Author Archives: Gertie

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Morning walk
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Spend the day with my partner, Junior
  • Dinner at Red Robin with friends and Junior

Monday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Movies with friends and Junior

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Attend an in person queer group
  • Read
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend a virtual group
  • Lunch with my partner, Junior at Red Robin
  • Read
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Attend a virtual 12 step meeting

Thursday

  • Mindfulness Meditation through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend a virtual group
  • Read
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Time with Junior

Friday

  • Mindfulness Meditation through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Attend virtual appointment with therapist
  • Dinner at Red Robin with Junior and friends
  • Movies with Junior and friends

Saturday

  • Mindfulness Meditation through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Go to the U-District Farmer’s Market
  • Read
  • Art (Color and/or rock painting)
  • Dinner with friends

My Blogging Is Slacking, Again

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I have noticed that my blogging is slacking once again. One of my New Year’s goals for this year (2024) is to blog on average three times a week. At this point in time, it is my goal to put into my schedule to blog.

The way I will schedule my end is to go back to what I started at the beginning of the year. That is that on Sunday mornings, I will do Weekly Plans. On Wednesday evenings, I will do Hump Day Update. On Saturday mornings I will do Caturday With Billie featuring pictures of Billie and occasionally other cats. On Saturday evenings, I will do Weekly Check-Ins.

Another goal of mine is to hopefully start doing daily prompts. I am hoping to start doing daily prompts in the next week or two. The reason being about starting daily prompts is so, I can plan it into my daily schedule.

I do not have much more to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you, the reader for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Morning walk
  • Lunch with grandpa
  • Do my laundry at grandpa’s.
  • Work on a mental health recovery workbook
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Monday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Work on mental health recovery workbooks
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Attend Queer Space (an in person group where I get therapy at)
  • Work on mental health recovery workbooks
  • Dinner with friends
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House virtual group
  • Lunch with an old friend
  • Kickball practice
  • Work on mental health recovery workbooks
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Thursday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House virtual group
  • Celebrate dad’s birthday a couple of weeks late
  • Work on mental heath recovery workbooks
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Friday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House
  • Work on mental health recovery workbooks
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

Saturday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App
  • Morning walk
  • Breakfast with a friend
  • Kickball game
  • Late lunch with kickball team
  • Art (color and/or rock painting)
  • Read

The Importance of Respecting People’s Pronouns

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I know it has been a while since my last post. I had a little bit of writer’s block however the writers block appears to be gone for now. The reason why writers block is gone for now is due to my pronouns being disrespected by one of the peer specialist at the mental health agency I am a client at. I have attempted to have several conversations with this peer specialist about my pronouns as my pronouns are they/them. Sadly, my conversations have fallen on deaf ears or it appears like it from my end of things. While scrolling Facebook, I came across a meme that best describes what a person is saying or doing when you ignore a person’s pronouns. Below is the meme:

I am hoping this helps people reading my blog on the importance of using the correct pronouns for any given person. I say this because people have felt hopeless and unseen when others misgender them especially when it is done on purpose.

I do not have anything else to discuss in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you, the reader for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog.If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Tough Couple of Nights

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is just barely after five o’clock in the morning here in Seattle. It’s been a tough couple nights due to suddenly remembering something horrific from my childhood a couple of nights ago. On the good note about this is when I remembered, Junior was with me and then the next day which was yesterday, I had therapy.

Therapy is not meant to be easy but yesterday was tough but my therapist was compassionate and empathetic as always. She listened and gave me some suggestions to help take care of myself. My therapist makes talking about tough shit safe to talk about even when it feels unsafe due to PTSD symptoms.

Due to those PTSD symptoms, I had a couple of challenging nights and lack of sleep. Junior helped me Wednesday but was unable to help last night (Thursday) due to working. Sadly, he is unavailable today and tonight due to work as well. He is a firefighter and works twenty-four hour shifts and is doing an overtime shift today. Anyway, last night I had the help of a couple of friends via phone as well as my cat, Billie. I am grateful for my natural support system.

I do not have anything else to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

A Catch Up Type of Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It has been quite a while since I last posted. I don’t have any particular reason why I have not blogged nor do I have any legit excuses. I do know a lot has happened since I last blogged. Some bad things but some good things. The good things thankfully out way the bad things.

First and foremost, I joined a book club that is geared toward the queer community. To make it even better the book we are going to choose will be a queer fiction book. The book club I joined will meet on Thursday evenings starting this Thursday. We will get to know each other and choose a book this Thursday and I am looking forward to it. I looking forward to it because it will help me get social interaction within the queer community.

Secondly, I am now a part of a queer kickball league. I got assigned to a team called Resting Pitch Face and our first practice is tomorrow (Wednesday). Our first game is this Saturday. I am also looking forward to this as it will provide me some exercise and social interaction within the queer community.

