Tag Archives: Writing

Weekly Check In

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It is that time of week where I am going restart doing my weekly check ins on Saturdays. I will be doing my weekly check as part of my routine in regards to getting ready for work. As may or may not know my on call shelter counselor job is no longer an on call job for me as I now have a more permanent day I work. In fact I work Saturday nights from eight at night to eight thirty in morning on Sunday. I am not a huge fan work twelve and a hours at night but at least its a consistent schedule and not on call. Being on call was not helping my mental health symptoms and was about to quit my job if I didn’t start having a more consistent schedule.

As far a my as my week went it was pretty busy. On Monday and Tuesday I decided to deep clean my everything in my kitchen. Well everything but my fridge but I will do that next week. Most likely next Friday. It felt great that I deep cleaned my kitchen. I plan on deep cleaning the rest of my apartment as time goes on. I plan on making one day a week ordeal till I get my apartment clean like how I want it and not so cluttered.

Wednesday was a busy day for me. I saw my Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. We of course discussed meds and how I will be picking up my meds twice a week now since I tried attempting to die by suicide by taking a weeks worth of one of my meds about a month and a half ago. (No need to worry because I am currently not at risk of harming myself or attempting suicide.) We discussed how picking up my meds twice a week will be more helpful to me and my recovery for the time being. I am hopeful that I will be able to get my meds on the monthly basis again but my Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and I both agree that this is the best option for me and my recovery right now. 

As far as Wednesday goes, it continues to get busier. I saw my therapist and we discussed a great deal of shit that was difficult yet extremely productive. We talked about DBT group and what we are working on in DBT. I discussed with him about the skill of Being Mindful of Current Emotion and how it is challenging for me. So we discussed how it was challenging it for me and my therapist gave me homework on this which I have mixed emotions about but realize that ultimately it will help me. My therapist and I also discussed me starting a new group the focuses on learning skill for PTSD called Trauma Symptom Management. I told him I would be willing to try it just as long as there is no processing of trauma as I am only ready to process my trauma with him, my therapist, and he understood.

Something else I did on Wednesday was start another Path With Art class that is a writing class. When I initially read it I thought “cool a writing class” and then reread a couple of my times and thought I misread the first time because I thought it was an acting class as was fearful that since I got accepted into the class that I would be out of my element. Turns out that I read it right the first time and that it is a writing class. Yes, I love to write but this writing class will slightly put me out of my comfort zone as we will focus on various types of characters and how they play a role in any story as well as focus on the type of scenes they tend to be in. So this particular art class in focused on writing and not art. I did want to do other classes but they would interfere with some of my group therapy.  I am so grateful and relieved that the character and scene writing class is not an acting class as I would be totally out of my element and completely out of my comfort zone. At least with it being a writing class and with the type of writing it is, I will only be slightly out of my comfort zone.

As far as Thursday went. The main thing I did was go to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group. We discuss Mindful of Current Emotion for the second week in a row as it appears that most of us in the group struggle with it from time to time. I am glad that I am working on this particular skill in both DBT group as well as in individual therapy as it is something that I need to work on or at least that’s the universes way of saying I need to work.

Friday, was pretty much my lazy day. I blogged three times and did some art work. In one of my blog post I even showed you what I started on. Yes, I did do some more coloring and hope to post the progress tomorrow after I get home and take a nap. Art work tends to help me a great deal just like writing does. As far as coloring goes, it helps me become mindful of the present moment.

As far as today (Saturday) is concerned, I slept through the entire day. I slept through it because I work a twelve and a half hour night shift. I am not a big fan of working twelve and a half hour shift especially at night but at least I have a job that gives me some meaning in my life as well as the structure I need for my recovery. No matter how long or even sometimes challenging work can be, I always seem to have a sense of accomplishment after I get of work.

