Tag Archives: Self Care

Yet, Another Lengthy Post

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, again, World!!! It has been a long day for me and I still have a great deal on my mind. Not sure why I have so much spinning in my little brain of mine. Some of the spinning in my head is a good thing while some of it is not a good thing.

Even though I got everything taken care of at the DSHS office I am still worried about money. Yes, I have set up payment plans for medical bills that aren’t covered by Medicare and/or charity care. Hopefully, once I meet my spend down for Medicaid, I can get that back. I know things will work out in its own time.

As for needing money, I have decided to keep up the advertisements up on my blog. Every time when an ad is clicked, I get a few cents. A few cents that will eventually go into a PayPal account once it reaches one hundred dollars. That is why I am asking you my reader to click on one ad a day because every view cents adds up.

Another thing I plan on doing is selling some of my paintings. I am painting enough of them that I think I could make some money. Not much money because my paintings are all the good but it will be an extra ten to twenty dollars in my pocket.

On a plus note I had a good day. I spent half the day being an adult and the other half being a child. Being a child for a  while today is something I needed to do. I have needed to do it for a long time. Being a child is a form of self care for me.

I had a blast swimming at my grandpa’s place today.  It is always nice spending time with my grandfather. I think he enjoys the fact that I have been spending so much time with him lately. I think spending time with each other helps the both of us.

I think I have said this before but I am extremely grateful for all of you in the blogging community. There is little to no drama. In fact I have not seen drama on any blogging community. I just want to thank you for letting me into your community despite the shit I write. Just know I am proud to be a member of the blogging community.

Thank you for reading my blog. It means a great deal to me. Have a great rest of your Monday. Or the last three hours of what is left of Monday. Again thank you for reading. Have a good nights sleep. Goodnight and Peace Out, World!!!

A Shower Does A Soul Some Good (Plus Other Things)

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! There is nothing like a good nice hot shower to help cleanse both the body and the soul. For me taking a shower is helpful for not just my soul but my depression.

After taking a shower, I decided to deep clean my cat’s kitty litter box. I tend to do this once a week as the normal cleaning of the litter box doesn’t always get rid of the germs; when you just scooping out the poop and pee.

I then did the dishes. After doing the dishes I mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors as well as some other household chores. Doing chores gives me a sense of accomplishment which helps with the soul or at least with my soul.

After I doing chores, I worked on a piece of art that I have been working on for about a week. Specifically, it is a painting that is almost finished. I just have to wait for the paint to dry to completely finish it as I need to do another layer of a different color paint.

As I wait for the paint to dry I read the fantasy novel I have been reading. I am really enjoying the book and am having trouble putting it down. On occasion I do put the novel down to read comic books. Specifically, Wonder Woman comic books.

So what I have been doing so far today has given me some hope as well as some peace. Hope and peace that my soul needed. My soul needed this because I needed to do some good self care.

I have realized that I need to do more self care for myself which includes doing everyday chores. Chores that mean taking out the trash and doing the dishes. Yes, I know doing simple chores may not be considered self care or something that helps one’s soul but for me it is self care and helpful for my soul. It also gives me hope and peace when I do fun things as well. Such as art work and reading.

Thank you for reading. It is much appreciated. Peace Out, World

Attempted To Go Back To Sleep But A No Go

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, again, World!!! I attempted to go back to sleep and was unsuccessful at it. I might as well as start my normal daily routine. Right now that includes having a cup of tea and reading the news paper. As always, there is never anything good in the news however having this morning routine gives me a since of accomplishment. It gives me something to do to start my day out.

At this moment in time I am a little worried about my health as my doctor wants me to see her every two weeks. I know she is doing it to be preventative so I am not going to the Emergency Room as much but it still worries me. She is also doing it to help be preventative with my mental health symptoms as well. I have had my doctor for nine years now and this is the worst she has seen me mental health wise even though my mental health symptoms are slowly improving.

My therapist will now being seeing me twice a week instead of once a week. It is kind of a similar way to the way my doctor is thinking, to try to keep me from using the Emergency Room too much. Plus, my therapist wants to get deeper into the things that are really bothering me like trauma related things. I don’t know if I like the idea of going deeper into things but if it ultimately helps me and my mental health then I am willing to give it a try.

