Questionable “Facts”

Have you ever heard someone talk about something and they seem to know what they’re talking about. Then they say something and it makes you go “hmm, that’s debatable”. I have had that happen multiple times lately. For a while I had faulty logic, I’ll admit. However, it has gotten much better over the past year. I think I’m much more capable of seeing though the some of the nonsense people are spouting. I mean, there are certain things I can;t say that about, but I like to think that I know enough about a multitude of things where I can have an intelligent conversation about what they said. A lot of times its not about correcting, it’s about finding their point of view and why they feel what they said it a fact. It very well could be, but I like to know why. I don’t know if any of this makes sense, but I feel like this will be a very ranty post.

One of the most recent things that I found a lot of things questionable about was while reading the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. And my goodness, I don’t know how that book even got published. I mean, I do, because I can see the audience for it. However, if you see through what he’s saying. It’s as if he’s making things all encompassing. As if what he’s saying, what worked for him, will work for a majority of people. Which is not a fact and is also not scientifically backed up. Yet, this book has a cult following. I was part of a book club for a singular meeting about the book. I had read about half of it and then it was so outlandish to me that I returned it. Maybe it’s because my new found logic is making me think critically. Because about a year ago, even 6 months ago, I would have hung on his every word. Now, I find some of what he wrote, debatable. If you want me to do a more in depth post about that book, let me know.

I’m not saying that this new found logical mind of mine makes me smarter or better than anyone else, I just see things differently. There is so much more for me to do to develop my mind and my logic, but I like to think I’m off the a pretty good start.

I like to have a few types of books going throughout the week. 1 or 2 adult fiction, 1 YA or middle grade (just for some light reading), and 1 non-fiction “self-help” book. The “self-help” book I’m working through now is actually a text book “Attacking Faulty Reasoning”. I’m learning a lot so far and I’m only on page like 20, but still, I can tell it’s going to be helpful. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but it’s crazy what happens when you take what you think you know, what you think your core beliefs are, what you think will be helpful for you. Then it gets flipped on it’s head and you’re just like damn. It takes an adjustment, but you’ll have a whole new perspective. This just happened to me recently, but one day something clicked and a switch got flipped and I was like…WHAT HAS HAPPENED?! And I’m still adjusting.

It is important to think critically and not always take things at face value.

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Update

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here. I’m not sure why. I mean, I go through phases like everyone else. But it’s been almost six months. I’ve taken breaks before, but not like this. It was as if all the creativity and drive had left me. It hurt me to not write, but at the same time I had nothing to say. There was a lot happening in my private life. Here I am though. I made it through and I’m back.

I honestly don’t know where I left off on my journey through life on this blog. I can tell you that my symptoms have barely improved. I’m having a little bit of depression now actually. I’m going to be graduating in August and I’m just not excited. Like right now, i don’t even care. Which makes me feel bad. I’ve been trying meditation, but I keep getting stuck in the same loop. Negative thoughts, followed by more negative thoughts, followed by tactile hallucinations. Which are new. Yay for Bipolar…

I’m not really sure what I’m trying to say here, but I just wanted to get something down. I need to work on my pessimism. How many times have I said that? Too many. To the point where it just means nothing.

Oh! Well there is one update. Essentially my business failed. So, that really put a damper on our quarantine, which was already pretty bad. So, I’ll probably be making another post about that, but it was rough to accept it. I was in denial for a little while, but now I just have one more thing under my belt. I just put so much energy into it and basically it was for nothing. So, that sucked. A lot of things sucked. Things a kind of looking up, but at this moment out apartment is a mess. I can’t even get to my desk. I’m also taking summer classes so that’s something to look forward to. 3 and a half hour classes twice a week…yayyyyy…

I’m hoping I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things with this. We’ll see!

Panic, mania, anxiety, Oh My!

If any phrase could sum up my day it would be this. I spent the day battling anxiety, followed by mania, and finally a sense of panic. Followed by more anxiety. Also, stress on stress on stress. Most of the things I’m stressed about I have no control over, so it’s hard to deal with. Like fighting something that isn’t there. Eventually you have to give in and try and figure out why you’re fighting so hard. Usually because the answer is something you don’t want to hear. For me, it’s being told that all the things I’m stressing about, are out of my control. There is not one thing I can do except wait on other people and in one case trust my doctors and my body.

