Tag Archives: Recovery

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Nine: Reinvent The Letter Format

Posted on by Gertie

Todays writing assignment is to write a letter. We have several choices to choose from. I am going to write a letter to my brother’s dad. My brother’s dad is the one the severally abused me as a child. For my abusers “protection” I am going to call him “D.” I know he doesn’t deserve protection. I will be calling my brother Jay in this letter. In fact some people do call him Jay. I am writing this letter to ultimately help me in my healing process.

Dear D,                                                      Thursday, September 17, 2015

I am pretty sure you don’t remember me but I sure in the hell remember you. I remember how you forced me to “have sex” with you at the age of nine for the first time. I remember how you use to sell me to others so they can have “their fun” with me. I remember how you would spike my drinks with alcohol and sometimes drugs. I remember how you would give me home baked goodies with a variety of drugs in them. You did this so  I wouldn’t fight back or scream when you r*p*d me. You made sure my mom was passed out drunk and/or high when you brutally r*p*d me. I remember when Jay was born. You weren’t there because you were in jail. I remember when you got out, you gave mom a ton of drugs so she wouldn’t know what you were doing to me. You put me in a position at the age of 11 that nobody should be put in. You made me choose to either have Jay get abused and have me watch and then get r*p*d myself or have me take his abuse along with mine which made it a hundred times worse. Me being the only sister by 11 years, I am of course going to make sure Jay wouldn’t get abused. How dare you abuse anyone especially your on child. Most importantly how dare you put an 11 year old to make a decision like that. How could you abandon your own disabled son at the age of one? I am beyond angry with you. I wish I could type more but I need to end this letter for the sake of my own mental health. I just wish I didn’t have to re-experience all the shit you did to me 25 plus years later. I need to stop this letter. You are a fucken asshole.

Gertie

Thanks for reading my letter. This was a tough assignment for me to do. I have a lot more to say to D but for my own mental health I had to end it. Yes, I will be okay. Thankfully, I have Junior by my side to help me through. Have a good night and peace out all!!

Blogging 201; Day Four: Give ‘Em What They Want

Posted on by Gertie

It is day four of Blogging 201. Today’s assignment is to do a basic 30 stat analysis for my blog. The reason for this assignment is to figure out what you, my reader want to read. The funny thing is I do this every week. I love figuring out stats. In fact stats is the only type of math that I am able to comprehend. Plus, stats are fun as well as interesting.

The cool thing is that one of my Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration assignments, they wanted us to stick a poll in with the assignment to see what the reader would like. I’ve only had three people vote so far.  Here is the poll: http://polldaddy.com/poll/9074944/ I would greatly appreciate your vote. It would be helpful to  know what you the reader want.

According to my site stats I receive the most views when I am taking a Blogging U. course through WordPress. Also according to my stats, if I post only the daily basis or at least on the regular basis, I tend to have better “ratings.” That is what why I make sure do at least three post a week; My weekly goals, which is a blogging even I am apart of over at: http://greenembe.rs/ on Mondays, Daily prompts on Tuesdays and my “educational” blogging feature on Fridays.

My lunch is almost over for the training I am attending. Have a good rest of the day. Please don’t for get to day the poll above. Pease Out.

200th Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, everyone!! Yes, I am up this early on my day off. It is the second and final day of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). Yesterday, the training was intense and was told that today will be more intense. I knew this training was going to be tense. That is why I made sure I scheduled an appointment with my therapist, Diana, for tomorrow. Thankfully, her schedule was open to where I could have an appointment.

I just wanted to let you all know that this post marks my 200th post. I am proud to say that I have been able to keep up my blog and follow through with being able to blog on the regular basis. Yes, there was a short period earlier this year that I didn’t blog much because of I crisis I was dealing with. Yes, I still grieve over the babies I lost through the miscarriage but the initial crisis is over.

It is an honor to be able share my story with you. My story of recovery from a mental illness. Yes, I will share my struggles with you like have in the past even if it is not easy. I will also share with you the good things that go with being in recovery. I will also share with you everything in between.  I just hope that I can continue to inspire people to be in recovery as well as to stop stigma in its tracks in regards to mental illness.

Thank you so much for following me and reading my blog. It is much appreciated. I need get going and get ready for the day. Have a wonderful day!! Peace Out!!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Eight: Expand A Comment

Posted on by Gertie

Todays, writing assignment is to expand on a comment I have made. It is hard to pick just one comment I want to expand on because I have so many of them. It is a goal of mine, when things start to slow down that I will spend time reading more of the blogs I follow and be able to comment on them. Comment without being rushed. To me being a good blogger also means reading the blogs you follow and commenting on them. As many of you know that it is difficult to do this because life happens.

I wish I was able to expand on so many comments I have but unable to choose. I am glad that you my follow and/or reader understand that I have a life as well. Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful evening. Peace out!!

Blogging 201; Day Three: Get Read All Over

Posted on by Gertie

It is day three of Blogging 201. Todays assignment was to get “read all over.” That means to make sure that my theme is mobile ready. When I picked my theme I made sure it was mobile ready but didn’t realize till I did this assignment that I had to enable it. Good news I enabled it. For those of you, who read on you mobile devices please let me know if you are now able to read my blog easier or if I should go back and un-enable it.

I have to get going. I have to get ready for the day. I have a training to be at. I hope to have my Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration assignment done later this evening when I get home. Peace Out!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Seven: Hook ’em With A Quote

Posted on by Gertie

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

Maya Angelou

When I got today’s assignment, I thought of the above quote from Ms. Maya Angelou. I thought about it first because part of my blog includes being an advocate for myself and others who have similar struggles to me. In fact advocating for yourself is one of the main objectives of being in recovery.