Well, it appears I don’t have much more to write or check in about how my week went. I want to thank you for reading my long winded blog post. I also want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog as it means a great deal to me that you do. I hope everyone enjoy what is left of Saturday. I also hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Attempting to Go Back to Basics With Blogging

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! As I was attempting to take a nap that sadly was unsuccessful, I thought of ways that I could blog on the regular basis. One of the first things I thought about doing but decided not to do at this moment in time was doing one of the courses WordPress puts on. I have decided to not do this as I am busy trying to build structure in my life and yes that would be helpful however the other things in my life I need to build structure in are slightly more important than taking a course that is everyday. When it comes to building structure in regards to my blog is committing to blogging three times a week. So, two of my post will be something that I have done before and that would be, Sundays I will do a post on my weekly plans to give you an idea of what my week will look likes. A good portion of my weeks are pretty much the same but I like to give you all an idea of the ways I attempt to be a productive adult. Another thing I plan on doing is giving a weekly update on Saturdays despite needing to sleep all day due to working Saturday nights. I think this will be doable if I plan it just right and I have faith in myself that I can make this possible. As far as the third post, I am not sure what day I will do it or what I will discuss. It might be just a random post of what ever is going on at the moment.

I also hope to possibly post a fourth post a week that involves showing the art the I am working on. Or even posting pictures of the cute things my cat does. So maybe having a fourth and fifth post that involve pictures of my art and my cat. I have noticed that when I post pictures I tend to get more people looking at the post. I also realize that if I post on the regular basis whether or not pictures are involve people tend to not loose interest in reading my blog and will continue to read it.

I do not have much more to post about in regards to blogging. I do hope to blog again later today in regards to my issues with Trump. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you so much for reading my blog from the bottom of my heart. I hope everyone has a great Friday. I also hope everyone as an awesome weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 9: Writing & Not Writing

Posted on by Gertie

Today’s assignment is in regards to writing and what I as person does when I am not writing. I don’t know if I do anything different from everybody else on the everyday basis. I eat, sleep, work, chores and do everyday adulting.

As far as doing other things I play the flute. I am not any good at it. When I say I am not any good at playing the flute, I mean I am not good enough to make money off of playing the flute. Music is major part of my life and I personally think if it wasn’t for music I wouldn’t have a high school diploma. Being in marching and concert band in high school is what helped me stay and graduate high school.

Another thing that I do when I am not writing is art work. I do various forms of art. Specifically, I mainly color, paint and some collaging. I even do a combination of the type of art I do. Art helps me release emotions I am unable to express with words.

Last but not least, when I am not writing, I spend time with my cat, Lil Gertie. My cat, Lil Gertie is everything to me. She has been a major blessing in my life and am forever grateful for her. I do not know what I would do without her. She is such a sweet and loving cat. She gives me unconditional love and all she wants back is attention and wet food which I am happy to give her.

Well, I do not know what else to write about so I guess I will end this blog post. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a good weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 7: Let Social Media Inspire You

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! Today’s assignment is to let social media inspire a post. We were given a choice of five tweets from Twitter to write about. Sadly, none of those tweets from Twitter have inspired me to write. So, I thought I would go to my twitter account to see if I could get inspired from any tweets there and again wasn’t inspired. Since I wasn’t inspired by anything on Twitter I decided to go to Facebook.

As far as Facebook I really wasn’t inspired. I wasn’t inspired from Facebook because of the anger and hate from various people especially in Facebook groups. It seems that most of the hate and anger involves politics. People think that they can be cruel when it comes to being on the internet and social media. People wouldn’t say most of the shit face to face to someone as they do on social media. The worst topic that invokes peoples anger and hate is politics. Politics get people heated and when people get heated they tend to not be able to listen to the other persons side. Not being heard can cause even more anger. I just get aggravated when people start attacking each other especially if it is something people wouldn’t say or do face to face.

Well, I guess social media did inspire me to write about something but it is a topic I need to not discuss write now because I am livid about some things I saw on Facebook. I think I am going to end this blog post. I want to thank you for reading my blog from the bottom of my heart. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things because if it wasn’t for you my reader, I don’t think I would continue to blog. So, thank you again for reading my blog. I hope you all have a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 6: The Space to Write

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! Today’s assignment for WordPress’s Finding Everyday Inspiration course is asking about the space we write in. For me the space I write in varies on a number of factors. It various on what type of thing I am writing as well as what type of mood I am in and what I use to write with.

For instance when I write in regards to my blog I write on my laptop which means, I am usually home. There are times when I am not home when I blog and usually that is when I am out of town so I most likely would be in a hotel room when I blog if out of town. When I write for my blog it is always via my laptop.