The mania was not fun, my mind started racing and I couldn’t stop the intrusive thought cycle. I was restless, you know the usual. Finally I’m feeling a bit better. I had some herbal tea, put on a podcast and of course xanax. Part of my issue is that I feel this constant need to do something. Like, I have so many books to read and shows I want to watch, that I don’t even know where to start. So, I panic about that. Literally the thing that matters the least. I get anxious about things that most people find relaxing. Probably because I’m horrible and even avoid making choices. As if I can make a wrong choice starting a book or a show and deciding that I don’t like it. If I don’t like it, then I have permission to stop. It’s as if I need to give myself permission to do things that other people just do, without thinking. I need to basically make a pro and con list about everything, then I like throw that pro and con list in the fire and watch makeup videos on YouTube. How is that a healthy cycle?

It’s not. A lot of the things I do are not healthy, as in mentally healthy. Also, I miss gluten. That has nothing to do with any of this, but watching people eat things my body rejects makes me feel pretty bad. My anxiety is back to being overwhelming. You know what I’m going to do? Probably Youtube, because I’m not very good at changing my habits or even truly recognizing that they’ve gotten to an unhealthy point. Which I feel like my YT watching has gotten to. I have a podcast on now, because that’s part of the things I want to do more of this year. I just need to be able to identify the unhealthy habit, figure out how to change it, then slowly implement those changes. I need to push past the anxiety in these situations, because the anxiety is uncomfortable, but keeping up with the habit will just make it worse. It doesn’t help how bored I am. I also can’t focus and a whole bunch of things just weigh me down.

The anxiety is so bad. I’m at a loss for words to explain why it’s so intense. I feel like crying, my chest is tight, every movement feels like I’m moving a mountain. I’m at a loss for what to do, I can’t focus. I try counting my breaths and doing breathing exercises, but nothing is making it better. My bf asks me what’s wrong and I can’t tell him because I don’t know. My mind is a jumbled mess. I just want to rock back and forth or bounce my leg. I’ve been trying to keep that under control. I know the possible solution to all of this could be mindfulness, but it’s not easy. I have all the help I need at my finger tips, I just don’t know how to use it.

Drafts

in case anyone was wondering I have 42 blog post drafts saved. That’s right forty-two. If that doesn’t help describe me I’m not sure whay does. I’m scatterbrained, I can’t make decisions, I’m self conscious, I’m a lot of things. Part of it is my bipolar and part of it is the effect the disorder has had on me. I get stressed easily and lately it’s been worse then it has been. I have a very big decision to make soon and I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do when the time comes. For the situation I’m in, there really is a wrong decision, it’s just that one may be better than another, but it’s not wrong. Things haven’t been easy and I feel like everything is amplified. I’ve pretty much been on an emotional rollercoaster these past few months and it is exhausting. 

Being emotionally exhausted is one of the worst things in my opinion. I dont want to move. I don’t want to get out of bed. It’s like all the joy has been robbed from me. It’s not enough to be classified as depression, but it’s still horrible. This decision that is looming over my head is killing me. It’s a waiting game right now and it’s the worst. It’s like I’ve been stuck in a waiting game since the pandemic started. I’ve just been so anxious. It’s like I habe 42 drafts in my mind and none of them are finished and none of them seem good enough to post. 

I’ve been on a constant hunt for comfort. Like yes, I have my people, but I can’t be with them or talk to them every waking hour. I need to find comfort in something. I started reading Harry Potter, but I need to save those books for something else that’s upcoming. So I started The Hobbit again. So I’ll see how that goes. I have Percy Jackson on deck in case I find that it doesn’t help. I’m also costantly looking at lists to find ideas for how to handle the anxiety. Because it’s just generalized anxiety, because I can’t pin point one exact thing that is making me anxious. There’s so much going on. There’s so much stress, everyone keeps telling me it’s justified and tells me that it’ll work out. It doesn’t feel like it though. It feels like it’s just impending doom. I mean,after my decision is made in about 6 to 8 weeks, things will likely lighten up. I’ve been trying to look forward to the holidays, but they’re happening after all if this. I just know they’re not going to be the same. I already made the decision that I won’t be spending Thanksgiving with my whole family which makes me sad, but it’s what will make me feel most comfortable. So there’s that. Its like the virus has crushed dreams that I haven’t even had yet. When the world is in the state that it’s in, it’s hard to latch onto a dream. It’s not easy to live in the climate we’re in now. Including the political climate, which I will not get into here. The world is a mess though. It’s like everyone has 42 drafts and they’re trying to figure out what to do with them. 

