Tag Archives: Mental Health

11:00 pm Randomness

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It is eleven o’clock at night in my corner of the world. I went to a work training this evening and enjoyed it immensely. Talking about work I was asked earlier today (Wednesday) if I could cover someone’s shift tomorrow (Thursday) night and I said yes. I need the hours and extra money. It is going to be my first shift by myself and I am okay with that. At least I know that there will be two other staff members downstairs managing the emergency shelter that if I need help that I will be able to get it. So, even though I am sleepy right now and could maybe fall asleep, I am trying to stay up all night so I can sleep tomorrow during the day. Like I have said before my shifts are at night. They are from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am. So, I figure if I stay awake tonight I can sleep tomorrow and manage to stay awake during my twelve hour night shift tomorrow (Thursday).

Besides attending a training for work today, I also went to a group therapy session. The group was about communication. I enjoyed the group and I plan on going to it next Wednesday. I am hoping it will help me with my communication skills especially when it comes to health communication.

I not only attended group therapy, I saw my therapist today. We discussed the assault that happened to me at the hospital a few days ago. We also discussed the shooting that happened in front of my apartment building earlier today. We discussed how both can affect my mental health specifically my PTSD.  I really like my therapist and he is really good at his job.

Before I forget I emailed my supervisor and three others from work regarding my disability without divulging too much about it. I discussed with them in the email two my accommodations and will let them know my other accommodations by November 2nd which is in a week and two days. I am proud of myself for letting my employer know about my disability and my needs regarding my disability.

I need to figure out away to stay up all night or at least most of the night so I can sleep during the day tomorrow (Thursday) so I can work effectively Thursday night into Friday morning.  So, if I post a great deal tonight, it is because I am trying to stay awake and not sleep. It will have nothing to do with not being able to not sleep. Who knew blogging would help me stay awake for me to sleep during the day.

Well, I am sure I will be blogging again later tonight. Not sure what I will be blogging about later on but I am sure some of it will be a bunch bullshit nobody really wants to read or hear about. So I hope that the blogging through the night will not only help me but help you my reader.

Thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. It means a lot to me from the bottom of my heart. Again, thank you for reading. I hope all of you have a good nights sleep as I attempt to stay awake so I can sleep during the day tomorrow (Thursday) so I can stay awake for work Thursday night. Good night everyone. Peace Out, World

Phuck Guns; A Shooting Woke Many People Up Including Myself

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I feel asleep binge watching a television show on Netflix like I informed you I was going to do in my last post. Unfortunately, I was woken up by gun shots from outside my apartment building and not the television show that was still playing on Netflix.  No, I will no discuss gun control in this post but might speak of ii in another post.

I looked out my window and saw the shooter still shooting the person who was already on the ground. Unfortunately, the shooting victim didn’t make it but the shooter was thankfully caught with the gun still on their person. I was one of many individuals who called 911. There was but load of police, paramedics and firefighters to deal with what happened in front of my building. Sadly, the shooting victim was a person who lived in my building the person who did the shooting use to live in my apartment build who was recently evicted.

Both the fire department and police departments sent out their Chaplin’s to talk with us who live in my apartment building. Neither the police department nor the fire department had to do that but I am glad they did. They also called out the Red Cross to help us out if we needed to talk with crisis workers. The management company of apartment building I live in is actually bringing crisis workers who deal with this sort of thing. The crisis workers will be here later today and the rest of the week.

Good thing I have my cat to help me through all this even though she was scared of the sound of the gun shots.  She was freaked out but not as freaked out as I thought should would be. She has been by my side ever since the shooting when I have been in my apartment. Lil Gertie, my cat, has been quite helpful for me in regards to trauma, PTSD, depression and other mental health challenges.

Good thing  I am going to group therapy as well as seeing my therapist.  Talking with my therapist about this and everything that has happened this wee with being assaulted in the hospital on Sunday plus the multiple fire alarms will be a great help to me. Being triggered is not a good thing. Even though some of the fire alarms going off over the weekend were due to malfunctions, a couple of the fire alarms were due to actual fires because people started cooking and decided to do drugs and well their stove and/or kitchen caught on fire.

