Tag Archives: Recovery

Wednesday Afternoon Ramblings

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I saw Gilbert today for therapy. We discussed a number of things today. Some of which I will share with you. We first discussed me punching a brick wall. We did a chain analysis on the self harm action. We talked about I could have done differently than punching a brick wall.

Not only did we talk about self harm we discussed my time at the DSHS office. We talked about how I am finally back on Medicaid and getting a higher amount of food stamps. We discussed how I am now able to finally get proper dental care. Gilbert also informed me about how I can double my food stamps local farmers markets.

Now that I told you what therapy was like today, I think I am going to go and read. I really enjoy reading as it helps me get out of my head.

Thanks for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

Fun Times At The DSHS Office, NOT

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I had to go to the Department of Social and Human Services (DSHS) office to get back on Medicaid as Social Security stopped part of my disability benefits. It’s frustrating as hell when you pay into the system and unable to get your full benefits.

As I was in the at the DSHS office I found out I will be getting food stamps as well as them paying for my Medicare premiums which will be quite helpful for me. I just need to figure out how to pay for my bills.

This is where having a great support system comes in. Having friends to help in tough times including tough financial times is great. I wish everyone could have awesome friends like me.

Thank you for reading. Have a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Blogging Through The Pain

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! I am in a lot of pain right now. Pain from hitting a brick wall. Having two fractures from hitting a brick wall are natural consequences from what I did and I hope I learned from it.

I did go see my doctor today. She is quite concerned that I have been hitting brick walls lately.  She stated that she will be talking to my mental health treatment team about this concern and I am happy that she is doing this.

Since I have limited mobility in my hand some of my usual skills are not available to me at the moment which means I will be doing a lot of reading. Reading that I wish I had more time for and now it appears I have that time. That’s why I plan on catching up on some reading.

I think I’ll go and do some reading. Thank you for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

Got Into A Fight With A Brick Wall

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am waking up in pain this morning as I have a couple of fractures in my wrist due to getting in a fight with a brick wall. I got angry with myself last evening and decided to hit a brick wall. Obviously, the brick wall won as I have a couple of fractures in my wrist and hand.

I, of  course went to the hospital where I found out about the fractures. The doctor had me talk with the social worker. The social worker used humor to help me as I was upset with myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. Thankfully, I was able to come home.

On another positive note, I see my regular doctor today that was already scheduled before hitting the brick wall. Hopefully, I will be able to get it my wrist and hand x-rayed again so I can get a copy of it. The x-ray will help remind me to not hit a brick wall.

I need to get going as it is difficult to type and I am in pain. Have a great work week. Peace Out, World!!!

Depression Go Away & Never Come Back

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!! It is a sunny day in Seattle and I am loving it. The sun appears to help my mood a great deal.

As helpful as the sun is to my overall mood, my depression appears to be acting up. Despite wanting to isolate and stay cooped up in my apartment, I went to the park and read. I found that reading outside in the park today was of great help to me. I got a natural dose of Vitamin D while not isolating and getting out of my own head.

I just wish my depression wasn’t acting up at the moment. I am now obviously blogging to see if putting into word will help. A good portion of the time blogging helps. Especially if it is in combination of using other skills I have. In this case it has been reading.

Thank you for reading. Have a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Check-In

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! This week has been an uneventful week. I did the usual stuff of going to see my case manager and therapist as well as going to groups. So more or less this week has been a focus of my recovery.

Wednesday also marked the one month anniversary of my grandma’s passing. It was a difficult day as expect. I saw Gilbert that day and we discussed a little bit about the grief I was dealing with.

Another thing I did this week was a great deal of DBT skills which included me doing some workbooks. It appears from my end that the workbooks have been of help to me a great deal. I know it is helping me with my recovery.

I am about to start my volunteer shift in about fifteen minutes and need to get going as the mentor on duty just arrived. He wants to check in with me to see how I am doing.

Thank you for reading. Have a great evening. Peace Out, World!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on by Gertie

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, World!!! I’m stating the obvious here; it is St. Patrick’s Day. Today is where most of the world thinks they are Irish even if they are not. I am fifty percent Irish. In fact I am third generation born here in America from Ireland. That means my great grandparents immigrated from Ireland.

That’s why when it comes to immigration, I am all for it. All people are looking for, when they immigrate is for a better life. That is what both sets of great grandparents did on my mothers side did. They made a better life for themselves. Granted life was not easy for my great grandparents yet at least it was better than living in Ireland at that time. I’m not saying America is better than Ireland, I am saying that my great grandparents were making a better life for themselves.

Thank you for reading my blog. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Peace Out, World!!!

 

DBT to Combat Depression

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I woke up depressed. Waking up depressed has me acutely aware on what I need to do to make I don’t let it affect me as badly as it can potentially do.  I need to focus on what work in moments like these.

For me that is using my DBT skills. Skills that have evolved over time for me. For me the skills I use as of lately are art, reading, and workbooks. All of these skills do something different for me yet are helping me with my recovery process.

Art helps me express my emotions in ways I am unable to verbalize. That is why when I woke up this morning one of the first things I did was to do art. Specifically, I colored and did some collaging.

Reading helps me get out of my head. It helps me focus on something else than the things going on in my head. It gets me out of my negative head space. That is why after I did some art, I read.

Reading helped me refocus my mind so I could do one of my workbooks. Specifically one on self awareness. The self awareness workbook is proving to be more challenging than I thought it would be. I do have to say that challenging is always a good thing when it comes to doing workbooks or something that is recovery related.

Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Just Another Rambling From Me; Gertie

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! Today, I went to therapy and saw Gilbert. We worked on both on my crisis plan and treatment plan. We spent about an hour and a half  working on both. On a sad note Gilbert is going to be working on a different team starting April but he will make sure that there will be a soft (or warm) hand off when my new clinician starts in April. As sad as I am that Gilbert is going to a different team, I am grateful that he will make sure I’ll have a good clinician.

I also went to DBT group. Only four of us showed up to group including myself. I am a little disappointed that only four people showed up today as I tend to learn better by hearing what others have to say.

Even though today is not quite St. Patrick’s Day, I celebrated it with friends a day early. We had corn beef, potato’s and cabbage. I love an authentic Irish meal especially when it’s celebrating my heritage.

Thanks for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

DBT To The Rescue

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am in a bad head space right now yet I realize what I need to do to help me get out of it. For me doing using my DBT skills is what helps me. I have a plethora of DBT skills in my toolbox.

Right now I think my go to things are my workbooks, books and comic books as they can help with various types of things. Things I will explain once again in this post.

For me the workbooks help me help myself. It is not a replacement for my mental health treatment but an added addition to help. The workbooks help with my recovery.

Reading helps me get out of my head. It helps me focus on something other than what is going on in my own head. I have been reading the Liveship Traders Trilogy and Wonder Woman comic books.

Thank you for reading. Peace Out, World!!!