Annals of Mental Health

I want to complain. They, my complaints will come in all shapes and sizes from North to South and East to West, short and long, fat and thin, white and black. Even and just writing this, or any blog in WordPress and constantly having problems navigating and trying to figure out how to do things as simple as line spacing. I worked with AI to fix it and it’s still not fixed. I’m highly annoyed.

Mental health is a thing. My mental health is. a. thing. How often do I wonder if it’s just me, that I can’t figure these things out in WordPress or the many problems I have in the technical world. Every device, internet, whatever I have if there’s an issue, I cannot figure out how to fix it. I try to follow instructions online, when I Google how to fix this and that and the features I’m told to go to I seemingly not existent on any of my devices I’m working on, or Internet etc etc. It’s a world of frustration and no resolve.

I need a job and income and I can’t do that in my mental state. I do pet care mostly dog walking but my body is failing me so I’m not able to take on more clients and about to lose a dog I’ve been walking for 5 years. So not only do I not have a job or income, I have no social life, which is the reason for many of my complaints. I spend a lot of time at home doing much of nothing with my family, watching a lot of TV and spending too much time on social media, doom scrolling. ( These lines are way too squished together and I can’t fix it!!!Shakes fists).

We fight and bicker at each other at home. We only have ourselves to communicate between. We struggle with our Mental Health. No one invites us anywhere, for the Holidays, Summer Holidays, no barbecues, weekend excursions, nothing. I dreaded this Memorial Day weekend per the lack of plan we had and the weather which wasn’t going to be what the entrance of summer supposed to be. One day two chilly out for me to enjoy it, the next just poured rain and was chilly. The last day, Memorial Day Monday, it warmed up after some rain and was a lovely, balmy day. My favorite weather. I ended up chiding my sister to go get some ice cream out in the boonies, places I like to spend time .A perfect, beautiful drive to eat something I really don’t need being allegedly on a strict diet.

Can I complain about my weight, anyway? Been trying to lose it for years to no avail. I consider myself pretty physically active and in shape for my age and size. But then the aches and pains come with arthritic knees, sore hips and in foot injury that won’t go away. The latest is severe tendonitis in my left arm so I haven’t been able to do a lot of the exercises I do here at home in my YouTube Piyo workouts I love ( that’s Pilates & Yoga combined, or any few are called Yogalates). And it takes me way too long to find the right workout and now one that doesn’t use my arm so much with all the planking and downward dogging.

So it looks like I’ll be heavy again for this summer, yet again. Every summer I’ve said for years I’m going to lose the weight before summer because I think I look awful in summer clothes, top tank tops and shorts, bathing suits that I wear everyday. It gets super hot walking dogs, especially when it’s super hot. GLP-1s will very soon no longer be covered by my insurance. Thanks to the president and administration. But that’s also another blog

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a whiner I complainer and pretty judgmental. There was a period of time I was trying to improve myself but at this age, I think I’ve stopped trying. Maybe that’s why I’m alone all the time with no social life. I’ve become that person, the one who’s ostricized from the group. Do people do show up when I organized and have a big party or cookout so maybe that’s not true?

I seem to attract other friends who struggle with their Mental Health as well and this is another reason for my complaints. I have many friends who are hard to make plans with as they poop out on me at the last minute or change the plan and and end up meeting up later or not at all. I don’t like going to do things by myself. I spent a lot of my adulthood doing that because I didn’t have friends as a result of other circumstances. (My family members don’t like doing a lot of the things I like to do like going for walks in the woods and in nature)

Am I allowed to say these things about my friends? Complain about them? I’ve tried to get better about communicating things to people without being too unempathetic. I have put forth plenty of empathy and feeling horrible about people’s circumstances. sin I know folks of suffered a lot of trauma and these behaviors are the outcome but it makes it so much more tough to socialize with them. I know people who complain that they’re lonely, they don’t say that in so many words but live by themselves, don’t work and don’t go anywhere beyond their immediate neighborhood. They have a summer activity they like to do every summer every day and will tell me over and over again that they’re doing that and how many times they’re doing it. It only has this person pooped out on me in the past but I have invited them for barbecues and other gatherings at my house and they don’t show after initially sounding enthusiastic about the event. I spoke to this person how they contradicted themselves last summer about saying how they need to get out more and then invited to things and don’t show. I almost gave up on this person completely and gave myself some space from them. I’m still engage with this person but I know I probably won’t be inviting them to things over the Summer,( we’ll see)my favorite time of year. No complaints there, well, except for the heat that can be excessive and I can’t cope with it with my weight and age, getting to the a family member complain about the air conditioning in the car, not having money to do the things I really want to do. But I’m not complaining, am I?

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If I Won the Lottery

Money is and has been a concern throughout my adult life. I spent a good chunk of it living w/mu parents sp didnt have rent et al but had bills, mostly store cards at times I had a tough time paying as I was making so little money.

I eventually ended up taking care of my elderly father who needed 24hr care and he was receiving a good pension but it had to cover the both of us since I hadn’t been able to find gainful employment after being laid off. Once he went into a nursing home the house was put in my name and with that came all the financial responsibility.His income, assets all went to the nursing home and I had nothing.

I started doing gig work but still struggled, driving my father’s old Accord which had a wealth of problems since I was driving so much. I ended up having to send it to the junkyard once I sold the house, which was the only way to be financially sound and pay all past due bills

So I had thr funds from the sale of the house for awhile , renting apartments and had my sister and nephew move in w/me who were also struggling.Living in the Boston area i couldn’t afford to buy, even with the funds from the sale.

