About
“When I found nothing written to comfort me, I wrote my own.”
I’m Anne.
I started writing here in 2008. I called this blog several different things over the years. Catching Butterflies is the one that stayed.
What I wrote about changed with whatever was happening. Christenings and train rides at first, and a lot of things that didn’t matter. Then panic attacks — I had my first one in December 2008 and wrote about it three weeks later, badly, with the word depressed misspelled in the title. I’ve left it that way.Â
Then a typhoon. I was in Tacloban in November 2013 when Haiyan came through. I got my children out and we left a city that had nothing in it anymore. I wrote two posts that December, ended both with to be continued, and then didn’t write another word about it for eleven months.
Then years of raising my children mostly on my own. My father died in March 2015 and I managed a hundred and fifty-one words about it, a month late.
There was also a stretch, earlier than most of this, when I tried to end my life. I don’t write about it often and I’m not going to make a centrepiece of it here. But it’s in the archive, and I would rather you heard it from me on this page than came across it in a parenthesis on a Tuesday.
I’m not writing from the other side of any of it. I’m still somewhere in the middle, most days, and I’ve stopped expecting that to change.
That’s what’s here. Seventeen years of it, the loud years and the quiet ones.
What’s in here
I write about mental health, and I don’t write around it. Some of these posts talk about depression, panic, and about a time in my life when I tried to end it. I’ve left them up, including the ones written badly and long ago, because taking them down would make the record dishonest.
Anything heavy carries a note at the top. If you’re in a hard place right now, the NCMH Crisis Hotline is 1553, free, 24 hours a day.
Books
The Quiet Powers — on the kind of strength that doesn’t announce itself.
Days of Terror — the Haiyan story, put back in the order it happened. In progress.
Elsewhere
I also write for women rebuilding on their own at She Thrives Solo. I run a virtual assistance business, Mommy VA. If you want to say something, here’s how.
A Guide Through the Healing Journey
In addition to writing and advocacy, I see my role as someone who walks alongside others who are navigating their own difficult seasons.
Not as an expert with all the answers, but as someone who understands how complicated healing can be.
Through my writing, reflections, and letters, I hope to offer guidance, encouragement, and perspective for those who may feel overwhelmed, lost, or uncertain about how to move forward.
Healing does not happen overnight. But it is possible.
And no one should have to walk that path alone.
A Continuing Journey
My story is not one of perfection or easy answers.
It is a story of survival, reflection, and slowly learning how to build a meaningful life after difficult seasons.
Today, I share that journey openly in the hope that it creates space for honest conversations about mental health and encourages others who may be walking their own path toward healing.
If my writing helps even one person feel understood or less alone, then sharing my story is worth it.