Tag Archives: Blogging

Everyday Inspiration; Day 1: I Write Because…

Posted on by Gertie

I write for several reasons. Reasons that are personal to me in which I will share with you. I started my blog for several reasons. Reasons that I have mentioned many times before and will share with you again in this post and most likely again in future post.

I originally started blogging for two reasons. The first reason was and continues to educate those who do not live with a mental health challenge in hopes to help end the stigma for those who have a mental health diagnosis as well as to show those who do not have one that we who do have one can live productive lives. The second reason why is to give people who do live with a mental health challenge that there is hope and that recovery is possible. Hope is one of the things that is needed for those who live with a challenge and it my hope that I can be a beacon of hope to those who are struggling.

Little did I know when I started blogging that it would be helpful to me. Helpful in ways I never imagined and am beyond grateful for. Blogging has helped realize how to find a voice that I didn’t realize I had. It helped me find life long friends. Blogging has been a type of therapy for me. It also helped me an advocate for others as well as myself.

So as you can see blogging about mental health is why I write. I continue to write on my blog because of you my reader, my audience. If it wasn’t for you I don’t think I would continue to to blog.

I don’t have much more to write about on this post as I feel like I got straight to the point. I want to thank you may audience for reading my blog. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be writing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Peace Out, World!!!

A Random Wednesday Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I am struggling at the moment with writing my resignation letter for work. I am not sure why I am struggling with writing it as I have written one before. I am think I am struggling with it because I have some pretty awesome colleagues, a supervisor that is extremely supportive and I do enjoy what I do. The main reason I am resigning is because its an on-call position that is a twelve hour over night shift. I think if I had a regular schedule that the twelve hour night shift wouldn’t be so bad. The job schedule is affecting my mental health and that is not a good thing for me.

As much as I am dreading writing my resignation letter for work, I am looking forward to the free blogging courses I will be taking through WordPress. I signed up for three courses and have taken all three of them before. The courses I signed up for are Finding Everyday Inspiration, which is a twenty day course, Developing Your Eye 1 which is a ten day course and Intro to Poetry which is a ten day course. I am not sure if I am going do them consecutively or at the same time. I’m thinking I will do Finding Everyday Inspiration as I do one of the other courses at the same time and when finished with one I’ll do the other since two of them are ten days each. But at this point in time I am not exactly sure how I am going to work the courses.

I do not have much more to say. I do want to thank you for reading my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Improving My Blogging Skills

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is five o’clock in the morning in my corner of the world and I still have not been to sleep yet which is extremely frustrating. As frustrating as it is to not be able to sleep due to insomnia, it does have its pros. Granted there are not very many pros to having insomnia or not being able to sleep but there are some. One of those pros to having insomnia is being able to think of ways to be creative and/or do things when you are not able to sleep or even to do during “normal” waking hours. One of those things that I could do and will do is to improve my blogging skills. You may ask how I will do this and the answer is that WordPress offers free courses on blogging. The three that I have chosen, I have done before and really enjoyed participating in them. I am not sure I will being doing the courses concurrently or back to back. Two of the courses are ten days long and on is twenty days long so I could technically do both concurrently and back to back if I do the twenty day course while I do one ten day course and when that one is finished I can do the next ten day course. I guess, I will figure out how I am going in regards to the courses I am going to take.

I guess you are wondering what courses I am going to be taking to improve my blogging skills. I will tell you what courses I will be taking and why I am taking them and what I hope to learn from each course. The twenty day course I am signed up for is “Finding Everyday Inspiration” and for this course I hope to not only be inspired to write daily but to be inspired to write about the things I experience in this world or even things that can inspire others.  The other course I am taking is a photography course called “Developing Your Eye.” In this course I hope to learn a different form of art through photography and being show you how I see the world around me with the picture I take and share with you. The third course I signed up for is “Intro to Poetry”  and I hope to learn different way to write a poem and hope that I can create poetry to share with you my reader and the rest of the world.

It is my hope that signing up for these three course that it will help me build some structure in my life. Structure that will become more of a routine for me. Building structure and routine with blogging will ultimately help me with my blog as well as having set times on when I will blog and not have it feel like a chore. There have been times where blogging felt more like a chore than anything and am wanting to have fun with my blog with creating some form of structure with it and think this is a good way to start building the structure I need for my life personally as well as  for my blog. I hope this paragraph makes some sense. If no, I hope you my reader will let me know.

I really don’t have much more to say about this. I just hope you my reader will continue to read what I have to say. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. So thank you for reading my blog. Have a good Tuesday everyone. Peace Out, World!!!