So, yes, I have had quite a week that most likely create more PTSD symptoms as well as trigger other PTSD symptoms. I am happy that I will be seeing my therapist today. Also it is a good thing I have a busy day today as I mention in my last post or maybe the post before my last post.  I am happy that I will be able keep what happened earlier out of my mind a little bit easier today as it is going to be a busy one and I get to see my therapist and spend time with friends later. I also have a work training which will be quite helpful. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the day I am most worried about however I will discuss that with my therapist today and crisis counselors that will be in my apartment building for the rest of the week a maybe part of next week.

Like I said I will not discuss gun control in this particular post but I want you to be forewarned that there might be a post later on in regards to gun control as I am grieving along side with my neighbor of the shooting death of a neighbor. Please keep me and my neighbors in your thoughts and send out positive thoughts and vibes our way and maybe even prayers. I am not praying person but it never hurts to ask for them.

Thank you so much for reading my blog especially this one since it is a triggering one as well as a very lengthy post. I appreciate that you all read my blog. I hope everyone has a good Wednesday. Peace Out, World!!!

Two O’clock in the Morning Bullshit

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is two o’clock in the morning in my corner of the world and all I have to say is a bunch of bullshit for being in the middle of the night. Bullshit that is nothing but a bunch of randomness. I, of course obviously can not sleep if I am blogging at this time of night. I did get a few hours of sleep in since I posted my last post which is a good thing.

Right now, with the way I things are going I have to make sure I use my Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills. My DBT skill have helped me a great deal over the last seventeen years. Yes, the DBT skills helped me in both the good a bad times. Right now my DBT skills are helping me with being somewhere in the middle of good and bad.

One of the things I am going to do is do some art work. I have been working a great deal on combining two genres of art and this painting and collaging. As awesome as it has been combining the two genres, I feel like now is not the time to work on neither painting or collaging and even both. So the art the I am going to focus on right now is coloring. Coloring is a mindfulness skill for me and it is quite meditative to me.

Speaking mindfulness and meditation I will also be doing some mindfulness and meditation practices. As they help me put me in a better place than I am in even if I am in a great place.

I, of course will be doing some binge watching some television tonight. Not sure what show I will be watching but it will be on one of the streaming sites a subscribe to. That will either be Netflix or Hulu but again not sure what type of television I will be watching. Hell, I might even watch a movie instead of television. I am pretty sure you don’t like the ads on my blog as I don’t either but I don’t get paid till I hit $100 and I am barely at $50. So once I get paid I will take of the advertisements off of my blog. So please click on the advertisements once or twice a week so I can get the $100 I need to get paid so I can get gifts for friends and family for the holiday season.

Again, I want to bring up some bullshit I keep bringing up in recent post and hope that you can do me the favor of clicking on the advertisements that appear on my blog. Every time someone clicks on an advertisement and lets it load all the way, I get anywhere from a few cent to a couple of dollars.

I want to thank you all for reading my post especially this one since it is a bullshit post. The main bullshit of this post is me asking you to click on the advertisements on my blog as each click does give me money but I don’t receive that money till it hits $100 which sucks but what can I do about it. Nothing. Thank you again for reading my blog as it is much appreciated. I hope you continue to read my and even click on an advertisement or two. Peace Out, World!!!

More Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, once again, World!!! As I mentioned to you in my last two post I slept most of the day due to being in the hospital most of the night last night. Well, I am still quite sleepy and might go to be early. It is only 8:45 in the evening in my corner of the world. So after I am done posting this post I might call it a night.

As many tomorrow is Wednesday and I have a busy day. My day will start with me going to a phone bank to volunteer. Yes, I said phone bank. What I am going to be doing at the phone bank is calling people to remind people to vote. Specifically, asking individuals to vote for certain politicians. Yes, I am volunteering for a particular political party which I won’t disclose due to not wanting to start a political battle on my blog. I just feel like this years mid term elections are extremely import this year. More so than any other mid term election.

