Freda Howell McMahon | March 31, 2025
“Do you want to keep perpetuating your sadness?” my therapist asked. Her bluntness was amusing, and her accuracy sobering. She hasn’t always been so direct, but at that moment, she...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | February 27, 2025
Something desperately needed to change. Joy had been dripping away like a leaky faucet. Motherhood felt overwhelming, my marriage wasn’t where I wanted it to be, and one of my...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | September 3, 2021
“Freda, you look so good now that you’re thin.” I was fourteen years old and in the middle of my first diet ever. The church service had finished, and I...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | July 19, 2021
“Your heart rate is too high and so is your respiratory rate. We will have to move you to GMC (Goa Medical College); plasma therapy is our only option.” The...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | January 29, 2021
I’ve struggled with anxiety for a large part of my life. In school, it meant weeping before certain exams convinced that I would fail. At times, it meant asking my...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | November 27, 2020
When was the last time you doubted yourself? How did you handle it? Being plagued with self-doubt is not an alien concept for us but we all have our own...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | June 29, 2019
We had just come back from school a little while ago and just like the last few days, I was logged into a Rediff chatroom. All the cool girls in...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | April 1, 2019
Recently, a fellow home schooling mom asked me if I was the type of person who needed to check off every item on her list. “No,” I replied. “I am...
Continue ReadingFreda Howell McMahon | February 15, 2019
Huge, brightly coloured water slides sprawled lazily across the water park. As I sauntered to the shallow end of the wave pool, my cousin's voice rang out “If you go...
Continue Reading