I know there’s hope in the world and that eventually things will get better and we’ll come out on the other side of this stronger and better people. It really doesn’t seem like it. And I sure as hell don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel yet, but it’ll be there eventually. 

Long time no type

So, it’s been quite awhile and some things have happened. Hopefully I can remember it all, because things happen and I want to blog about them, but when I sit down to write I forget all the things I want to write.

Let’s see, where to begin. Maybe I’ll work backwards from now until Taylor Swifts latest album release. I’ve been going through all the emotions. Mostly anxiety, constant, persistent, sometimes crippling, anxiety. I kind of feel like my new medication has sucked some of my creativity out of me. I don’t have any inspiration. Any time I think about writing I just find it uninteresting. I love writing. So, I guess I have to decide if that’s a trade off I’m willing to work with. I feel pretty good on it, but things just don’t feel interesting. Nothing sounds, good or fun. It’s just kind of meh. I’m not sure if there’s a solution to that. I mean, there probably is, I just haven’t found it yet. I’ve only been on the medication for about a month, but it was supposed to start working right away. If there’s a task I actually need to do or want to do, I can do it without an issue, but for now I have to deal with the lack of inspiration and need to be creative. Which is very frustrating. I figure writing a blog post would be the easiest to write because I can take a topic and write about it. When I write fiction the ideas have to flow from inside of me. And that just isn’t happening. I’m going to start trying to write more.

My school situation is weird for me this semester. I’m taking two zero credit classes, so I don’t actually have any work to do. I was actually looking forward to school because I wanted some sort of structure, but that went out the window. I’m not good at sticking to routines. I don’t like that, that’s how I am, but I’m not good a sticking with things in general. Working out, writing, reading, any type of craft project. I know that’s a habit I can change, but I don’t know how. Especially because my moods are so erratic. I’ll wake up one morning and be fine, but my mood will decline. I get burnt out pretty easily and discouraged. I was hoping that this medication would help, but so far it hasn’t.

The thing is that, life can be unpredictable. Like, my birthday was about two weeks ago and that didn’t go as planned. I got a belly button infection. I choked on a bagel and my boyfriend had to give me the Heimlich, which caused me that have rib and back pain. So, there really isn’t much I can do. Also, my dog had to have surgery yesterday which was nerve wracking (She is home now, everything went amazing and she’s resting comfortably). All in all I’m just in physical discomfort and that usually has an effect on my mood. I’m only comfortable if I sit in certain positions because of my ribs.

I know I should try and think positively, but at this point I’ve accepted that I’m mostly a pessimist. I worry and panic easily, I always think about the worst thing that could happen first, and I’m usually the first to jump to conclusions. I haven’t really been enjoying any shows or books or anything really so I don’t have any thing to recommend. Also, the business is being slow because of the pandemic. So, if someone were to ask me how I was handling the pandemic, I would answer, not well. I’m doing the best I can, well I think so anyway. I feel like I can be productive today, but we’ll see. Fingers crossed that I’ll have enough energy or general will power to update tomorrow.

Catching Up

I feel like it’s been quite sometime since I posted here. Well, I suppose it really has been. I needed a bit of a break after the death of my grandmother. I’m back now, well I’m going to try and be.

Honestly, nothing much has happened in the past month or so. I’ve been stuck in the house. I just wanted to write a little bit about how COVID has affected my mental health. I am easily triggered, and will quickly have a mood swing after the initial trigger. So, being stuck in the apartment you would think that I would be able to avoid triggers, that is not the case though. I am easily triggered by videos and sometimes pictures. Also, by the emotions of the people around me. Since my boyfriend and I are spending every single second of every single day together, it’s almost impossible to not feed off of each others emotions. So, I’ll get triggered by something, then he’ll feel my stress and it’ll possibly trigger him. It’s a very delicate system.