After I am done volunteering at the political phone bank I am going to my local mental health agency to not only see my therapist but attend a communications group. I would have saw my therapist today but I slept most of the day due to being in the emergency room all night last night and needed the sleep. Since I am going to be going to see my therapist tomorrow I might as well as attend a new group on healthy communication. I figure that I can always learn something new about communication as I don’t communicate very well at times. So, I’ll be seeing my therapist and attending group therapy.

After attending group and seeing my therapist I will be going out to dinner with some from friends. We are not sure where we are going yet. We just know we are not going to Red Robin even though I would prefer to go to Red Robin.  All I know is I am looking forward to spending time with friends while enjoying some good food.

After a semi early dinner with friends, I will be going to a work training tomorrow evening. I am looking forward to the training as the training is something I haven’t really learned about in previous work training’s at previous employers. The one thing I need to do is look at my work email tomorrow morning so I am all caught up on work related stuff. I am looking forward to the training.

Now that I have informed you on what I am going to do tomorrow, Wednesday, I want to kindly remind you of something which I have already done recently. That reminder is that I have advertisements on my blog. I have those advertisements on my blog to earn some extra money even if it is a few extra cents. Every times someone clicks an advertisement (and lets it fully load), I can earn as little as a few cents or as much as a couple of dollars. I know it doesn’t sound like much but each penny counts.  It will help buy gift for family and friends for the upcoming holiday season despite what holiday they celebrate. So please do this blogger a good thing so I can give gifts to those who love and care about me. It would mean a great deal to me if you are able to click on an ad once or twice a week if not more.

Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. It means a great deal to me that I have people who read my blog. You all mean the world to me. So thank you for reading my blog again. I hope everyone has a great rest of their Tuesday. Peace Out, World!!!

Tuesday Evening Randomness

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! As I mentioned in my last post I slept most of the day due to being in the hospital most of the night due to being evaluated for self harm urges. I, obviously was not hospitalized. I’ve been doing some things to keep me busy since I have been up since I slept all day due to being in the hospital all night.

My therapist and I talked again this afternoon and came up with a plan on what to do when I start feeling unsafe with myself again. He was also mentioning to not forget about the things I have to live for which was quite helpful because we came up with a list of things to live for.

Since I have been awake this evening, I have been spending a lot of time with Lil Gertie, my cat. She appears to be enjoying all the attention I have been giving her. She has been purring up a storm and following me around like a lost puppy.

I also have been making dinner and of course I ate my dinner. I had a hamburger patty and mac and cheese with a piece of apple pie for my dinner. While I made and ate my dinner, I also watched the evening news. As always the news was mostly nothing but negative which sucks shit.

Now that the news is over with for now, I think I am going to read. I will be of course reading Wonder Woman comic books as it is an easy read and eye candy. I will also continue to read the fantasy book I have been reading and picked back up since I never finished reading it. I am so glad the my concentration is getting better and I owe that to the fact the depression is getting slightly better.

Another thing I am going to be doing is some art work. I will be coloring like I always do. I will also be doing some combination of art genre’s. That is painting as well as adding some collaging to the painting. This combination of genre comes out pretty cool looking. Or at least I think it comes out looking out pretty cool.

As a reminder to you my reader and I am sure it annoys the hell out of you because I know advertisements annoy the hell out of me. I have advertisements on my blog because every time someone clicks on one of the ads and lets the ad load completely I get paid for it. I can earn anything from a few cents to a few dollars per ad click. I would greatly appreciate if you would click on one or two ads a week to help me earn some extra money so I can buy some holiday gifts for my friends and family when their specific holiday comes along. I would like to give them a gift out of appreciation for being there for me.

I want to thank you for reading my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope to post again sometime this evening and if I don’t then I plan on posting tomorrow. Having regular readers is greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful evening and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. Peace Out, World!!!

All Night In The Hospital = All Day Asleep

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I spent nine plus hours in the hospital last due to the fact I was having some strong urges to self harm. I did not self harm because, I took myself to the hospital so I wouldn’t self harm.

