Tag Archives: Reading

Tough Day = Doing Things I Enjoy

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I’ve been having a tough day. That means I’m doing my best to do the things that I enjoy doing. Things that bring me joy.

As many of you know art brings me joy. Its not just creating art that brings me joy its being able to give it away to individuals that mean something to me as a person. I just finish a painting for me case manager. My case manager hasn’t given up on me when she could have transferred me to another clinician but hasn’t done so. That’s why I am giving her a piece of my art.

Another thing that brings me joy is reading. I enjoy it because it helps me focus on something else other than being stuck in my own head. That’s why I love reading so much. Being able to be absorbed in a book is helpful to one’s imagination and not focus on what the realities of the world.

While creating art for my case manager and reading to get out of my head, I listened to music. I  love being able to enjoy music as I am being able to do things that bring me joy. Doing things that bring me joy is quite helpful for me and my head space.

Thank you for reading my blog. Its much appreciated!!! Peace Out, World !!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! As I sit here starting this post, I realize that I forgot to do my weekly check-in yesterday. I’m disapointed that I didn’t do it like I said I would however I’ve also been blogging more on the regular basis that you a well aware of what my week was like. So my plans for the week are as follows:

Sunday:

  • Blog which is obvious as this is my third post of the day. I also plan to blog my poem for the intro to poetry course later on today.
  • Art. I plan on doing some painting. I plan on painting something for my case manager.
  • Read. Pretty self explanitory.
  • Clean my apartment
  • Workbook

Monday:

  • Blog. This is the day where not only will posting my poem for the intro to poetry course but start the weekly fictional writing prompt. I’ll be doing the writing prompt every Monday.
  • Attend Knitting Group
  • Attend Art Group
  • See my case manager
  • See temporary therapist, Gilbert
  • Read
  • Workbook

Tuesday:

  • Phone Interview
  • Read
  • Clean apartment
  • Art
  • Blog
  • Workbook

Wednesday:

  • Go to clubhouse
  • See temporary therapist, Gilbert
  • Art
  • Read
  • Clean apartment
  • Blog
  • Workbook

Thursday:

  • Go to social security office
  • Pay bills
  • Clean apartment
  • Blog
  • Art
  • Workbook
  • Read

Friday:

  • See temperary therapist, Gilbert
  • Blog. This particular post will be Fun Facts Friday
  • Art
  • Clean Apartment
  • Read
  • Workbook

Saturday:

  • Blog; Weekly check-in
  • Volunteer
  • Read
  • Workbook
  • Art

Thank you for reading my long boring post about my week to come. As you can tell I’m cleaning my apartment a lot. Its because its a disaster area. I tend to not keep up household chores when my depression gets bad. I plan on spening about 15 minutes a day to clean so I don’t get overwhelmed.

Thank you again for reading my blog. Its apreciated. Peace Out, World!!!

Addicted to Reading, Stuffed Animals & Not Being Able To Sleep

Posted on by Gertie

IMG_0245Good Morning, World!! I am finding myself wide awake just barely after three o’clock in the morning in my neck of the woods. I’m finding myself getting addicted to reading. It’s getting in the way of me sleeping at night.

Actually, I find myself reading when my insomnia is acting up and unable to sleep. The problem comes in is when I get tired and continue reading in bed. I know I should put down my book when I start getting tired however it’s difficult to do so when the book is a good read especially when I’m surrounded by my many stuffed animals.

I love being surrounded by so many stuffed animals because it helps me self-soothe when times become difficult. Difficult enough to need to hold on to one or more of them to help me. Help enough to get back to reading or whatever I might be doing at the moment. That’s why I carry a stuffed animal in my backpack when I go out and about.

Good thing its Sunday and I have nowhere to be today as I’ve been up since eight o’clock yesterday (Saturday) morning. Maybe I should get going and try to go to bed to see if I am able to sleep. If I am unable to do so, I’ll be reading once again. Its time to cuddle up with my stuffed animals. Have a good Sunday. Peace Out, World!!!

Humor To End The Night

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It’s the middle of the night in my neck of the woods. Today has been quite relaxing and peaceful for both Junior and I. Junior and I had a good day.