As far as other types of writing, I really think it all depends on what type of mood I am in. When it comes to writing in regards to journaling, I have a journal, I write in and most of the time write with a pencil. I am not sure why I prefer pencil over pen when journaling but I do. When it comes to where I journal it all depends on if I am needing to journal to help me regulate my emotions and if I have the place and emotional space to do so. Most of the time I find a place to do so. I usually like to journal outside as it gives me a different perspective on things.

When it comes to writing poetry I usually do it with a paper and pencil or on my laptop. Using paper and pencil or my laptop makes it easier to changes things in the poem if it doesn’t seem right to me. When it comes to where I write, I think it is dependent on what inspires me to write poetry. I do have a journal I keep my poetry in and that is when I transfer it to the journal in pen.

As far as writing letters goes, I think it all depends if it is a business letter or personal letter. When it is a business letter I type it on my laptop. When it is a personal letter I tend to write it with a paper and pen. Sometimes I even write on a postcard. I tend to write letters from home or in a hotel if I am out of town. When I get a chance to travel out of town any where even if its only two hours from where I live I like to write letters and/or postcards to people as it is always nice to receive snail mail.

The latest type of writing includes a combination of drawing, coloring and writing in the form of comics. I start out with paper and a pencil just in case I make a mistake or want to change something. After I am done with the comic, then ink it and color it. I started doing comics when I took an art class about comics. In fact doing comics is another form of art for me to do that includes writing. As to where I do this is dependent on my mood and what stage of the comic I am doing.

Before, I end this post and assignment, I was asked as apart of the assignment to ask you my reader to give me suggestion via my contact page on what you would like me to write about. It is for a future assignment. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help me out on this as it is for an assignment and it would also help me out for future post that is not related to an assignment. I would like to know what you would like me to write about even when I am not doing a WordPress course.

I do not have much more to say in the post. I am sorry I was so long winded in this post but apparently I was inspired about what I write and where I write. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 4: A Story in a Single Image

Posted on by Gertie

This image doesn’t inspire me to “write a story” but it does inspire me keep doing what I am doing when it comes to keeping myself both mentally and physically healthy. When I first saw this image I am inspired to go out and enjoy nature especially since I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. For me this image inspires me to make plans to do what I enjoy especially since it is summer and easy to do the things I enjoy in nature.

In fact this image reminded me of the plans I already have planned to do with friends. Plans to go do a day hike every week with friends who like to do day trips but no time do go on multi-day trips to go camping. I also have plan to go on two camping trips with friends and we plan on going hiking then.  Going camping and/or hiking helps me a great deal. It helps me get into nature so I can connect to nature.

I live in the city. In fact the city I live in is Seattle. Yes, it is easy to connect with nature in Seattle due to all the awesome parks we have but going out to the middle of the forest connects you to nature that city parks can not do. So, for me going hiking and/or camping helps me connect with nature. Being in nature helps me reconnect to what is important to me and my recovery with mental health challenges. Its like a type of therapy for me.

Even though I already have plans to go camping twice this summer and weekly hiking trips, I am wanting to make plans with fellow peer counselors. Plans to at least go for a day hike. I think after this post I will reach out to fellow peer counselors to see if at least a handful of us would be able to schedule at least a day hike. So this image inspired me to get people together to at least do a day hike.

I don’t have much more to say in this post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 3: One-Word Inspiration; Hope

Posted on by Gertie

HOPE:

NOUN:

1) A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

2) A feeling of trust.

VERB:

1) Want something to happen or be the case.

“Hope” is the word I chose to give me some inspiration to write about for my “assignment” for Finding Everyday Inspiration. I have chosen hope mainly because if it wasn’t for hope I wouldn’t have chosen to be in active recovery. If I didn’t choose to be in recovery, I wouldn’t have gone into an intensive outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program and become the person I am today. Granted, I am not in the best of places at the moment regarding my mental health however I am in a better place than I was in when I started being in active recovery. Then again I have a better grasp on reality and have more hope and holding on to that hope. If it wasn’t for hope I don’t think I would be alive and am grateful that I have hope.

Hope is something I hold on to like it’s going out of style. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 1: I Write Because…

Posted on by Gertie

I write for several reasons. Reasons that are personal to me in which I will share with you. I started my blog for several reasons. Reasons that I have mentioned many times before and will share with you again in this post and most likely again in future post.

