Monthly Archives: July 2019

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! It has been a hot minute since I last blogged. I honestly don’t have any excuses even though I am sure I could find some to give you all but I won’t. I enjoy blogging and don’t know why I haven’t made more of an effort to do so.

Let’s start off with the good news involving work. As you may or may not know, I work at a young adult homeless shelter as a shelter counselor working twelve hour night shifts. I started out as an on call and now have a permanent day I work. Yes, that means I have a regular schedule even if its one night week. My regular shift is Saturday and this all started last week on Saturday, July 20th of 2019. I had reached out to my supervisor asking if he needed me to work one day a week on the regular basis since my other two teammates were working 36 to 48 hours a week and my supervisor said yes, if I was willing to work Saturdays. I informed him that I would love to take Saturdays as that was the day I was hoping for. My supervisor was and is very much appreciative of me advocating for myself to work one day a week. I am also grateful I did because from my understanding there a couple of possible new people coming on board and now they will be on calls and I don’t have to worry about when my next shift as well as I could have lost out on the opportunity I was given. I may not enjoy working a twelve hour night shift but am grateful that I am no longer “on-call” and now have a regular schedule.

As for the rest of today, it is going to remain being lazy. I am going to be spending much needed quality time with my cat, Lil Gertie. She appears to be enjoying the fact I am spending the day with her.

Today, I have been listening to a podcast about philosophy as I color. I am really enjoying learning about philosophy via podcast as I color. I find that as I color I tend to remember what I learned from the podcast about philosophy. My coloring projects are also coming along great.

Today, the weather in Seattle is absolutely beautiful. So, I decided that I am taking advantage of the awesome weather by taking multiple walks throughout the day. Taking walks helps me a great deal and I enjoy them immensely.

I don’t have much more to share. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my perspective. Again thank you so very much for reading my blog. I hope everyone has a great rest of you Sunday. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 9: Writing & Not Writing

Posted on by Gertie

Today’s assignment is in regards to writing and what I as person does when I am not writing. I don’t know if I do anything different from everybody else on the everyday basis. I eat, sleep, work, chores and do everyday adulting.

As far as doing other things I play the flute. I am not any good at it. When I say I am not any good at playing the flute, I mean I am not good enough to make money off of playing the flute. Music is major part of my life and I personally think if it wasn’t for music I wouldn’t have a high school diploma. Being in marching and concert band in high school is what helped me stay and graduate high school.

Another thing that I do when I am not writing is art work. I do various forms of art. Specifically, I mainly color, paint and some collaging. I even do a combination of the type of art I do. Art helps me release emotions I am unable to express with words.

Last but not least, when I am not writing, I spend time with my cat, Lil Gertie. My cat, Lil Gertie is everything to me. She has been a major blessing in my life and am forever grateful for her. I do not know what I would do without her. She is such a sweet and loving cat. She gives me unconditional love and all she wants back is attention and wet food which I am happy to give her.

Well, I do not know what else to write about so I guess I will end this blog post. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a good weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 8: Reinvent the Letter Format

Posted on by Gertie

Dear Abuser,

This is the part of the letter I would say hello and ask how you are doing but you don’t deserve any of that. You don’t deserve it because of all the shit you put me through as a child. Hell, I am still feeling the affects of what I experienced at your hands. What you put me through as a child has caused me to become angry and led to a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) which is absolutely no fun. Having to relive what I experienced at your hands when I was child and now reliving as an adult is scary as fuck. I am beyond angry with you and the many times you have harmed me.

The only good things that came out of you harming me is the ability to play music on the flute and art. If it wasn’t for both art and music my life would be a whole lot different. Art and music has given me an outlet to deal with the traumatic events I experienced at your hands.

I don’t have much more to tell you except that you are an absolute asshole and deserve to be in prison for the rest of your life. Sadly, you never had the opportunity to experience that kind of justice because I was too scared to do so.

Angerly  Yours,

Gertie

Everyday Inspiration; Day 7: Let Social Media Inspire You

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! Today’s assignment is to let social media inspire a post. We were given a choice of five tweets from Twitter to write about. Sadly, none of those tweets from Twitter have inspired me to write. So, I thought I would go to my twitter account to see if I could get inspired from any tweets there and again wasn’t inspired. Since I wasn’t inspired by anything on Twitter I decided to go to Facebook.

