Diary of Heart & Soul

A poem by Terri Collins I wrote this poem in 2001, in honor of sexual abuse and sexual assault survivors, while I was the manager of our local rape crisis center. This poem, "Survivors," was published in "Food for Thought, Recipes from the Heart," a cookbook that I and my advisory committee published in honor of survivors & those who serve them.  The poem was also published in the state solicitor's program brochures during victim awareness months 2001-2005, Georgia Military College's student handbook in 2004, and in the Valdosta Daily Times in 2001. The poem is one that came from my heart and soul. It was inspired by survivors who attended my survivor support groups and how I could relate to them as a survivor myself. "Survivors" One by one they come in pain, peace and re fuge the y hope to gain, Oh how familiar are their stor ies to me and all my past worries. Tears and regr ets, guilt and shame , we've a...

By Terri Collins Those who know me well know that I have a hate-love relationship with Facebook. They have seen me get on for a while, deactivate or delete my profile for a while, and then boom in a couple of months, there I am again.  Yes, I am wishy washy when it comes to Facebook. I know, I admit it. I promise I am not unstable, I just struggle between the good, the bad and the ugly of Facebook.  Honestly, I don't think I am alone in this struggle.  In this post I am going to share 25 things I hate about Facebook and well....a few things I love about Facebook.  So that this post will end on a good note, I am going to start with things I hate about Facebook and then close with the things that I love about it... 1)  Facebook is addictive & engulfs your time ... 2)  Facebook is a safe place for haters to spew hate ... 3)  Facebook is risky for exploitation ... 4)  Facebook is a play ground for hackers ... 5)  Facebook sometim...

A Short Story by Terri Collins There are a lot of people who either do not believe this is true or who cannot wrap their mind around this concept enough to actually change their thought process and change their life.  In my years of working with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault the understanding of,  "you become what you think about,"  is one valuable self-help tool that I used to help victims transition to survivors. While there were always a few who could not, or would not gain this understanding, there were those who were able to change their negative thought process and change their negative self-talk. Therefore, able to greatly improve their lives.  Every survivor who I have worked with, through the outreach programs of the local battered women's shelter, had come to believe that they were shameful, damaged, and that somehow they brought the abuse on themselves. They believed that they were worthless and that they did not deserve to be in a ...

By: Terri Collins For a little more than four years, I worked as a rape crisis advocate.  I advocated for and counseled adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and victims of rape. In addition to victims and survivors, I worked with their loved ones to help them understand and deal with the life-long effects of child molestation, sexual assault, and rape. The effects are devastating and real! For this post, I am going to put on my rape crisis advocate hat. My first experience with a gender neutral restroom was on my job.  I work in higher education, and one day I went to a restroom that I had often visited down the hall from my office. To my surprise, there was a new sign on the wall, next to the door, that was much like the sign featured at the beginning of this post.  I was startled at first, and I quickly took a glance at the restroom just next door. There was also a gender neutral sign on the wall next to that door.  I am a little embarrassed to say tha...

By: Terri Collins Have you ever thought about the alikeness of Pandora's Box and Social Media? I have, often.  To me, social media is a very similar resemblance of Pandora's Box. The Wikipedia definition of Pandora's Box is; Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology , taken from the myth of Pandora 's creation in Hesiod 's Works and Days . [1] The "box" was actually a large jar (πίθος pithos ) [2] given to Pandora (Πανδώρα, " all-gifted, all-giving "), [3] which contained all the evils of the world. Pandora opened the jar and all the evils flew out, leaving only " Hope " inside once she had closed it again. Today the phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching negative consequences. Think about this; before social media we did not know much of what others, throughout the country an...

By: Terri Collins How do you feel about change? Do you enjoy a change of environment and atmosphere? Or, do you like it just the way it is; forever and ever, Amen.? In this blog, when I speak of changing your environment; Therefore, changing the atmosphere, I am not not talking about changing the people, or tossing them out. Although, I do realize that, there are times when that is necessary.  If you are one who enjoys change as much as I do, you may find yourself running out of ideas. Then you Google search ideas for room makeovers. There are so many appealing ideas for "do it yourself projects," that we often feel inspired. I, personally have made a scrap book of inspirations to makeover areas of my home.  Then, there's that money and/or time thing.  "If only," that's what we think to ourselves. What we may not realize at the time is that all you need is a keen eye, and a sense of organization to completely makeover any area i...

                    By: Terri Collins As organized as I am, I often end up with a "junk room," a "catch all counter," and a cluttered garage. That is not uncommon. However, all of us need to assess our clutter and disorganization and realize how it affects us and our family. In today's time, most everyone is extremely busy. Between soccer practice, band practice, business meetings, luncheons, church functions, and everything else we have going on in life, we struggle to find time to rest. Who has time to organize and declutter their home? Our things will land where they may. And, for those who have a hard time letting go of things, storage space is limited. Whether we are aware of it or not, our cluttered and disorganized homes can add to the stress and fatigue of every day life. In many ways, it just makes things worse. How does a cluttered and disorganized home a...

Hello! Thanks for visiting! Please allow me to further introduce myself.... My name is Terri (Schwartz) Collins as my family calls me. My birth name is Theresa. I live in South Georgia. As the title of this post states, I am a woman of many interests and skills. You could almost call me a jack of all trades, but that wouldn't be exactly true. Perhaps "Jane of a lot of interests" could be a little more accurate.  In the work force for the past 43 years, I have dabbled in many things and have become an expert in a few areas.  My professional experience includes, non-profit management, professional organizing, grant writing, project/program development, office management and administration, public speaking, business writing, guest columnist, website designer, trainer, group facilitator, victim advocacy, so on and so forth. My hobbies consist of a broad range of interests including arts & crafts, writing, photography, gardening, interior decorating, furniture...

By: Terri Collins Growing up in the 60's and 70's was so much easier than living in this day and time. As an older woman, who is a mother and a grandmother, I often feel overwhelmed and concerned for my grandchildren's future. Life seemed so simple in my childhood, not easy, but simple.  Today, everything is so advanced. Technology, educational expectations and standards, cost of living, politics, and the progression of freedom of speech has vastly changed the world we live in today. Maybe I am a bit pessimistic, but it is quite scary for me to think about what the world will be like in the years to come. To go ahead and set the record straight, I will say that I do believe in God and His son, Jesus Christ. I do believe in the Holy Bible and it's teachings.  Although I do like the show, 'The Big Bang Theory', I do not believe in evolution in the sense that there was just a big bang and voila, life was created. I believe that if there was a big bang, the...