I originally started blogging for two reasons. The first reason was and continues to educate those who do not live with a mental health challenge in hopes to help end the stigma for those who have a mental health diagnosis as well as to show those who do not have one that we who do have one can live productive lives. The second reason why is to give people who do live with a mental health challenge that there is hope and that recovery is possible. Hope is one of the things that is needed for those who live with a challenge and it my hope that I can be a beacon of hope to those who are struggling.

Little did I know when I started blogging that it would be helpful to me. Helpful in ways I never imagined and am beyond grateful for. Blogging has helped realize how to find a voice that I didn’t realize I had. It helped me find life long friends. Blogging has been a type of therapy for me. It also helped me an advocate for others as well as myself.

So as you can see blogging about mental health is why I write. I continue to write on my blog because of you my reader, my audience. If it wasn’t for you I don’t think I would continue to to blog.

I don’t have much more to write about on this post as I feel like I got straight to the point. I want to thank you may audience for reading my blog. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be writing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Peace Out, World!!!

A Random Wednesday Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Afternoon, World!!! I am struggling at the moment with writing my resignation letter for work. I am not sure why I am struggling with writing it as I have written one before. I am think I am struggling with it because I have some pretty awesome colleagues, a supervisor that is extremely supportive and I do enjoy what I do. The main reason I am resigning is because its an on-call position that is a twelve hour over night shift. I think if I had a regular schedule that the twelve hour night shift wouldn’t be so bad. The job schedule is affecting my mental health and that is not a good thing for me.

As much as I am dreading writing my resignation letter for work, I am looking forward to the free blogging courses I will be taking through WordPress. I signed up for three courses and have taken all three of them before. The courses I signed up for are Finding Everyday Inspiration, which is a twenty day course, Developing Your Eye 1 which is a ten day course and Intro to Poetry which is a ten day course. I am not sure if I am going do them consecutively or at the same time. I’m thinking I will do Finding Everyday Inspiration as I do one of the other courses at the same time and when finished with one I’ll do the other since two of them are ten days each. But at this point in time I am not exactly sure how I am going to work the courses.

I do not have much more to say. I do want to thank you for reading my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope everyone has a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Improving My Blogging Skills

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is five o’clock in the morning in my corner of the world and I still have not been to sleep yet which is extremely frustrating. As frustrating as it is to not be able to sleep due to insomnia, it does have its pros. Granted there are not very many pros to having insomnia or not being able to sleep but there are some. One of those pros to having insomnia is being able to think of ways to be creative and/or do things when you are not able to sleep or even to do during “normal” waking hours. One of those things that I could do and will do is to improve my blogging skills. You may ask how I will do this and the answer is that WordPress offers free courses on blogging. The three that I have chosen, I have done before and really enjoyed participating in them. I am not sure I will being doing the courses concurrently or back to back. Two of the courses are ten days long and on is twenty days long so I could technically do both concurrently and back to back if I do the twenty day course while I do one ten day course and when that one is finished I can do the next ten day course. I guess, I will figure out how I am going in regards to the courses I am going to take.

I guess you are wondering what courses I am going to be taking to improve my blogging skills. I will tell you what courses I will be taking and why I am taking them and what I hope to learn from each course. The twenty day course I am signed up for is “Finding Everyday Inspiration” and for this course I hope to not only be inspired to write daily but to be inspired to write about the things I experience in this world or even things that can inspire others.  The other course I am taking is a photography course called “Developing Your Eye.” In this course I hope to learn a different form of art through photography and being show you how I see the world around me with the picture I take and share with you. The third course I signed up for is “Intro to Poetry”  and I hope to learn different way to write a poem and hope that I can create poetry to share with you my reader and the rest of the world.

It is my hope that signing up for these three course that it will help me build some structure in my life. Structure that will become more of a routine for me. Building structure and routine with blogging will ultimately help me with my blog as well as having set times on when I will blog and not have it feel like a chore. There have been times where blogging felt more like a chore than anything and am wanting to have fun with my blog with creating some form of structure with it and think this is a good way to start building the structure I need for my life personally as well as  for my blog. I hope this paragraph makes some sense. If no, I hope you my reader will let me know.

I really don’t have much more to say about this. I just hope you my reader will continue to read what I have to say. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. So thank you for reading my blog. Have a good Tuesday everyone. Peace Out, World!!!