Junior and I both read the books we are reading. If you have been reading my blog on the regular basis you know I’ve been reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I am loving the book to pieces as Junior is enjoying the book he is reading. He is reading Enders Game by Orson Scott Card again. It’s his favorite book.

Junior and I have had several intimate moments today. Yes that means we had sex. Its nice to finally be able to have intimate moments with Junior. It shows that the symptoms of my mental health challenges are improving.

Junior and I ended the night with humor. We watched Saturday Night Live (SNL) and laughed our asses off. Its always nice to end the night with humor. Now we are going to go to bed. Have a wonderful nights sleep!!! Good night, World!!!

Nice Relaxing Day, Thus Far

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! Its been a nice relaxing day, thus far. I’ve been reading most of the day. I’ve either been reading Wonder Woman comic books or Ship of Magic. It appears that I have some form of addiction to reading as of lately. Maybe its because I’ve been struggling so badly the last year that reading has been a challenge for me and now that things are improving; I’m taking full advantage of reading.

As much as I have been reading today, I have done other things as well. Junior and I have worked on the Wonder Woman puzzle I got for Christmas that my brother Jay got me. Anyone who knows me know that I love Wonder Woman and jigsaw puzzles.

As I continued working on the puzzle Junior made an awesome Mexican dish he learned from his grandma. Junior is second generation born Mexican American on both his mother’s and father’s side. The Mexican dish we had was amazing and we have enough left over for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.

Now that we are done cleaning up after a late lunch Junior and I are going to watch movies for the rest of the day. We are going to watch Wonder Woman first. Then we are going to watch Suicide Squad. Both movies Junior and I love both movies and are looking forward to watching them.

I should get going so I can watch the movies with Junior. I hope every has a great Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

 

A Tough Morning Turning Into A Relaxing One

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I woke up this morning with an increase in my Depression and PTSD. When I realized this I realized what I needed to do. I needed to start my morning routine instead of just laying around.

So, I made some tea, read the news paper, had a bowl of cereal and took my meds. As always the news paper had nothing but bad news in it. I would like to be able to read some positive or heartwarming stories more often. I know of course I’m not the only one who feels like this.

After my morning routine I decided to read some comic books. Specifically, I read Wonder Woman comic books. I spent about an hour reading about a dozen Wonder Woman comic books. I’ve been collecting Wonder Woman comics since I was about six years old.

After reading Wonder Woman comics I decided to read Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I am really enjoying this book. When I am finished with this book I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series. Below is yet another picture of the book I am reading with two of my stuffed animals.

IMG_0247Well I think I’m going to get going and get back to reading. Have a great day everyone and Peace Out, World!!!

A Lot on My Mind

Posted on by Gertie

Good Moring (again), World!!! I have a lot on my mind. Some of it has to do with blogging, while some of it has to do with other aspects of my life. The two kind of go hand and hand as my blog has a lot to do with me writing about my struggles and triumphs of my life.

I’ve been thinking on how I can get more people reading and/or following my blog. Some of it means that I have to put more effort into reading the post of the blogs I follow. If that means scheduling a time do so then I am more than willing to do so. The reason for me to start reading the blogs I follow is to like post and commenting on them. I have found that if I comment and/or like post I tend to get more traffic even if I don’t post on my blog that day. Another way is to get more traffic on my blog is tags. I’ve notice quite frequently that if I use tags I normally don’t use I tend to get more traffic. Tags appear to help a great deal. I know that is how I started following many of the blogs I currently follow. I also realized a long time ago is that if I post a picture on my blog post I get more traffic. That’s why I make every effort to read post without pictures. Not everyone has the luxury to post pictures for whatever reason. Another way that I’m trying to increase my traffic is to do free courses WordPress has to offer. Plus having a guest blogger will be helpful as well as me having a schedule on when I blog. I have found that if I blog on a regular basis folks tend to keep their interest more.

My mind is also reeling because of mental health symptoms. Specifically PTSD symptoms. Having flashbacks and body memories are not my idea of fun. Having both of these symptoms at the same time makes it feel like the trauma is happening all over again.