As far as Facebook I really wasn’t inspired. I wasn’t inspired from Facebook because of the anger and hate from various people especially in Facebook groups. It seems that most of the hate and anger involves politics. People think that they can be cruel when it comes to being on the internet and social media. People wouldn’t say most of the shit face to face to someone as they do on social media. The worst topic that invokes peoples anger and hate is politics. Politics get people heated and when people get heated they tend to not be able to listen to the other persons side. Not being heard can cause even more anger. I just get aggravated when people start attacking each other especially if it is something people wouldn’t say or do face to face.

Well, I guess social media did inspire me to write about something but it is a topic I need to not discuss write now because I am livid about some things I saw on Facebook. I think I am going to end this blog post. I want to thank you for reading my blog from the bottom of my heart. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things because if it wasn’t for you my reader, I don’t think I would continue to blog. So, thank you again for reading my blog. I hope you all have a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Nothing But An Isolating Type of Week

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I have isolating since Monday and that is never a good thing for me. I was suppose to have therapy yesterday but didn’t go. I rescheduled for today and didn’t go again today. I am just waiting for my therapist and I to reschedule for some time this week which I don’t think I will have a session due to how busy he is and my own personal schedule. I personally do want to reschedule for this week but realize the reality of the situation of being able to do so.

Since I have been isolating, I have been doing some things to keep myself busy. I, of course have been spending time with my cat, Lil Gertie. Lil Gertie has been a saving grace for me especially the last few days. She is an amazing cat and I love her so much.

The one other thing that has been helping me a great deal is art. I have been color and painting. I am really happy that I have not stopped doing art because I fear that my depression is getting bad. When my depression gets bad I loose all interest in things. Art is helping me with expressing my emotions.

I do not have much more to say in this blog post. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my point of view. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 6: The Space to Write

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! Today’s assignment for WordPress’s Finding Everyday Inspiration course is asking about the space we write in. For me the space I write in varies on a number of factors. It various on what type of thing I am writing as well as what type of mood I am in and what I use to write with.

For instance when I write in regards to my blog I write on my laptop which means, I am usually home. There are times when I am not home when I blog and usually that is when I am out of town so I most likely would be in a hotel room when I blog if out of town. When I write for my blog it is always via my laptop.

As far as other types of writing, I really think it all depends on what type of mood I am in. When it comes to writing in regards to journaling, I have a journal, I write in and most of the time write with a pencil. I am not sure why I prefer pencil over pen when journaling but I do. When it comes to where I journal it all depends on if I am needing to journal to help me regulate my emotions and if I have the place and emotional space to do so. Most of the time I find a place to do so. I usually like to journal outside as it gives me a different perspective on things.

When it comes to writing poetry I usually do it with a paper and pencil or on my laptop. Using paper and pencil or my laptop makes it easier to changes things in the poem if it doesn’t seem right to me. When it comes to where I write, I think it is dependent on what inspires me to write poetry. I do have a journal I keep my poetry in and that is when I transfer it to the journal in pen.

As far as writing letters goes, I think it all depends if it is a business letter or personal letter. When it is a business letter I type it on my laptop. When it is a personal letter I tend to write it with a paper and pen. Sometimes I even write on a postcard. I tend to write letters from home or in a hotel if I am out of town. When I get a chance to travel out of town any where even if its only two hours from where I live I like to write letters and/or postcards to people as it is always nice to receive snail mail.

The latest type of writing includes a combination of drawing, coloring and writing in the form of comics. I start out with paper and a pencil just in case I make a mistake or want to change something. After I am done with the comic, then ink it and color it. I started doing comics when I took an art class about comics. In fact doing comics is another form of art for me to do that includes writing. As to where I do this is dependent on my mood and what stage of the comic I am doing.

Before, I end this post and assignment, I was asked as apart of the assignment to ask you my reader to give me suggestion via my contact page on what you would like me to write about. It is for a future assignment. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help me out on this as it is for an assignment and it would also help me out for future post that is not related to an assignment. I would like to know what you would like me to write about even when I am not doing a WordPress course.

I do not have much more to say in the post. I am sorry I was so long winded in this post but apparently I was inspired about what I write and where I write. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 5: Hook ‘Em With a Quote

Posted on by Gertie

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I live through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ -Eleanor Roosevelt-

A couple of days ago my friend and I were discussing our favorite quotes and we started talking about how Eleanor Roosevelt had some pretty awesome quote. I shared with my friend one of my favorite and why and my friend did the same. The above quote happens to my friends favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quote right now as they are just climbing out of some difficult shit. I really like the quote because I can relate to it in many aspects of my life. One of which is due to the trauma I experienced as a child. Another is that as someone who experiences mental health challenges I face many fears people without mental health challenges don’t face and I face them head on. That means for me that this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is a recovery based quote or at least that is how I see it.

