Hello, World!!! There are many ways I would like to improve my community. The two ways that I would like to improve my community that popped up into my head was helping people with their recovery with mental health challenges and/or substances plus helping animals. Helping both animals and people at the same time is possible. I would improve helping animals by helping companion animals such as dogs and cats to their furrever home which is something I do when I volunteer at a local animal shelter. Another way I can improve my community is to go back to work in the mental health field to help people with their recovery once my own mental health improves a little more. Hell, I don’t need to work to do that, I can just reach out to friends who struggle. I can also just stop and talk with someone who is asking for food or money even if I don’t have either to help the person. There are several ways to improve your community, you just have to find at least one that you are passionate about to help.
Tag Archives: Community
The Importance of Respecting People’s Pronouns
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!!!
Attending a Late Night 12-Step Meeting
Happy Friday, Again, World. It is pretty late on for me to attend an a 12-step meeting. I will be attending Adult Children of Alcoholics (and dysfunctional families. I haven’t gone in a while a will consider my new ACA birthday. I am not a big fan of 12step meeting but ACA doesn’t fee like the typical 12step program is is more recovery focused on the individual than the person that is alcoholic or dysfunctional. It’s has a lot of recovery related language which is why I I think I enjoy it. Of course my cat will be attending with me as he as been being more of a love but than he usually is.
Attending ACA meeting is my way to continue my recovery process and my recovery is extremely important to me, Being active recovery is what helps me stay stable to I can work as a peer specialist or peer counselor. Any skills I can get will help me be able to help others.
I am grateful that I found Adult Children of Alcoholics and dysfunctional families last year but stopped going so today Friday, February 4th, 2022 will be my new birthday. I really like the support the get from ACA/ACOA.
Thank you for listening to me and supporting me in one of my 2022 goals. I don’t have much more to say 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 wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I am also that 12Step meeting are now online due to the stupid pandemic. Peace Out, World!!!
Friday is Nearly Over & I Need to Update You on the Conference I Attended
I realize that this post is a wee bit late as what I am a bout to talk about is an amazing conference that I attended with fellow peer specialist. Peer Specialist that are very near and dear to my heart. With out the encouragement from these amazing people I don’t think I would have even imagined receiving what I received as I personally think other peer deserving of was I received. I received an award that I don’t I think should have been given to me but that is my own insecurities getting to me. I think I am proud of myself for receiving it.
As far as the rest of the conference went, it went well. I was able to receive some new networks in my pocket as well as well as reconnect with others. The peer community is an amazing set of people you can ever meet. You make forever friends in the peer community and each one of them is a precious person.
The best part is when this group of people believe in the work that you do that they think you deserve an award that your fellow peers nominate you for. So thank you for the award even though many others deserve it as well.
Sadly, the conference was done virtually so it was on via Zoom. There were some glitches but that is okay because it helps up peers to be more resilient.
Thank you for the award and am grateful that I was honored for the award. I would like to thank you my reader for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you read my blog. If it were not for my reading I would not be blogging. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead of you. Peace Out, World!!!
Everyday Inspiration; Day 2: Write A List
Things I’ve Learned In Recovery
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills
- Setting boundaries
- The love my family has for me
- Friends and family I can depend on
- To not take life too seriously
- Some days are going to be tougher than other days and that is okay
- Mistakes are teachable moments as well as lessons learned
- It’s okay if the only I thing do is get out of bed; some days are going to be like that
- Helping others helps me; but make sure I put myself first or I might not be able to help others in a health way
- Working helps me with my recovery and gives me a sense of purpose
- Volunteering not only helps with my depression and other diagnosis it helps the community at large
- Building a community the accepts me as me
- Being in more that one community is a good thing
- Having an emotional support animal (ESA) to take care to help with depression (currently my cat, Billie Dean)
- Doing self care is not selfish
Sunday Afternoon, Ramblings
Good Afternoon, World!!! So far today has been a great day and it is 12:39pm. It being 12:39pm means the day is technically half over. Anyway as I state so far today has been a great day.
I started off the day with a mindfulness meditation from the Calm app. After that I then worked on The Mindfulness Workbook for about forty-five minutes before going to volunteer at PAWS Cat City. I love volunteering so much as I am giving back to a community I love. The animal welfare community is small like the mental health community.
I forgot to tell you a couple of things yesterday evening in my weekly check-in. The first thing is that I am learning Spanish through Duolingo. I’m having fun with it as well as finding challenging enough for me to continue to do it. I’m even practicing with people I know who speak Spanish even though it is very limited on my part.
The second thing I forgot to mention was that I opened a savings account to save money to do things I want and want to do. I haven’t had a savings account in years and am happy that I am able to have one. Yes, I have had a checking account but not savings account. While, I was at the bank yesterday opening a savings account, I found out what my credit score was and was told by the banker that “its a really good score.” I was happily shocked by my credit score. Anyway, I am glad opened a savings account to save money.
I don’t have much more to say 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 read my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!
Intro to Poetry; Day 5; Imperfect
Untitled Poem
by Gertie
The state of American politics is beyond maddening,
It is more saddening,
as the shittyness of all this will put us all in the loony bin.
Or maybe we just need a different way to screen out the rogue politician.
The politician that is driving most of America to the brinks of insanity,
is having us all rethink of ways to build back our community
and in a good way.
The Communities I Call Family
Good Morning, World!!! As I sit here at work, I cannot help but think of how certain people become like family to you. I’ll use work as an example. When you work with people everyday, you become like family. For instance, the Saturday night shelter crew has each other’s backs when needed. We build one another up. I guess I say my colleagues are like family because we check up on each other even when we are off work.