Right now I need to get my mind off of things so I think I am going to go take a shower which always make me feel better. I will also have some breakfast because food is always a good thing for both your health and mental health.

After taking care of some basic needs I think I will do some good self-care things for myself before I go to my volunteer job. One way I will do some self care is by doing some art. Specifically, I will be doing some painting. After doing some painting, I’ll be doing some reading. I will be reading the fantasy novel as well a comic books. Reading helps me a great deal to get out of my own head and forget about the depression I am struggling with at the moment.

As much as my depression sucks, going to my volunteer job this evening will be quite helpful for me. It will help me focus that my problems aren’t as bad as others. Volunteering helps me get out of my own head. Helping others always helps me be in a better head place.

Now that I am done boring you half out of your mind, I will end this post for now. Thanks so much for reading my blog. It is very much appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Have a good Saturday. Peace Out, World!!!

Just Another Boring Post

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!! I know I just posted about an hour ago however, I am bored and felt like just writing about stuff. Stuff that will be repetitive as I have post about it before and other stuff that is not so interesting.

Let’s start off with the advertisements on my blog. I have advertisements on my blog to make a little extra money. It’s not much but it is something. All people have to do is click on the advertisement and I earn a few cents. I know this might be asking a lot from you but can you all click on the advertisements if you see them. I am saving up the money to help pay for gifts for my family during the holidays.

Now on another repetitive topic of blogging. I am wanting to make more of an effort to blog more. I also want to reach more people however I am unsure of how to do that. Yes, I use tags and attempt to put different tags on topics I discuss so I can get more readership that way. I also post my post to social media accounts and hope that I get more readers that way. I am not really worried about how many “followers” I have, I just want to reach more people so I can help lessen the stigma of mental health challenges as well as give people hope who do struggle with mental health challenges.

Today, is going to be one of those low key days where I am doing nothing. By doing nothing I mean doing things that are good self care for me. Most of which are creative.

I plan on doing some art work. Most likely I will be coloring and collaging and maybe combining the two genre’s of art. I might even paint a little today but not too sure yet. I need to see what paint I may need. If I need certain paint then I will need to go to the art supply store and buy some paint. That however takes money that I may not be able to spend at the moment. Which reminds me I need to look at my budget to see if I can buy more paints and canvasses ,

Another thing I plan on doing is writing some music. I play the flute and harmonica and think it would be fun to write some duets for both instruments to play together. I know it sounds odd but I think writing the right piece for a harmonica and flute duet would be cool.

The other thing I plan on doing today is to read. I will read both the novels I am reading as well as some comic books. I most likely will finish one of the novels today or tomorrow. When it comes down to reading comic books, I will most likely be reading Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is my favorite comic book. I do like to read other comic books but Wonder Woman is my go to comic book.

I think I bored you enough with this post so I am going to end it for now. Hopefully, I will be able to find time to blog again later today. It seems like if I blog more, the more my readers will see what I have to say next. Well, have a good Wednesday. Peace Out, World!!!

Blogging to Work Through Shit

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am struggling at the moment despite doing some self soothing. Don’t get me wrong the self soothing is helpful for me. Even though I feel like I don’t deserve to self soothe it’s helpful. Helpful to where I don’t currently don’t feel like a scared little kid.

Part of what helped me not feel like a scared little kid is by coloring. Coloring appears to be helpful to me as an adult as well as the scared little kid and angry teenager in me. It is so helpful to me that I recommend coloring to pretty much everybody.

One of the worst feelings in the world for me is feeling like the scared little kid or the angry teenager. This is why I personally need to be willing to practice mindfulness as well as self soothing. Mindfulness helps me to a degree with to not dissociate. When I dissociate I am most likely to become a scared little kid or angry teenager.

Thank you for reading. It is much appreciated from my end. Peace Out, World!!!

Self Soothing Due to Early Awaking

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is three o’clock in the morning here in Seattle. Unfortunately, I am wide awake. On the plus side I did get some sleep. Not as much sleep as I personally, would like but I did get some sleep.

As difficult as not being able to sleep right is, I am needing to self soothe as part of my self care plan. So, I put on one of my favorite hooded sweatshirts on. In fact the sweatshirt is of my favorite baseball team the Angels. In fact the Angels are currently in the lead for the American League West.