Also, the business has not been doing the best. Due to COVID, people just aren’t buying our products. We try so hard. The lack of orders and work to do leaves me very anxious and bored and then I panic because I feel like I should be doing work, when there’s no work to be done. It’s all very frustrating. I have a very strong work ethic so when I don’t have something to focus my energy on, I get severe, debilitating anxiety. I tell my doctors and they try to help me and give me advice, but the bottom line is that we can’t adjust my meds. So, it’s basically me against myself. In my head. All day everyday. I’ve been manic a few times, down, but not truly depressed, but mostly the anxiety. Except yesterday I felt extremely unstable. I don’t know what happened, but something tipped the scales. I feel like I need to channel my energy. I’ve been writing a lot of fiction, but I’ve kind of run out of inspiration.

I know they say that you have to write even when you don’t feel like it or if you don’t feel inspired. I just can’t seem to push myself though. Everything just feels off. Probably because no matter what I do or how hard I try, I’ve found that; no matter how much you try, it’s almost impossible to move forward when the world is standing still. Because we are still in the middle of a pandemic and things don’t seem to be getting better. I feel like there is no hope. Like I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even as I write this I feel a sense of panic. Everything is a struggle. It also doesn’t help that it’s like a sauna in my apartment.

I honestly am doing the best that I can. I just keep forgetting to remind myself of that. Sometimes, doing the best that you can is enough. Even if all that you do is get out of bed. I had a pretty strict morning routine, but somewhere along the way it fell to the wayside. I wish that hadn’t happened, but it did. I know not to beat myself up about it, but it’s difficult.

So, COVID has not given me any more drive, it hasn’t really done anything productive for me. I’m hoping I can start feeling better today and get back into blogging. I’ve really missed this.

Hope In A Time of Uncertainty

I think I’m going to put the easy breezy organization on hold for now. Right now I want to talk about optimism. Optimistic is defined as hopeful and confident about the future I know it seems like that is something non-existent right now. We are uncertain about the future, there is no certainty in life in general. There is hope though.

Pandora’s box has been opened and all that’s left is hope. Hope is defined as- a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. I may not be a traditionally spiritual person, but I believe in hope. I’m also not a very optimistic person, but I am a hopeful person. I think hope is our strongest tool. When people pray, they’re sending hope out into the universe.

We’re all dealing with things differently. Yet, there’s hope in everything we do. For example, right now I’m distracting myself by looking for the perfect avocado green eye eye shadow palette. Every time I find one I like, I hope it’s on sale or that the shipping will be free. Hope is everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Right now is a time to look to the future, look at whats happening right now, in our cities and with our citizens. Look at it. Then find that sliver of hope.

Family Motivations

Today’s post was supposed to be my “Easy Breezy Organization” post, but it doesn’t feel right. I don’t really want to comment on the state of the world, I feel like so many people are doing that. Going in depth and telling the story of George Floyd. I on the other hand will tell you the story of one of the greatest people I knew, my role model, an amazing activist, supporter of justice, and fighter for change and equality. My Grandma Nina. Unfortunately we lost her in 2016.

I am who I am today because of her. She influenced my path in life and altered the way I see things and people and the difference between justice and injustice. What I know for a fact right now is that there is so much injustice and inequality happening in the US right now. There always has been, it’s just now coming to a head. We are calling for change. If my grandma taught me anything it’s that saying anything is saying something. I may feel like I have such a small platform, that I may not have the biggest voice, I may not be the loudest person in the room, but I am saying something. This systematic injustice is wrong. Criminal. My grandma would be out in the streets right now if she were still here. I would stand with her.

She changed my life. We went through phases of how close we were, but in the years leading up to her passing we became closer. She truly became my best friend. I could listen to her forever, and the thing is, that if I disagreed, we had a discussion. She was such a joy and a gem.

At her 90th birthday party I got wine drunk, gave a speech, and cried. To be honest I don’t remember what I said. I just remember saying that I chose my major because of her, and it’s true. I went into political science because of her. I wanted to make her proud. Further study the things that she had ingrained in me. That’s what I did. I still don’t have my degree, but I should by next May.

So, the United States is in major social justice turmoil. We want change. The sentence is simple, but it’s a hard road. Not impossible, but hard. We are entering a new era for equality and racism. People are fighting for the rights that they should already have.

I will never know what it’s like to live in fear because of the color of my skin. I never acknowledge it, but I know that I am privileged because I am white. My grandma taught me many things, but mostly that everyone’s life has value. This homicide, which was clearly done without regard for a persons life, it shows that certain people believe that Black lives have less or basically no value. Which is the sickest thing about all of this. George Floyd and all of the other sick and senseless murders committed by the police, shows the truth about racism. That it exists and is prevalent in everyday lives.

