Looks Like a DBT Skills Type of Day

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! It is early afternoon in my corner of the world. I have been dealing with a bump in the road for about three to four weeks now. It appears to be turning into a funk but if I have anything to do with it, it won’t get into a funk. But for those of us who deal with mental health challenges sometimes the funk is beyond our control which sucks shit.

As the symptoms of my mental health challenges appear to be increasing I realize it needs to be a DBT skills type of day. I say this because I have been fighting of dissociation due to the PTSD I struggle with. I am also struggling with Depression symptoms. Specifically, isolation. I am also struggling with self harm urges and want to reassure you that I AM CURRENTLY NOT AT RISK of harming myself.

Considering the type of symptoms, I am currently struggling with I realize that using my DBT skills today is key to my recovery and long term goals. Specifically, the DBT skills I will be using all have to do with creativity. For me being creative is what helps me with the dissociation. In fact music will be a major part of my day. I say this as if I am not playing my flute or harmonica, I will be listening to music as I am creative in other ways. I plan on doing some art. I am actually going to be painting. I have an idea or two for what I want to paint. I love painting as it helps me expression my emotions when I am having difficulty expressing them in other ways as well as not knowing what emotion I am currently feeling. Another way, I plan on being creative is writing. In fact I am writing right now as I blog. However, I am planning on writing some poetry as I feel a few poems that may be on the horizon. Poetry is another way to express my emotions. Of course I will be listening to music as I paint and write like I am doing now. Like I mentioned earlier, I will be playing my flute or harmonica at some point today. Of course I will not be listening to music when I am playing one of my musical instruments.

I am thinking that I don’t have much more to say that I will go end the post especially since I am hungry and in need of making lunch. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great Saturday and weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

10 Days Too Long To Not Blog

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It has been ten days since I last blogged. I say this like it is a big deal because it is a big deal as I am trying to create a habit of blogging on the regular basis. I want to blog on the the regular basis because I want to keep you my reader interested in continuing to read my blog. Yes, I know that sounds selfish of me but I know from following and reading other blogs that if people don’t blog on the regular basis I loose interest in the blog. I just don’t want you to loose interest in my blog due to me not blogging on the regular basis.

Last weekend I attended Emerald City Comic-Con here in Seattle. I went both Thursday (March 14th) and Saturday (March 16th). I wasn’t expecting to go at all but I was blessed with being able to go. Thursday, I attended by myself and had a grand ole time. Saturday, I attended with friends and had a blast. Both days I ended up going to a great deal of panels. I love attending the panels as I tend to learn new and interesting things. While I was there I got a few things like some Wonder Woman art work, multiple graphic novels and a handful of science fiction/fantasy books. Attending comic-con has me feeling like I belong. I feel like going to comic-con, I can be myself because it’s where people like me go. People like me tend to be geeks, nerds and loners. I did have an awkward moment when I saw my therapist at comic-con but we both knew we were attending. I didn’t go say hi to him as he appeared to be with others and even if he wasn’t with others I don’t think I would have said hi. He of course didn’t acknowledge me due to HIPPA laws and ethical reasons. We did “acknowledge” each other by a smile. A smile that didn’t mean anything but acknowledgement. Overall, I had a great time despite having a few PTSD symptoms.

I don’t have much more to say. Thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated. I hope everyone has a great rest of their Friday. Fridays are great. Again, thank you for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

A Full Monday, I Had

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It is twelve midnight which means it is officially Tuesday in my corner of the world. I am wanting to share with you how my Monday went as it ended better than how it started which I am grateful for.

My Monday did not start off exactly how I had wanted. The building fire alarm went off at five o’clock in the morning startling everyone awake. So, I put Lil Gertie in her carrier and went down to the lobby. As I got to the lobby the fire department was arriving so I of course let the fire fighters in. The fire fighters did a sweep of the building to see where there could be a potential fire at and then attempted to reset the fire alarm. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to reset the fire alarm which meant they had to do another sweep of the building. Long story short they couldn’t reset the fire alarm to be able to turn it off. They couldn’t let anyone back to their apartments till someone from the apartment building management and/or maintenance showed up. Sadly, when the fire department called them at six nobody showed up until the building office opened up at eight o’clock in the morning. It really sucked for everybody especially all the cats in carriers because they were in them for three hours.