Besides wearing my Angels hoodie I am holding my teddy bear. A teddy bear I have had since I was born. It was given to me by my uncle. My teddy bear not only self soothes me but gives me some sort of safety. Safety from what? Who knows but I’ll take it.

After I am done blogging, I am going to do a mindfulness exercise practice. Mindfulness appears to put me in the right head space. I never thought I would say this but mindfulness is also self soothing for me. Well if it is done in a way I feel safe it is self soothing.

Thank you for reading. It is much appreciated. Peace Out, World!!!

 

 

Saturday Morning Depression

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I’ve been awake for several hours now. I am a wee bit depressed. Not sure what is causing it but I sure in the hell know that the crappy weather isn’t helping. I just wish I wasn’t dealing with the depression however it is a reality I have to deal with.

A reality that is having me focus on good self care as well as doing DBT skills. In fact I feel like my DBT skills are self care. Or at least a form of self care. I am needing do some self-soothing skills as well as some distracting skills.

One of the skills, I’ll be doing is drinking tea which is self soothing for me. Another skill I am going to use is read the news paper which is somewhat of a distraction skill for me. I know it seems like a weird combination to do at the same time but it helps me if I start my day out like that.

I am also going to be going to the mall with a friend today. I am not a big mall person but this is an “out of the box” thing my therapist wanted me to come up with. Going to the mall will be challenging for me but it will be helpful for me as well.

Something that I have already done to help with my depression as well as my anxiety is some meditation and mindfulness practices. Since I have been doing the mindfulness and meditation on the regular basis, I have noticed some lessening of the anxiety or least lessening of the intensity of the anxiety.

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

A Morning of Self Care

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning (again), World!!! I am feeling slightly better than my last post. That is because I have done some good self care for myself. Self care that put me into a better head space.

I first did some mindfulness and meditation practice. This tends to help me focus on different aspects of my life. Aspects of my life that include me being in a better head space.

After my mindfulness and meditation practice I had some tea while reading the news paper. As usual there was really no real good news. Sports wise my favorite is doing well right now. But it is only the beginning of the season.

Now I am about to head out to have an appointment with my new psychiatric nurse practitioner. I hope she is good. I hope she stays. I, of course of some anxiety over this appointment but that is why I have done what I have done as mentioned above.

I need to get going to my appointment. Have a great day and peace out world!!!

Feeling Better

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! Today, I have been dealing with a lot of depression. I realized this about an hour and a half ago. I realized why my depression was acting up a little today. I had forgotten to do my meditation and mindfulness practice this morning. So, I did my practice and now I feel better. Today’s topic was love and kindness and how it is okay to self soothe. Meditation and mindfulness self soothes me and is a self care act for me.

After I did my meditation and mindfulness, I watched a few episodes of M*A*S*H. It made me laugh so I hard, I almost peed my pants. Humor helps me a great deal. M*A*S*H reminds me of my childhood when I would watch it with my dad.

It is time to get back to watching M*A*S*H. Have a great evening everyone. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 9: Writing & Not Writing

Posted on by Gertie

Today’s  assignment is to discuss what I do when I am not writing. This easy for me to write about as the things I do outside of blogging is a form of self care for me.

I tend to be a strong advocate in my community. Not just the mental health community or the Peer community but the LGBTQ+ community. Being able to advocate in the communities I identify with helps be in the long wrong to be able to advocate for other communities that I don’t identify with but an ally.

I also volunteer at the Warm Line in my area. Which is something I have been doing for three and a half years now. Something I also love to do. I love to be able to be of support to those who may not have the support that I have.

Something, I do to help myself are self-help workbooks. I am currently doing two work books. One is one my gender identity and sexual orientation while the other is on mindfulness and meditation.

Reading is another thing I do besides reading. I love to read. My favorite genre’s are science fiction, fantasy and mystery. I also love to read text books. Yes, I know it sounds strange but its something I enjoy.

Another thing I enjoy besides reading is to do art. I love to paint, color and collage. Writing helps me process my emotions and feelings while are helps me express them.

Another way I express my emotions is by playing the flute or harmonica. Where words fail music speaks. I also love listening to music and have a ton of play list on Spotify.

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