My work colleagues aren’t the only family I have. Another family I have happens to be the community I have created while volunteering at PAWS. Specifically, PAWS Cat City and folks on my volunteer shift. That includes both employees and other volunteers. I guess my love for cats and other animals have helped me find more people to call family.
Besides my work and volunteer family, I will have to say my neighbors are family. As dysfunctional as we are in my apartment building we are a type of family. We may not always get along but when something happens we are there for each other; like families should be.
Then last but not least, my cat is family. Lil Gertie, the cat that crossed the rainbow bridge on Thanksgiving Day of last year (2019) was and still is considered my family. She was there when people let me down. Hell, she is still with me. She is my guardian angel. I truly believe that Lil Gertie played a major role in the adoption of my current cat, Billie Dean. I say this because Lil Gertie had two crinkly ears and Billie has one crinkly ear. I also believe that both Lil Gertie and Billie chose me to be their family. Being chosen by an animal to be their furrever family is an honor. I am beyond grateful that I was Lil Gertie’s family for the last year and a half of her life. She will always have special place in my heart. I am also beyond grateful that Billie is my family. I am grateful to call my cat family.
As I end this particular blog post, I hope you all ponder about who or what you call family in this life. For me family is a melting pot of people (and animals) that come into my life in various ways like I mentioned in this post. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you chose to read my blog even if this is the only post you ever read of my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I hope everyone has an awesome Sunday ahead of them. Peace Out, World!!!
Feeling Good About Volunteering
Good Afternoon, World!!! So, my last blog post was in regards to my anxiety regards to my new volunteer job at an animal shelter. It is the same animal shelter where I adopted my beloved cat, Lil Gertie. The staff and most of the volunteers where I adopted Lil Gertie, remembers her and have given me their condolences.
In fact, I already feel like I am apart of the the “family” where I volunteer at. They are so accepting and caring. When I arrived for my first shift there was a “welcome to the family” card signed by staff and volunteers.
Anyway to get on to my first day, I volunteer at a local animal shelter that is known well to the Seattle area. I volunteer at PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) satellite cat adoption center; PAWS Cat City. PAWS main location is in Lynnwood where they have a wildlife center as well as an adoption center where they adopt both cats and dogs. Like I said I volunteer at PAWS Cat City which is in the city of Seattle and is a satellite center where they adopt cats only.
The community where PAWS Cat City is located is awesome. Many of the the volunteers at Cat City are college students and they are protective of Cat City as they should be. But the thing I find heartwarming is that the homeless community is just as protective as the college student community and it is something both of these completely different communities can agree on. In fact the homeless community makes sure that the block Cat City is on as well as the alley is kept clean and makes sure it doesn’t get tagged up. In fact the homeless community have even helped with preventing any crimes against PAWS Cat City. I find this heartwarming because my paid job is working with the homeless community so I feel like I am where I am suppose to be with volunteering at Cat City.
I hope to be able to take some pictures of available cats to post them here but I am not sure what the policy is. So that means, I am waiting on a response to an email to see if it would be okay. If it turns out to be okay then I will post pictures. I most likely would post pictures of cats that have been at Cat City the longest as I want good homes for them.
I do not have much more to say as I do not want to become repetitive. I want to thank each one of you for reading blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I hope everyone has a great Friday. Mostly importantly I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. For those who live in the Seattle area, I would like to remind you all to be safe if it starts snowing. Peace Out, World!!!
Despite How I Was Feeling, Thankfully, I Was Not Hospitalized
Good Evening, World!!! If you read my last post you know that I was in an extremely bad place. A bad place to where I needed to take myself to the hospital to keep myself safe. I was in the emergency room for thirteen hours and my therapist and I agreed that I did not be on an inpatient psych unit and that I could have a two appointments with him this week. Our usual scheduled appointment for today (Tuesday) and another one on Thursday before my DBT group. So after seeing my therapist in the hospital emergency room yesterday (Monday), I was able to get discharged from the hospital.
Now that it is Tuesday afternoon, I would like to tell you that I attended both of my scheduled appointments today. The first one was with my therapist and end up being an hour and a half appointment which was very productive. We discussed a number of things in regards to the increasing symptoms of my mental health challenges.
I also say my employment specialist who we both like to consider her more of a career coach than an employment specialist because she is more of a career coach for me than an employment specialist. Yes, there is a difference between the two but I can no put words to it at the moment. She is helping me find a career in the field I want to be in.
Both my Career Coach and my Therapist suggested I read books that would be educational for me. The type of books the you would buy for college courses. They both agreed it would be quite helpful with my spare time and even more helpful for me when I am working a twelve hour overnight shift, it could help keep me busy during the boring moments of my job. Reading books geared toward classes for colleges students will help me educate myself and be an informal education.
My therapist loves the fact that I have a goal to read at least one book month for pleasure. He thinks it is a great idea that I am actually scheduling it into my day to read. Another thing my therapist is pleased about is that I am doing a daily gratitude list every morning. He informed me today “despite your current set backs, you are also making some progress with willing to try do others things to help with your recovery.” So I guess despite all the set backs I guess I am making some sort of progress with willing to do things to help myself out when I would normally not be willing to do.
I am extremely grateful that saw my therapist and career coach today. It really helped me realize that despite feeling the way I did, I really didn’t need to be in a psych ward at the moment. Being in the community is what is best for me. My therapist did say if things get worse then hospitalization might have to be an option but right now it is not as being in the community is the best option for me.
I don’t have much more to say. Thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday evening. Peace Out, World!!!
Gertie's Journey 
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