Tag Archives: Blogging

Poetry, Day Four: Journey

Posted on by Gertie

Fork in the Road

by Gertie

There is a fork in the road

Which way to go.

Continue on the miserable journey you already know

or choose the one less traveled one.

What the hell?

It couldn’t be any worse than the journey,

I’m already on.

Turns out that fork in road changed

my life I would have never imagined.

A life worth living.

A life in recovery.

Something that wouldn’t have happened if

I didn’t have that fork in the road

to choose what recovery journey I wanted to take.

Poetry, Day Three: Friend

Posted on by Gertie

Untitled Poem

by Gertie

Looking back on life,

its the friends that helped me through the rough moments.

Friends that have become family

and accepted me as me;

no matter what life throws at us

our friendship will always

be strong.

Poetry, Day Two: Face

Posted on by Gertie

Face Full of Pain

by Gertie

Look at their face,

you wont see the pain that they hide.

Look at their arms full of scars,

you might get a hint of the pain,

they deal with everyday.

You don’t care

as you fear they might

harm you.

Look at their face,

deep inside their eyes,

then and only then

you will see the pain

they are really in.

Poetry, Day One: Water

Posted on by Gertie

A Sense of Peace

by Gertie

Water brings a peace.

A peace nothing else can bring.

Peace that brings freedom.

Improving My Blogging Skills, Once Again

Posted on by Gertie

I’ve been thinking a great deal over the past week about doing one of WordPress’s courses on blogging.  I’ve decided I’m going be re-taking WordPress’s “Intro To Poetry.” I took it a few years ago and enjoy it immensely so I’ve decided to take it again.

As you may already know if you read my blog on the regular basis is that, I’ve been struggling with blogging the last seven or so months due to a relapse in my mental health diagnosis. I figure if I do one of the blogging courses that it will help me get back into blogging on the regular basis. If I blog on the regular basis then maybe, things will start improving a lot more in regards to my mental health.

I apologize for the short post but it is goal to keep you the reader, reading. Have an good week everyone. Peace out!!!

Middle of the Night Ramblings

Posted on by Gertie

It’s the middle of the night in my part of the world. I woke up with a stupid nightmare. A nightmare that was a little bit more challenging that the typical PTSD nightmare I usually deal with. The nightmare was that of four babies saying I killed them. Diana, my former therapist, thought that it is my subconscious attempting to deal with the miscarriages of two sets of twins. It makes sense especially since I blame myself for the miscarriages even though the doctors don’t have a clue or a reason for the miscarriage.

Despite still dealing with the grief of two miscarriages of two sets of twins, Junior and I still want to start a family. We aren’t exactly trying to have children but we aren’t using any type of birthday control or protection either. If it happens, it happens. Whether or not we conceive and have biological children we want to adopt at least two children from foster care. We have a lot of love to give and want to share that love with the world.

Okay, on to another subject as I’m not wanting to deal with the grief of miscarrying two sets of twins. So, I’m going to talk about blogging. As I informed you in my last post, I have been blogging for three years now. I was really good at blogging on the regular basis when I first started and when I started working fulltime I didn’t make time to blog and then I became depressed and lost all interest in everything including blogging. Now that I don’t work anymore, I need to make an effort to blog on the regular basis. Most everyone knows that if you blog that blogging on the regular basis is a way to keep your followers reading and to attain new followers. I’m hoping that Junior and Mama Bear will be able to blog from their point of view on my blog at least twice a month each. We all get busy and that’s why they haven’t posted much.

Anyway, that’s enough about the boring topic of blogging. As I switch to yet another topic, I’m not sure how I’m feeling at the moment. I’m not really wanting to deal with the emotions that are popping up currently. I also know if I don’t deal with the emotions and stuff them that’s when unhealthy coping mechanisms pop up.

As my emotions pop up, I realize I need to end this post and try to go back to sleep as I have an appointment with my case manager. Before I go back to bed I plan on coloring first so I can relax. Have good night and peace out!!!

It’s Been Three Years

Posted on by Gertie

Wow!!! It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since I started blogging. The last three years have just flown. Hell, a lot has happened in the last three years.

When I started this blog I had no clue what I was doing. I still don’t have a clue on what I am doing. It was and still is my goal of this blog to educate those who do not struggle with a mental health condition that those who do live with one can live a productive life and to give hope to those who do live with a mental health condition that recovery is possible. Little did I know when I started blogging on how much it would be helpful to me and my recovery.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that my recovery means the world to me. Blogging has helped me a great deal in many ways especially in regards to my recovery.

As you can tell, I am big into recovery. The reason why I am big into recovery is because as difficult as it is to be in recovery its also that much easier to be in it than it is not to be in it. It’s also a lot more fun. Granted, I may not be bouncing back as quickly as I have in recent years but I’m still in recovery as I am taking care of myself.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you my reader and/or follower. Have a good Hump Day (Wednesday) and Peace Out!!!

Depression Vs. Blogging

Posted on by Gertie

As I sit here struggling to blog, I realize that this ongoing bought of depression is what has been hindering me with blogging.  I realized early on in my blogging days (and I think I’m still pretty green at it) that it actually helps me manage the symptoms of my mental health conditions. With all honesty it came to me as a complete shock to me because I was expecting to help others with their recovery as well as educate those who don’t live with a mental health condition and not necessarily help me along my recovery path.

The recovery path I want to be back on is one that I know what helps me even when I am in a most vulnerable state like I am in now. I don’t like admitting that I am in a vulnerable state. I guess on a plus side of it is, that I want others to see that people are in recovery do go backwards and end up back on their feet again.