I don’t have much more to say but I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 4: A Story in a Single Image

Posted on by Gertie

This image doesn’t inspire me to “write a story” but it does inspire me keep doing what I am doing when it comes to keeping myself both mentally and physically healthy. When I first saw this image I am inspired to go out and enjoy nature especially since I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. For me this image inspires me to make plans to do what I enjoy especially since it is summer and easy to do the things I enjoy in nature.

In fact this image reminded me of the plans I already have planned to do with friends. Plans to go do a day hike every week with friends who like to do day trips but no time do go on multi-day trips to go camping. I also have plan to go on two camping trips with friends and we plan on going hiking then.  Going camping and/or hiking helps me a great deal. It helps me get into nature so I can connect to nature.

I live in the city. In fact the city I live in is Seattle. Yes, it is easy to connect with nature in Seattle due to all the awesome parks we have but going out to the middle of the forest connects you to nature that city parks can not do. So, for me going hiking and/or camping helps me connect with nature. Being in nature helps me reconnect to what is important to me and my recovery with mental health challenges. Its like a type of therapy for me.

Even though I already have plans to go camping twice this summer and weekly hiking trips, I am wanting to make plans with fellow peer counselors. Plans to at least go for a day hike. I think after this post I will reach out to fellow peer counselors to see if at least a handful of us would be able to schedule at least a day hike. So this image inspired me to get people together to at least do a day hike.

I don’t have much more to say in this post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Peace Out, World!!!

A Random Sunday Evening Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It is yet another Sunday evening in my corner of the world. I have not really done much today. I am not sure why I have not done much but am grateful that it has been a lazy day for me as it seemed like it was something I needed.

I may have not done much today but I have been productive in little ways today. I did go with a friend who happens to be a neighbor to a local Catholic church to have a free meal. There is Catholic church in my neighborhood that puts on a free meal for homeless and low income people every Sunday afternoon. The cool thing about this meal is that it is not a requirement to go a church service to be able to eat the meal like it is at some other churches around the area. The other cool thing is that this particular Catholic church has been doing this free church for over forty years and there a couple of volunteers that have been volunteering since the church started doing the free meals. In fact many of the volunteers have been volunteering more that twenty years. I think it is extremely cool that people are willing to help low income and homeless individuals. I am grateful to be able to attend this free meal every Sunday with friends who live in my apartment building. This one free meal a week helps me a great deal to save money. Money that I need for other things.

Speaking of money and before I go on to the other semi productive things I have done today, I want to remind you my reader of something. As you might be aware of is that I have advertisements on my blog. Yes, I am well aware of how annoying they are but every time one is clicked on that fully loads I make a cent or two from you just clicking on it. The only way I get paid is when it accumulates to a hundred dollars. I am now on my second round of trying to accumulating one hundred dollars as I finally hit one hundred dollars last month (June). So, it will be highly appreciative if you could click on advertisements so I can make money. I hope to get to another one hundred dollars by the end of November so I can buy holiday presents for family and friends.

Okay, enough with my begging for you to click on to the annoying advertisements for me to earn money and on to what else I have done today. After getting home from the free lunch at the Catholic church I spent the rest of the day doing art and listening to a podcast about philosophy. The type of art I did was coloring a poster for my therapist and painting something for a friend. I listened to a podcast about philosophy because I am really getting into the subject and love learning about it. I am grateful that I am into philosophy and learning about it as do my art work. Being able to learn as I do something creative is always a good thing for me even if some don’t consider it as being productive.

I do not have much more to say without repeating myself so I am going to end this blog post. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciative from my end of things. Again, I want to thank you for reading my blog. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Sunday evening. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 3: One-Word Inspiration; Hope

Posted on by Gertie

HOPE:

NOUN:

1) A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

2) A feeling of trust.

VERB:

1) Want something to happen or be the case.

“Hope” is the word I chose to give me some inspiration to write about for my “assignment” for Finding Everyday Inspiration. I have chosen hope mainly because if it wasn’t for hope I wouldn’t have chosen to be in active recovery. If I didn’t choose to be in recovery, I wouldn’t have gone into an intensive outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program and become the person I am today. Granted, I am not in the best of places at the moment regarding my mental health however I am in a better place than I was in when I started being in active recovery. Then again I have a better grasp on reality and have more hope and holding on to that hope. If it wasn’t for hope I don’t think I would be alive and am grateful that I have hope.

Hope is something I hold on to like it’s going out of style. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Peace Out, World!!!