Since I don’t sleep very well in the Emergency Room, I came home and cancelled my appointment with my therapist. He did call me back and rescheduled for tomorrow. We also discussed the reasons the reasons I ended up in the hospital. We also discussed how well the hospital staff treated me. It has been my experience that when going into the Emergency Room for mental health challenges, I get treated quite rudely. This time around was different. The nurses, doctors and the social worker treated quite well. I explained to my therapist that it made the Emergency Room visit a wee bit more tolerable.

As I was waited to been seen in by everyone while laying on a bed in the hallway of the emergency room, I was given permission by the doctor to have my reading glasses and my book to read since everything was taking so long. I am really getting into the fantasy book that I am reading.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. I apologize for not blogging sooner today, I was just way too tired to do so and needed to sleep most of the day. It is now five o’clock in my corner of the world. That means I will be going to watch the five o’clock news and making dinner to eat. Thank you again for reading my blog. It is extremely appreciated from my end. You all are awesome and hope you all continue reading. Especially since I have been have some downs lately after having some ups. Have a good evening!!! Peace Out, World!!!

Tired As Hell

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I am still tired as hell from last night with no sleep.I did get a two hour nap in when I came home from day treatment. I was a little disappointed that Art Group was cancelled today as I was looking forward to it.

When I was at the mental health agency I am a client of for day treatment, I ended up talking to the therapist who was the crisis clinician on call for the day during business hours. I talked to her for about twenty minutes and came up with a safety plan. After about twenty minutes my own therapist was available to talk with me for about another fifteen minutes. We continued to safety plan. We discussed a little about what happened at the hospital yesterday.

Anyway, after coming home from day treatment, I played with my cat for about an hour before she got annoyed and wanted to be alone. I ended up taking a nap and guess who joined me for my nap. That’s right, my cat Lil Gertie.

I still feel like self harming and after I am finished with this post, I plan on going to the hospital again. I am going because I am not feeling safe with myself and the injuries that accrued from another patient last night are getting worse and want to get them checked out again.

Yes, I have used my DBT skills. One of the skills I used was my art work. I did a great deal of coloring with my new colored pencils and coloring books. I also did some collaging. I actually added some of the collaging to some of the paintings I did over the weekend.

Before I end this post, I am going to ask you again to do me a huge favor. I have advertisements on my blog. If you click on the advertisements and let them fully load, I can earn anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars. I figure each add clicked will be helpful for me to buy gifts for people I love for the holidays which ever holiday they celebrate.

As I end this post, I want to reassure you that I will be safe as I am taking myself to the hospital. Mainly to get my injuries looked at that happened yesterday at the hospital but also to help keep myself safe from myself with having urges to self harm. Again, I will be safe as I take myself to the hospital. Who knows maybe I will be able to take a little nap in while getting checked out at the hospital as I am still tired as hell.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end. I hope that I am not worrying any of you with how things are going with me as of lately. I do feel like things are starting to slightly improve which is a big deal for me. Again, thank you for reading and I hope to update you when I get up from the hospital and if I don’t I hope to update you tomorrow. Have a great evening. Peace Out, World!!!

Phuck This Sh*t

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, once again, World!!! I was almost asleep when the stupid fire alarm decided to go off once again. This time it was a malfunctioning fire alarm. So apparently, sleep is not in the cards for me.  Having the fire alarm go off five times sucks shit. Three off those times was due to the fire alarm malfunctioning while the other two time people decided to cook food while doing drugs and caught their stove on fire.

So, since it is apparent that I won’t be getting any sleep, I plan on going to day treatment instead of staying home. That means I will be going to art group. Hopefully, I will be able to meet with my therapist for about fifteen minutes to check in with him after what happened to me last night at the hospital.

I guess all that has happened since going to the hospital yesterday afternoon and the frequent fire alarms at home are getting to me. Getting to me enough that I need to not be in isolation mode. That is why I am going to day treatment and then art group.