I am hoping as I slowly get back on my feet that I will be active in blogging as it helps with my depression symptoms as well as the other symptoms of other mental health conditions I am diagnosed with. Actually, if I want to get back on my feet one of the many ways is to be active in blogging.  Unfortunately, blogging is going to take a lot of effort for me to blog as my depression is still acting up and my concentration isn’t all that great. At the risk of repeating myself for the millionth time, blogging has helped me a great deal with my own recovery which is why I will give every attempt to blog once a week and hopefully have Mama Bear or Junior do a guest piece once a week. I know from experience if I post regularly it keeps people interested even if my depression is acting up. As you read in my previous post my thinking doesn’t always help my emotions and vise versa. That’s why I am wanting to blog more as it helps with processing my thoughts.

As, I end this post please take a moment of silence for those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom. For those of you who regularly read my blog and don’t live in the United States, today is Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a day where remember those who lost their lives fight for our freedom. As you enjoy your time with your friends and family today don’t forget those who made that time with your loved ones possible. Happy Memorial, everyone and Peace Out!!!

The Tale of Blogger Woes

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I want to apologize for not following through with what I had planned to do with my blog. As you all know life can get in the way at times. It also doesn’t help that I have been a little discombobulated.

The last few weeks haven’t been the easiest for me but I realized once again how important it is for me to be blogging. As, I have said many times before I need to keep a regular schedule when it comes to blogging. I am also needing to get on both my contributing authors for writing on their scheduled days. For me setting up a schedule for my blog will be helpful especially since I want to keep you the reader reading.

My rough idea’s for a schedule is as follows:

Sundays: Nothing in particular scheduled for this day.

Mondays: Nothing in particular scheduled for this day.

Tuesdays: Educational Piece. This will be dedicated to educating you my reader on mental health related stuff. It might be on a specific diagnosis or a treatment that is specific to a diagnosis or even a news article regarding the topic of mental illness or recovery.

Wednesdays: Junior. Junior will be writing on this particular day. For those of you who may not know, Junior is my fiancé. He will be writing from his point of view what it is like to be a support person of someone who lives with a mental illness as well as the first responder point of view. He is a firefighter.

Thursdays: Weekly Writing Prompts. This will be writing prompts that I have from a Writers Magazine and a Journal or any other source I am able to access writing prompts. The prompts might be pieces of fiction or based on my life.

Fridays: Mama Bear. Mama Bear is a woman who works with Junior and who has taken me under her wing. She has taken on the mother role in my life. She will be writing from the point of view on that of a support system to someone who lives with a mental illness. She will also be writing from the point of view as mother who has children who lives with mental illness as well that of a first responder. She too, is firefighter.

Saturdays: Weekly Check-In. This will be a where I check-in with you my reader to tell you how my week went and how I am doing over all.

I will also be having a friend of mine doing a monthly contribution. Of course, I will be blogging on the two days I have nothing scheduled as well when there is something scheduled. It is my hope that this will keep you reading my blog as well as keep you following my blog if you follow it. Have a wonderful evening everyone. Peace Out!!!

The Not So Interesting Topic of Blogging

Posted on by Gertie

I know I have discussed this multiple times and I am sure you are getting a little tired of me discussing the topic of blogging and getting back into it on the regular basis. So, I’m going to attempt to keep this post short. Note that the word attempt is the key word.

Once again, I decided to sign up for one of the courses WordPress puts on. It’s a five day course focusing on commenting basics. The course is geared toward the person to interact with others on their blogs. In this case that person is me. I realize that part of blogging is making sure I interact with others on their blogs and I have been lacking in that area of blogging. Which is why I am choosing to do the course. Plus, it’s only five days and I know with my work schedule that I would be able to do this.

If you remember a few month back I decided to have Junior my fiancé and the woman I consider a motherly figure, I call Mama Bear write an introduction of themselves because I want them to be able to contribute to my blog. Well, I talked with them again about writing a post once to twice and month and they agreed they would. In fact they both agreed they would post once a week. I am happy that they are willing to post weekly. The links Junior’s and Mama Bears introductions are: https://gertiesjourney.com/2016/05/29/introduction-junior/ and  https://gertiesjourney.com/2016/06/01/introduction-mama-bear/. I hope you take the time to read them.

This leads me to my next idea of making a schedule of posting more regularly. For me having a schedule is key to my recovery and it if having a schedule helps with my recovery it can help with my blog. As of yesterday, Saturday, September 2nd, I will be doing my weekly check-ins on Saturday mornings. Starting Wednesday, September 7th, Mama Bear will be posting on Wednesdays. Starting Friday, September 9th, Junior will posting on Fridays. Starting Sunday, September 11th I will be posting an educational piece on mental illness or a news article or story related to mental illness. Starting Monday, September 12th I will be getting back in my weekly prompts of writing fiction. From my end the only two days that need to be filled in regards to blogging are Tuesdays and Thursdays and I will be figuring out what to do for the remaining two days. At this point in time there will be no rush in figuring out what exactly will be on Tuesday and Thursdays because, I just want to make sure the I get into the groove with the new blogging schedule as well as reminding both Junior and Mama Bear to blog regularly so they can get in the groove of blogging as well.

I just hope I don’t let you my reader down if things don’t go as I plan. The reason for plan of having a regular schedule is because, I don’t want you my reader to get bored with my blog or to loose interest in my blog. I know I have stopped reading blogs because I have lost interest in them. Mainly, due to the fact that they don’t post on the regular basis. So, if I am posting on the regular basis, I hope people won’t loose interest.

Enough about me and my need find ways to keep my blogging active. I hope I didn’t bore you, although I am sure I did. I hope you have a nice and peaceful rest of your Sunday. Peace out, everyone.