When we were finally able to get back to our apartments at eight o’clock in the morning, I let Lil Gertie out of her carrier and gave her wet food. She usually gets a can in the evening but she deserved to have an extra can today. After giving Lil Gertie some wet food I got ready for the day and then left to go to my appointment with my therapist.

Since I ended up arriving early to my appointment, I hang out in the day treatment area for about an hour. During my appointment with my therapist we discussed my birthday and turning forty. That led to my therapist asking some questions about my childhood. Questions that I am grateful he asked as he received some insight about how my childhood was. After I was sharing about some parts of my childhood he responded by “you sure did experience a great deal of trauma as a child.” In response to his comment I said, “Oh that was the easy shit I went through unless you count going to Disneyland.” He chuckled at my response as he knew I grew up near Disneyland. In face I found it cool that he chuckled as my response was suppose to be a little funny despite having a serious side to it. I am happy that my therapist got some insight of how my childhood was even though it wasn’t the most traumatic part of my childhood. Yes, it was traumatic but the the most severe trauma I was in.

After my appointment with my therapist, I attended art group. We did a self care tree. We drew and wrote in leaves what we did for self care which was a great reminder for everyone to do good self care and that it looks differently to people. I love art group so much. Art has a way of helping me express things I am unable to express.

After therapy and art group I got home and spent a couple of hours chilling with Lil Gertie, my cat. After a couple of hours I went downstairs to the community room to hang out with neighbors who I have become friends with. We had a potluck dinner. All the food was delicious. After dinner we then play a couple of games. We played Jenga, Phase 10, and Uno. We all had a great time spending about five hours together.

Now, I am back in my apartment writing this post and chilling out watching The Tonight Show. My cat, Lil Gertie is actually sleeping in her cat bed which means she wants me to go to bed. Hell, I am tired so I guess that is what I am going to do next.

I do not have much more to say. Thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Have a goodnight everyone. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 8: Reinvent the Letter Format

Posted on by Gertie

Dear Reader,

I, Gertie, am writing you this letter as an assignment for the writing course I am taking through WordPress. I am also writing to those readers who may not be doing so well for whatever the reason especially those who are struggling with a mental health challenge. I am writing to you that what I have said in previous post gives you some hope that recovery is possible. It is by no means easy but hope that I can be a beacon of hope for you. Life isn’t easy however it has a lot of fun things in it to experience. I don’t have much else to say except that, if you need to talk don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me on my contact page.

Thank you for reading my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope every has a good work week especially after springing forward. Loosing an hour sucks but at least we know spring is almost here.

Sincerely,

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 do the inspiring. Well, in all honesty, all I have is a Facebook account. I don’t do other social media sites as trying to keep up with multiple social media sites is way too time consuming.

On that note, if I did let social media inspire me, I would end up discussing politics. I really do not want to discuss politics at this time as I do not want to deal with any drama that could be brought up. I am wanting this course to be as drama free as possible. I know I don’t have to allow comments on my post as I approve them before it shows up on my blog but I still have to read the comments and I don’t want the drama nor to be triggered.

I guess I could find something on my Facebook to inspire me but at this point in time the only thing I see a lot of is political post. So, I am not feeling very inspired over politics at the moment.

Since I don’t have much more to discuss about being inspired by social media, I guess I will blog again later. I really don’t want to discuss politics at the moment. I don’t mind talking about politics, it is just I want to take a day off from it.

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Lunch w/Friends
  • Artist Date

Monday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Therapy
  • Art Group

Tuesday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Appointment w/Employment Specialist
  • Dinner w/Friends

Wednesday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Appointment w/Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
  • Open Communication Group
  • Household Chores

Thursday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • DBT Group
  • Dinner w/a Friend

Friday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Laundry
  • Binge Watch Television

Saturday

  • Blog
  • Workbook (The Artist Way)
  • Binge Watch Television

Weekly Check-In

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! As I stated in a post sometime late last week, that I would start my weekly check-ins back up on Saturdays. So, here I am doing the weekly check-in. I don’t have much to say this evening as I have discussed most of what I wanted to talk about through out the week.