Something that helps me with the symptoms of PTSD is reading. I love to read especially book series as I hate to say good bye to characters. Yes, I know the characters are fictional but you can help but they become part of your life even for a short while. The book I am reading is by Robbin Hobb and is the first of a trilogy; Ship of Magic. I highly recommend it. The picture bellow is a picture of it as well as stuffed elephant a friend made me:

IMG_0244Thank you for reading this post. A post full of woes. Its much appreciated. Have a wonderful day. Happy Friday. Peace Out, World!!!

Wide Awake

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I should really try to get back to sleep however I am not really sure if I will be able to do so. The reason why I say this is because I fell asleep early and now a I am wide awake.

Since, I’m wide awake I’ve been reading. Reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I am really enjoying the book. A book that I am surprised to be liking due to the fact it took the first two chapters to finally get into. If you like the genres of Sci Fi and Fantasy you would like this book. I hope to be doing a book review at the end of the book. It’s the first book of the Liveships Trader trilogy.

I love reading book series. I love series due to the fact I end up really connecting with the characters. Connecting enough to where I don’t want the story to end. In fact I’ve had folks tell me I should read The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. People of suggested this series because it has a total of fourteen books. I though about reading it however I think it might be a wee bit long for me. It’s something to think about. If I do start to read it, I know I wouldn’t be bored for a while.

I should get going to I can get back to reading. Thank you for reading my blog. I plan on writing my next poem for my next assignment for the course I am taking with WordPress later on today. I hope everyone enjoys their Friday. Peace Out, World!!!

Holding On To Hope Like My Life Depends On It

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I’m sitting here at my laptop realizing that due to the lack of structure I’ve had today is making the symptoms of my depression increase. Even though its ever so slightly. Depression sucks shit yet I’m still holding on to the hope that I finally got back. Holding on to it like my life depends on it because it does.

Something that helps me with hope is music. So most of today, I’ve been listening music. If I wasn’t listening to it, I was playing my flute or harmonica. For some reason I needed to depend on music to help me through.

Listening to music helped get into a creative mindset to where I did some art. I did some collaging and coloring. I also did some painting. It appears with all the collaging, coloring and painting I’ve been doing I can create my own art gallery in my apartment. The picture below is the most recent painting I did today.

IMG_0217

After doing some art I read Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. If you’re a Science Fiction or Fantasy genre fan I truly believe you will like this book. Its the first book in The Liveships Trader’s Trilogy. I read several chapters today and needed to take a break from it for a few moments.

Those few moments of breaking from reading turned in a couple of hours. A couple of hours updating my resume’ and cover letter so I could apply for jobs. I did in fact apply for jobs. I even got a response back today to have a phone interview on Tuesday. Its hard to believe I have an interview for Tuesday.

After updating my cover letter and resume’ I realized I wanted to look at some educational opportunities. So, I emailed and called a few folks about the educational opportunities and still waiting to hear back.

Thank you for reading. I hope everyone has a good rest of their day. Peace Out, World.

 

Slightly Struggling in Seattle

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I am struggling at the moment. I’m struggling with self harm urges. I WILL NOT ACT ON MY URGES TO SELF HARM!!! (I AM NOT SUICIDAL!!!) I am struggling because of my Depression and PTSD symptoms. Symptoms I talked to Gilbert about in my session with him today. I’m starting to trust him which is a major deal since he identifies as male. I usually have trouble trusting men especially in the therapeutic relationship.

Gilbert and myself came up with a safety plan. One of the items on the safety plan is blogging. Blogging is quite helpful for me. It helps me get out of my own head.

Gets me out of my head enough to focus on art work. I’m going be focusing on coloring today since I got a new coloring book today. I also have colored pencils I haven’t used yet due to waiting for this coloring book.

Coloring helps me focus to where I will be able to read. I’ll most likely  be reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I’m really loving the book. If you are a Sci Fi and/or Fantasy genre fan I highly recommend it.

Now that I’ve told you my safety plan, I’m going to go and eat. I want to reassure you that; I’M NOT SUICIDAL & WON’T ACT ON MY URGES TO SELF HARM. I hope everyone has a good evening and good week. Peace Out, World.