So Far a Good but Uneventful Day

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! Today has been pretty uneventful which I consider a good thing. I consider it good thing because I was able to do some things that I was able to enjoy as well as a couple of things that I needed to do.

The things I needed to do weren’t exactly the most fun things to do but thankfully didn’t take much of my day to do. I needed to do my daily check-in with my therapist. Today’s daily check-in was via phone and lasted for a half an hour. My therapist and I didn’t have our check-in till just after four in the afternoon due to him having to “deal with multiple crisis’s with other clients.” That is okay with me because at least I know I am not in crisis and the check-in’s are to help prevent a crisis especially since my mental health symptoms are increasing. We discussed how my weekend was and what I did over the weekend. We also discussed meds and the potential of needing to pick them up two to three times a week instead of weekly. I am pretty sure picking up my meds more often is going to happen which I am not a fan of but am okay with it as long as it is at the pharmacy I have been going to for the last nineteen years. My therapist did ask if I had picked up my meds for the week and I informed him that I did pick them up. In fact picking up my meds were the only other thing that I actually needed to do besides that obvious of taking care of my cat, Lil Gertie.

I love my cat, Lil Gertie. Lil Gertie has been laying on my chest or lap more as of lately. I am not sure why but I am grateful for it. I do know when she sits on my chest it is because I am having an anxiety attack or about to have one. This helps me to realize this and makes me aware of my breathing. In fact as I am writing this blog on my laptop, Lil Gertie is laying on my chest purring up a storm. I love that fact the she has been laying on my lap or chest more often. It appears to be helping the both of us and the best part is that my anxiety hasn’t been as high as it has been in the past.

I pretty much only did two things today besides my check-in with my therapist, getting my meds and blogging. Those two things were doing some form of art while listening to a podcast. In fact I am listening to a podcast that discusses the topic of philosophy. I find the topic of philosophy very interesting. The specific podcast I am listening to is Philosophize This. I am personally enjoying it especially when I am doing art. In fact while listening to Philosophize This today I have been doing some art. Mainly, I have been coloring but did complete one painting and started another painting. I think maybe taking a picture or two of the art work I have been doing to show you all would be a good idea as whenever I include a picture of anything on my blog post I tend to get more traffic on my blog but I want to post my art work so you can enjoy it and not for the increased traffic to my blog.

I do not have much more to say except I should get going so I can eat some dinner as it is dinner time. I also want to thank you for reading my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great work week ahead of them. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

A Sunny Monday In Seattle

Posted on by Gertie

Happy Monday and Good Morning, World!!! I realize it has been a week since I last blogged. Sadly, I have also realized that at this point in time I am not blog on average of three times a week as I had stated in a New Years goal I want to accomplish for 2019. I, say an average of three times a week as life happens and I might not be able to write multiple times a week. Even though it is two days before May Day (May 1st), I can still accomplish the goal of blogging an average of three times a week this year as the year isn’t even half over yet.

Since we are on the topic of not blogging I do have a legitimate excuse for not blogging for nearly a week. Long story short I live in a “secure building” and as I was unlocking my door to my apartment someone came up from behind me from a stairwell hardly nobody uses and shove me into my apartment. While in my apartment, the person physically assaulted me and I personally thing he would have sexually assaulted me if given the chance as he attempted to pull down the pants I had on at the time. I started screaming and at this time from my understanding two neighbors called 911. One of the neighbors who called 911 then knocked on my door which scared the person physically assaulting me and the dude went running down the hall. This is when I called 911. I did inform the 911 dispatcher that I needed medical attention as I was hit in the head with a hammer. The dispatcher kept me on the phone till the fire department came to my door. The firefighters asked where the police were and I said “I have no clue” and they then radioed their dispatcher asking for Seattle Police to come to the scene. Long story short, it took Seattle Police officer 45 minutes from the first 911 call to finally show up. The police figure printed my door and the fire department took me to the closest hospital for treatment. I have a concussion.

Due to the concussion I have been laying low and doing a lot of self care. Self care that include a lot of things, one of which involve an art class I signed up for that is free for folks who are involved with certain programs. I, signed up for an art class called “Beginning Comics Storytelling” and it started last Friday (April 26th). I really think I am going to enjoy it. I am grateful that it is free and that I qualify for taking it. I am looking forward what I am going to learn in this class.

I have also done many other things to do self care which I may or may not discuss in another post as staring at my laptop screen is causing me to get another headache due to the concussion I have from the assault I experienced last week. Headaches suck shit but headaches due to a concussion suck shit even more.