Everything that has gone on has triggered my PTSD greatly. Having triggered PTSD sucks shit. I wish I didn’t have PTSD. In fact anyone who has PTSD wishes they didn’t have it.

Thank you for reading my blog. Even though its the third post in just barely over three hours. It is greatly appreciated. Have a great week everyone. Peace Out, World!!!

UGH!!! Not Another F*cking Fire Alarm

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, once again, World!!! Right after I posted my last post, the fire alarm went off once again. This time another neighbor decided to cook while doing drugs. So this is the second time the fire alarm went of due to someone cooking while doing drugs today and the fourth time the fire alarm went off because the first two times the fire alarm malfunctioned.

Due to the lack of sleep due to the assault that happened to me at the hospital yesterday as well as the fire alarm going off multiple time for different reasons, I might not go to art group early this afternoon. I have been triggered way too many times within the last eighteen hours to even think about going to art group even though I really want to attend art group.

I emailed my therapist last night to get a hold of me at some point today as he gets into the office at some point after twelve noon. Hopefully, he will listen to my voicemail as well as well as read my email and will get back to me today even though I see him tomorrow (Tuesday).

I also emailed my doctor this morning in hopes she gets it at some point today to see if I need to see her this week in regards to my hand and black eye that I received from another patient at the hospital last night (Sunday) instead of my regular appointment with her next week. My doctor is pretty cool.

I do have to say that my therapist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, doctor and the social worker at my doctors office are all pretty cool and in the loop about both my physical and mental health. It is great to have a great health care team even if they are not at the same facility or agency.  I am happy that they keep in communication with each other.

I hope I am able to get some sleep so I can be able to attend art group at one this afternoon. I don’t want to be a cranky bucket if I got to art group. Art really helps me express my emotions especially after multiple triggering moments in a short period of time.

Thank you so very much for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I think I am going to go and attempt to take a nap as I really want to attend art group this afternoon. I hope everyone has a great work week and those who don’t work I to wish you a great week. Happy Monday. Peace Out, World!!!

6:30 am Monday Morning Madness

Posted on by Gertie

Good Monday, Morning To You, World!!! I should have written this post last night after I got home from the hospital but decided to wait till today to do so. I had a not so delightful time at the hospital as I waited to get evaluated for psych reasons. Thankfully, I was put into a hallway bed without needing to be restrained as the folks at this hospital know me well enough to know what to do when needed. And in my case a hallway bed without restraints is what I needed. Of course the doctors and nurses saw me however has I waited for the social worker to come see me another patient assaulted me. The hospital staff was in the middle of evaluating him when he got angry, left his room and grabbed my wrist and twisted hard enough to bruise my wrist and my hand. Thankfully, nothing is broken. He also gave me a black eye. Needless to say this person was put into restraints. The doctors had to come evaluate me once again before I could see the social worker because I needed to be medically cleared once again. I finally got home about 10:00 pm last night and would have been home sooner if I wasn’t assaulted by another patient.

Now that it is Monday morning let the madness begin. The madness started off with the fire alarm going off at 2:34 am due to a malfunction. Then it went off again at 3:33 am due to another malfunction. it went of a third time at 5:09 am due to an actual fire in someone’s apartment. Someone decided to start cooking and while cooking they decided to do some heroin. Not my idea of starting of any day much less a work week.

On that note, it is another foggy morning in Seattle. I don’t know why but I like foggy mornings. It gives me some sort of peace. It also gives me an excuse to stay in my pajamas longer as I read the news paper at a leisure pace while drinking my hot tea with milk and honey in it.

Since I don’t have work tonight, to my knowledge, I think I am going to take it easy today. My therapist doesn’t get back from vacation till this afternoon or at least that’s what his voicemail says. It says he will be in this afternoon which is good because I left him an email informing him of what happened yesterday at the hospital.

Thank you for reading my blog. It is very much appreciated. I hope everyone has a good work week and if you don’t work, I how you still have a good week. Happy Monday to all of you. Peace Out, World!!!!