Everything just seems so trivial now. So, if I’m a bit quiet or my posts are shorter that’s why. Stay safe.

Weekly Wrap-Up

I’m starting this Friday afternoon, I want to have something down for tomorrow. I don’t know I’ll feel in the morning, so I’ll start now. It’s 4:40 pm, I don’t think much will happen between now and tomorrow morning when I usually write these posts. I mean, as this week has taught me, a lot can happen in a short amount of time. We lost my grandmother on early Wednesday morning. It’s really tearing me up right now. I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye, and that’s what hurts the most.

Okay, it’s early Saturday morning. I’m trying to get back into a routine a little bit. So I woke up around 5, then I worked out, and then I went to 7-11 for caffeine and some other drinks and cat food. I’m not sure what the format of this post is going to be, because I was distracted for most of the week. There’s a lot to catch up on.

I didn’t post on Monday because I had a manic episode on Sunday afternoon, then I didn’t sleep at all Sunday night. The thing is though that I’m very sensitive to stimuli the day after a manic episode. I decided Monday was going to be a rest day, but I had a lot of roasting to do. The other thing is that I don’t know how to relax, especially when I try to force it. The reason I had a manic episode was because I pushed myself past my limits. I started working on the computer early in the morning, then by the end of the day I was trying the plan my entire life. If you haven’t been here before, I don’t do well with full on structure for my routines and my days. I need more of a loose structure. If I plan my entire day, I end up overwhelming myself and beating myself up if I don’t do everything I had planned on doing. So, when I attempt to plan my whole life, things usually go terribly wrong. Anyway, I was trying to do a million things at once on Sunday and it triggered a manic episode. I attempted to control it, but I ended up being hypomanic on Monday morning. I was reading a book and it was so good, I had to stop because it was stimulating me and getting my blood pumping. All day Monday I tried to force myself to relax, which didn’t work out very well.

I haven’t been sleeping very well this week. Right now I feel like I’m exhausted, mostly because I was in emotional stress all week. Before my grandma passed and after. I woke up and in my head I told myself that I was going to get back into my routine today, partly at least. I need to try and get things done early because I know by about noon I’ll be pretty sad and I won’t want to do anything. I’m forcing myself to stay awake right now, at least until my boyfriend wakes up. I roasted all day and he roasted all night. On Thursday no matter what I did I could not get comfortable at all and ended up in bed all day. Which is very unusual for me. Today I may also spend in bed, depending on how tired I feel and how just sad I am. I’m going to do a quick list of things that have been keeping me distracted the past few days:

• Parks and Rec- This is honestly one of my favorite shows. Not everyone likes it, but I watch it whenever I’m down and I don’t know what else to do. I started from the beginning at 3:30 am on Wednesday. It helps a lot, I find a lot of comfort in it.
• I’m still vibing with Penny Dreadful, I hadn’t watched it in a few days, but I went back to it yesterday and I was like why did I stop watching this? It truly is a good distraction because it’s a very involved show and I have to pay attention.
• The Queen of the Damned By Anne Rice- I started reading this book at the beginning of the spring, I put it down for a little while because I was on a non-fiction kick, but I went back to it and like I am with Penny Dreadful, I wondered why I stopped reading it.
• Music- I’m just going to list a few artists: Dawes, John Mayer, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Sia.

Also it’s hard to write this post without commenting on George Floyd. All I’m going to say is that what happened never should have happened. I will never have to live in fear like that. How is that fair? How is that equality? It’s not. That’s all I’m going to say.

It’s been a rough week. Not just for me, but for the entire US. I hope things can get better, but I feel like that’s a long way off.

I lost someone very close to me this week. I’m sad and my heart hurts. I know what it’s like to lose someone, but it’s different this time. I didn’t get to say goodbye and I don’t think I’ll be able to get a proper one. There is no closure I just have to grive and mourn the best that I can. With memories and thinking of her when ever I’m doing something or I’m somewhere I know she loved to go. When I read a piece of literature or I’m in an art mesuem or I’m just trying some new food. She brought so much culture into my life. I don’t think I’d be the same person without her. 

My heart is heavy. The tears come and go. My life won’t be the same. I have to find a way to heal, the wound is still pretty fresh though. This post is short, but I’ll have a pretty long weekly wrap up post tommrow there’s lots to chat about and I think it’ll take my mind off of things.