss
Posted on January 26, 2020 by Kēphen
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The Scars of Loss We never forget the people we have lost. Sometimes our losses are so close to our heart that we lose a part of ourselves with the passing of our loved one. The pain from this kind of loss is initially… Continue Reading “The Scars of Loss”
Category: All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's CommentaryTags: *See All Posts, Bereaved, Bereavement, Death, Death of a Loved One, Dying, Grief, Grief-Stricken, Grieved, Grieving Child, Grieving Parent, Loss, Loss of a Loved One, Pain of Loss, Scars of Loss, Widow, Widower