In fact my therapist suggested that getting more involved within the queer community could help me with my recovery especially since she noticed how well I did when I worked at a queer mental health agency before it permanently closed. I have to agree that being within the queer community has helped me a great deal with my mental health recovery and I am looking forward to being more part of the queer community.

I do not have much more to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Read
  • Attend a virtual 12-Step meeting
  • Art (color or rock painting)

Monday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Work on recovery related workbooks
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock painting)

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Work on recovery related workbooks
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock painting)

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Work on recovery related workbooks
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock painting)
  • Attend a virtual 12-Step meeting

Thursday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Training via Zoom on Recovery and Eating Disorders
  • LGBTQ+ virtual group
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock painting)

Friday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Attend Emerald House (a mental health clubhouse)
  • Attend an in person appointment with psychiatric nurse practitioner
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock painting)

Saturday

  • Mindfulness Meditation practice through the Calm App.
  • Daily morning walk
  • Go to U-District Farmers Market
  • Read
  • Art (color or rock)
  • Attend a virtual 12-Step meeting.

A Productive Sleepless in Seattle Type of Night

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is the middle of the night here in Seattle and I am not able to sleep. I really wish I could sleep but sadly, I am not able to due to insomnia. Having insomnia suck sh!t and I don’t wish it on anybody including my worst enemies.

Since I am unable to sleep I have been trying to be productive in some way. I have been reading Revelations; Fire & Brimstone Scroll 1 by Nikole Knight which is the first book in a six book series. I am about three quarters of the way in the book and I am really enjoying it. The genre is dark fantasy and gay fiction and discussed the book with my therapist when I saw her for my session with her this past Friday. She appeared to be interested in the book which is always a good thing. Of course as I read my cat, Billie, was laying my lap.

Besides reading, I have been doing art work as I listened to music. I listened to some old school alternative and grunge music. I mainly listened to Tori Amos and Nirvana as I did art work. The type of art work I did was coloring a giant poster I got from Stuff2Color.com. It is of an elephant. I also have started up painting rocks from a rock painting set that my uncle got me for Christmas. I am enjoying both the coloring and rock painting as I listen to music.

I do not have much else to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Tough Therapy Session W/Some Awesomeness

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It is another Saturday evening here in Seattle and despite having a challenging day due to PTSD, I am grateful for the awesomeness of the people around me. Awesomeness that my therapist idea helped with at the end of my session with her yesterday (Friday).

Long story short, my session with my therapist was quite challenging yesterday (Friday). We discussed a lot of childhood trauma shit. Shit that was some of the hardest crap I dealt with as a child. Hell, it was some of the hardest shit I dealt with in my entire life that I shared with my therapist. Anyway, at the end of most of my sessions we discuss ways to take care of myself especially when it is a tough session. I brought up the book I am reading and how it is in the dark fantasy and gay fiction genre’s as well how it is a representation of being in the queer community. My therapist suggested that I find things to do in the queer community such as sports league like kickball or dodgeball. She suggested this since she knows I thrived when I worked a a mental health agency that was queer focused and sadly the agency went under due to the lack of funding. My therapist also gave me an idea to join a book club that is hopefully with other queer readers or a book that is queer related.

On that note, I reached out to the queer community via a Facebook group and asked about queer sports leagues involving kickball or dodgeball. I signed up for a kickball team yesterday (Friday) and will sign up for a dodgeball team when sign ups open up next Friday (March 1, 2024). I am so looking forward to participating in both a kickball team and a dodgeball team.

Since I received a great response regarding queer sporting leagues on Facebook, I reached out regarding book clubs. I am in fact currently looking at book clubs and the books they are reading. Representation in books is much needed.

I do not have much more to discuss in this particular blog post except that I am grateful for my therapist suggesting me getting more involved in the queer community in activities that I enjoy doing. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Having A Hard Morning

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am having a really challenging time right now. I had to call the crisis phone number that is through the mental health agency I am a client at about an hour and a half ago. I had to call because of the miscarriage is hitting me hard and sadly has increased the self-harm urges. Self-harm urges I wish I didn’t have. Self-harm urges that I will NOT act on. (NOTE: I am not suicidal and I will NOT act on the self-harm urges.)

Anyway, after talking with the crisis clinician, we came up with a safety plan for me to do to stay safe till one of my natural support persons is available to talk with. The plan is to enjoy the weather outside and go for a walk. Granted it is cold but at least the sun is out here in Seattle.

Another thing is to hang out at home with my cat as I read. I am reading an amazing book about a college aged kid who finds out he has guardian angels that he has crushes on. The college aged kid is also figuring out his sexuality. I am only half way through the book and it is the first book in a six book series.

I don’t have much to write about in this particular blog post except that I will not harm myself in any way. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!