As I quote Ms. Maya Angelou, it is my desire that I be an inspiration to others like she was to many people around the world. Ms. Maya Angelou is a person I would have loved to meet while she was still here but unfortunately she is no longer with us in person but thankfully she is with us in spirit. I will end with another quote from Ms. Maya Angelou.

All great achievements require time.

Maya Angelou

Blogging 201; Day Two: Audit Your Brand

Posted on by Gertie

It is day two of Blogging 201 and that means it is time to do my assignment. Todays assignment is to audit my brand. I’m still trying to figure out my brand. Yes, I am aware that I already have a “brand,” but I am looking for the just right “image” to help my “brand.”

In fact I have been thinking a great deal about my brand since I did Blogging 101 in July. If you have been following my blog for a while you know that my focus of this blog is to educate those who don’t have a mental illness to help lessen the stigma and to give others hope that recovery is possible.

If you are a new reader or follower, you will soon realize that my blog is about my journey of recovery with a serious mental illness. I share my life with whatever I am dealing with; the good, the bad and the ugly. As I blog my journey, I hope to be able to inspire people. I hope that inspiration helps lessen the stigma that goes with having a mental illness. Unfortunately, stigma also feeds people to discriminate against those of us who struggle with a mental illness.

Before, I go, as you can tell my brand is basically my recovery with a little education involved. I need to get back to work my ten minute break is over. Have a wonderful day and peace out!!

Daily Prompt: Inside the Bubble

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Inside the Bubble.” A contagious disease requires you to be put into quarantine for a whole month (don’t worry, you get well by the time you’re free to go!). How would you spend your time in isolation?

As I was looking through past daily prompts, I found this one. I don’t know why but it grabbed my eye. For some reason this is an easy prompt for me to do. Maybe it is because, I have been in the hospital for a month and sometimes longer however it was not due to a contagious disease but mental health reasons.

If allowed, I would have my laptop so I would be able to have access to the hospital’s Wi-Fi. I would want to be able to not only keep everyone up to date on what was going on with me through various social media sites, I would want to be able to blog. Blogging to me is very important to me. Having my laptop would allow me to have access to music. Without music I would not be able to survive. I would also be able to play games on POGO at http://www.pogo.com/ with my laptop so I could help fight the boredom I would be dealing with.

I would also have plenty of books and comic books by my bedside. I would get extremely bored if I didn’t have access to a variety of reading materials. I would have to make sure that there are plenty of Wonder Woman comic books. Of course the books I would be reading would be Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Mysteries because those are the genre’s that most grab my attention and keep my attention.

Another way I would be spending my time in medical isolation is coloring. I would need plenty of colored pencils, a pencil sharpener and my coloring pages and posters I ordered from Stuff 2 Color at: http://www.stuff2color.com/ Coloring would be quite helpful and relaxing. Plus it wouldn’t take much attention to be able to do especially at the beginning of the month long isolation when I would be feeling at my worst.

I would probably be sleeping a lot to get better. I would most likely be going stir crazy as time went on. I would hope that I would be able to have visitors but not sure if I would able to have any because of being contagious.

Well, I need to end this post for now. I need to finish getting ready for work. Have a wonderful day everyone and peace out!!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Six: The Space To Write

Posted on by Gertie

My writing space and what I use to write all depends what I am exactly writing. When it comes writing in regards to my blog, I usually use my laptop. I use my laptop because it is portable. Where I write my blog is all dependent on my mood as well as what is going on during the day. For instance, I wrote my Weekly goals this morning at home before I got ready for the day. I wrote my first Blogging 201 assignment while waiting for my appointment with my psychiatric nurse practitioner. In fact as I am writing this particular post, I am on my lunch break from work at a park nearby where I work.

My writing habits vary on what I am writing. When I am writing for my blog, it all depends on what the post is about. For example, most of the daily prompts I do on Tuesdays, I write them head of time and schedule them for a time on Tuesdays. When it comes to my educational pieces I usually start them as a post when I start researching for that particular topic and then save the draft when it gets overwhelming or I don’t have the time to continue. When comes to just everyday post in sharing my story and/or recovery I just write then publish immediately.

When it comes to what I need for writing in regards to blogging, I need my laptop. If I happen to be at local park like I am now, I need to make sure my laptop is charged so I can write and publish my post. If I am someplace that has electrical outlets, I have my laptop plugged in.

Before I end this post, I would like you to take a poll for me.  It will be helpful for me for what you a looking for in my blog as well as future Writing 101 assignment. The poll is at: 

 Have a wonderful day. Peace Out!!

Blogging 201; Day One: Set Three Goals

Posted on by Gertie

Today is the first day of Blogging 201. The first assignment is to set up three goals for my blog. Well I am more than happy to share my goals with you, when it comes to my blog with explanation.

1)   Educate  people who don’t struggle with a mental illness. This is pretty self explanatory.

2)   Show others who struggle with a mental illness that recovery is possible and that their is hope.  With sharing my story and everyday struggles it is my hope that my story is proof that recovery is possible.

3)   To help me  with my recovery. Sharing my story and educating others ultimately helps me in my recovery process. This is in fact an unexpected goal that became a reality about six month into me being a blogger.

Thanks you for allowing me share my goals with you. I hope you enjoyed the goals I have set for my blog. Peace out!!