I am going to go for now. The weather is wonderful today in Seattle and I want to enjoy it for multiple reasons. Plus, it is a great form of self care to enjoy the sun. I love when the Seattle weather is awesome like today.

I hope everyone has a great day. I also want to thank you all for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things and hope you all continue to read my blog. I hope everyone has a good work week. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Check-In

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It is Saturday and that means it is time for my weekly check-in. I honestly don’t have much to check-in about as nothing really eventful happened. Also, nothing interesting didn’t happen that I haven’t already blogged about.

I am hoping that I will get back into the habit of blogging again. I think I need to schedule it into my day as it will help me build the structure I need. I need the structure to help me with my recovery. Blogging has also prove helpful to my recovery.

I am planning on playing cards with some neighbors in a few moments. My depression has been acting up and isolation is been something has been creeping back. So that is why I am going down to the community room to play a card game or two with neighbors who are friends of mine.

I do not have much more to say. Thank you so much for reading my blog. It it greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you for reading my blog. I hope everyone has a good rest of their Saturday. I also hope every has a great rest of their 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!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 1: I Write Because…

Posted on by Gertie

I write because of the fact that people still need hope that recovery from a mental health challenge is possible and in hopes that people who don’t have a mental health challenge, that I show them that we who suffer from a mental health challenge are just like everyone else. I hope to help in the stigma that goes along with mental health challenges.

When I initially started to blog, I wrote in hopes to help in the stigma that goes with having a mental health diagnosis as well as to be a beacon of hope to those who do have a mental health diagnosis that recovery is possible. I still write for the above mentioned reasons. I, however didn’t realize until a year into blogging that is therapeutic for me to write about my mental health challenges so that is yet another reason why I continue to write as well as blogging.

I really do enjoy writing on my blog and hope that it helps others just as much as it helps me. I really do appreciate those who read my blog as if it weren’t for my regular readers I don’t think I would continue writing on my blog.

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

As I mentioned in a previous post last night (Saturday), I am starting to post my weekly plans again on Sundays. Well, it it Sunday and time for me to post my weekly plans.

My weekly plans are as follows:

Sunday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Lunch with friends
  • Household chores
  • Binge watch a television show

Monday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Art group
  • Get weekly meds
  • Laundry

Tuesday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Therapy
  • Appointment with employment specialist

Wednesday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Open Communication group
  • Schedule a time to get my taxes done

Thursday

  • Happy 40th Birthday to me
  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • DBT Group
  • Birthday Dinner with friends

Friday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Word nerds group
  • Belated birthday dinner with family

Saturday

  • Blog
  • Meditation and Mindfulness practice
  • Workbook
  • Household chores
  • Binge watch a television show

Getting Back In The Habit

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It is me again. I did end up fixing some spaghetti for dinner and invited my friend from across the hall from me in my apartment building over. My friend was extremely grateful for the invite, the food and the company. We discussed a lot of topics. One which is crucial for my mental health and that is structure. As we discussed structure it occurred to me that I need to blog more and make sure it is scheduled into my day. In fact I brought up my blog to my neighbor and how I need to schedule it into my daily life. He a great suggestion of having an accountability partner and he offered to be my accountability partner for my blog and I his accountability partner for him exercising.  So, not only did I have great company for dinner, it turned into something that will be helpful for me in regards to my blog and mental health, an accountability partner.

So, now that I had time to do the dishes and to think about how to get back into the habit of blogging on the regular basis, I realize that if I do one of WordPress’s courses, it would and will be helpful. I know this from past experiences. I am planing on doing a course I have already done and plan on starting it on Monday. I plan on doing the course “Finding Your Everyday Inspiration.” It is a twenty day course and I have been told that it takes at least twenty one days to create habit. Some studies say it can take sixty days to create habit but the twenty day course will help me either way with creating a habit of blogging on the more regular basis.

Another thing I will start doing in regard to blogging is doing a Weekly Plans post every Sunday and a Weekly Check-In every Saturday. The Weekly Plans will start tomorrow (Sunday) and the Weekly Check Ins will start back up on Saturday March 9th. When I did this in the past I found it helpful for my mental health as well as keeping you my reader interested in continuing to read my blog.

I don’t have much more to say about my plans to blog more as many of you have hear this before from me. The only difference this time around is that I have an accountability partner. Oh yeah, I am also scheduling it and putting it into my calendar. I hope this time I actually follow through with it and hope you all can hold me accountable as well.

I don’t have much more to say. Thank you for reading my blog. It is very much appreciated from my end of things. I appreciate each one of you for reading. Thank you again for reading my blog. Have great rest of you Saturday night. Peace Out, World!!!