The big event that happened this past week was my 40th birthday on Thursday. My birthday turned out to be a good one which I am quite grateful for. In fact I am still celebrating my birthday this weekend. Due to my birthday I have been spending time with both family and friends. It has been great spending time with those care about me. It does still feel weird to have folks celebrate me as I still feel like I do not deserve to be celebrated.

Something I started this past Monday was a writing course that WordPress puts on. I am doing a writing course called Finding Your Everyday Inspiration. I decided to do the course to help me get back in the habit of blogging on the regular basis again.

Another thing I started this week was a workbook called “The Artist Way.” I started it yesterday and I have to admit it seems quite overwhelming and challenging and it is only day two. It is a twelve week workbook course. I am doing this workbook at the suggestion of my therapist. My therapist thinks it will be helpful for my recovery and helpful in regards for me to build structure in my life which I am all for.

The other thing I started back up was going to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group. I have had the group facilitators before and I like them. The teach the DBT skills quite well. Speaking of DBT I need to do my DBT homework for today.

I don’t have much more to check-in about. This week has overall been a good week. I hope that everyone has a good rest of their weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 6: The Space to Write

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!!  Today’s assignment is in regards to writing space and what method of writing do we prefer. For me it depends where my mindset is to where I write and what method I use to write.

When I blog, I obviously use a computer. Actually, use a laptop. Most of the time, am home when I decide to blog like I am now. There are a few occasions where I am not home when I blog. Those are times when I am out of town for whatever reason. A couple of times I have blogged from a city part here in Seattle as well as when I was in Olympia (Washington) visiting family.

When it comes to journaling I usually use a pencil with a journal that has paper in it. It doesn’t matter where I am when I journal. I have been known to journal on the city bus. When I journal it is usually when I have something on my mind that is really bothering me however I do journal at least once a week to just say how my week went. One of my favorite places to journal is when I am near a water like a river or ocean.

I don’t have much more to say about the space I write in. My cat tends to want to “help” me write whenever I blog or journal. We all know that cats just want to get attention when we are try to do something. I love my cat.

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

Posted on by Gertie

Image result for eleanor roosevelt quotes

Today’s assignment is to hook all of you with a quote so I decided to post a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. The above quote is one of my favorite quotes because I believe I can accomplish my dreams and that is my future. If it weren’t for believing I can succeed then I wouldn’t have any hope. It is hard to write about this quote as I feel like it is pretty self explanatory.

Okay, Who Decided to Send Me Snow for My Birthday

Posted on by Gertie

IMG_0447

Good Evening, World!!! The above picture is what it looked like a good portion of the day. It snowed today, my 40th birthday. I have experienced snow before but never on my birthday. I have considered myself as a “spring baby” but every once in a while Mother Nature reminds me that I am technically a “winter baby.” When Mother Nature reminds me that I am a “winter baby” it usually is a wind storm with lots of rain and a few down trees and the occasional power outage but never snow.  In fact, I am still trying to figure out who sent me the snow for my birthday because, I sure in the hell didn’t want the white stuff for my birthday. I am not a big fan of snow.

Besides dealing with the snow for my birthday, I attended Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group as it started today. In my opinion I think getting back into DBT Group and it starting today was the best birthday present I could give myself. I say it is the be present I could give myself because it is something that will help me throughout the years to come just like it has helped me the last fifteen plus years.

Another thing I am doing for my birthday is that a couple of neighbors are making a birthday dinner for me. In fact dinner is at 7:30 this evening and it is just after seven o’clock in the evening in my part of the world. I am looking forward to dinner with friends. I am happy that people are willing to celebrate my birthday with me.

I do not have much more to say in this post. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope you all have a good rest of your Thursday. Peace Out, World!!!