We had some nice times, living in a bit of luxury for a bit, going out to eat a lot, Cape vacation, nothing too extravagant, id just say we lived mabe upper middle class. I bought a car , my first, pre owned.Bought a pre-owned Lexus after I totaled that one, I wanted to finally have a good, reliable car

Not to be the case with even this car. Just have no luck with them

Now funds are dwindling and I’ve been trying to get on Disability so Ill be able to have income and paying rent, bills .I never want to be on that situation again when I can’t and im forced to do gig jobs, theyre hard on the psyche…and car.

If I won the lottery Id buy a house, or two maybe one big enough to habe some friends live w/us

since I have some who are struggling finding a place to live, per the cost.Id start an animal sanctuary and do and be charitable and buy a

NEW car!!!

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

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It’s Inconvenient…

Today I walked one of the dogs I walk to a large park we often went on hot days in the Summer. There was .little actual walking on these days and I’d drive the few minutes for the two spray areas. When the temps were upwards of 90F it was a great way to cool off for the oup and I. Today, in early October the temps have risen to unseasonable 83, close to 90 one of the days. I sauntered over to the park thinking maybe the sprays, at the very least the bubbler or water for water bottles would still be on. We couldn’t have been so lucky all had been shut off for the season.

What of unreasonably warm days like these when people like me are looking for a little refreshing spray of water? What about all the people who use athletic facilities there, soccer field, skate park, , hockey rink, basketball court, workout area, or dog park? BWhat if you bring g a drink, water and you run out? Am I the only one who thinks of these things?

The park is in the neighborhood of Boston where my parents grew up, Allston ,Ma. Over the last 20 years or so Harvard University has taken over this area where their busines school resides, across the Charles River from the main campus and Harvard Square. Cambridge. They have built (and built and are still building) around the neighborhood including a beautiful little park behind the Allston branch of the Boston Public Library. I also spend a lot of time with the pup, there and when I lived in. the neighborhood in the house where my Dad grew up. If you follow the path by this park bit further back there’s more..built by Harvard which includes their School of Engineering in a large , new modern structure. This used to be the home of WGBH, a much smaller building that was moved a few minutes down the road to a much larger, also more modern building with the money they received from Harvard. Convenient for them. The newer location can be seen from the Mass Pike going east into Boston with a large marquis of the current programming. I live for and watch one of their programs daily. I get to see and hear many local people representing our state like the governor the Mayor of Boston or on monthly as well as weekly other dignitaries like Harvard professors of note, experts on food and restaurants, local and otherwise and the community. It’s very much a convenience that I really relied on and hate when they’re not there during holidays. .. a true inconvenience

. Last week at this time I was walking one of the pups I walk who lives in that old neighborhood of mine and I love being able to revisit those parks, beautiful green spaces that are there and they’re right next to the Charles River as well but that part of the Charles River I’m not a fan of.. I’ve been up and down that River all my life, my Dad’s used to take us for bike rides from Belmont and up the River since the street next to it on one side would be closed to traffic on Sundays and we would ride all the way up to the Esplanade. I walked it up lot too when I started doing a lot of walking over 10 years ago. I have a thing about revisiting the same place as constantly , plus I’m always a bit part of that the Charles River has never been too clean they claim it is now but I don’t know and walking around it isn’t that clean either and now that I can I like to drive out to places where there’s less City and more Woods and nature for my walks. The Charles River is there and very convenient and it also flows into Watertown where I live now and Newton where there is a beautiful Park I like to walk. Its an Inconvenience that becomes a wonderful one.

The pandemic was a fantastic thorn in our side. I was living alone in the house my father grew up in and struggling financially and didn’t feel like I was eligible for a ‘proper’ jobs. I began doing those app food orders, well I had been doing them before the Pandemic. I picked up Uber Eats during it and I remember how great it was to be out on the roads when nobody else was. The only problem was the condition of the roads. Not only did I destroy my car by driving it all the time doing these gig jobs but the horrible roads did their part as well. I had so much trouble with the car I was using since since it was an aging car my dad had bought new some 10 years previous. I literally drove it to the ground. When things started opening back up and people going back to work I remember they started repaving some of the roads in the Boston area and I was celebrating. I now living in town where there’s constant road work. Once I leave my neighborhood I’m on a very main street that goes into Cambridge. It has been rough and awful all along driving up and down from Watertown to Cambridge. Shortly after I moved into this apartment a year ago the road near me was repaved ..and i celebrated. . A few months later it was dug up again for pipe work,. The repaving was just finished yet again which caused a good two weeks of road blocks etc and me having to drive around it to get anywhere. At least if I wanted to get to the wonderful Armenian markets on that street I could walk because driving is enough to make me want to pull every little hair out of my head, that barely has any. Armenian markets convenient, road work around them, not. Newly paved road that will be clear of all construction work and road blocks, convenience Bravo.

I can go on and on juxtaposing conveniences in my life to the inconveniences. I have many device and internet, for instance how Starbucks doesn’t have direct USB- C or USB outlets just regular electric outlets. I spend many afternoons sitting in one trying to accomplish something on my tablet and some of them have nice outdoor seating areas but again, no way to charge my devices. No device or Internet works at well for me ever, anyway. Summer evenings I set out on the porch off my sister’s room it’s quite lovely out there but is a good internet? No. Same thing if I want to sit in the yard while barbecuing. The local show I listen to via app on wgbh/NPR/PBS. often just stops streaming in the midst of listening. I switch to the web and it s does the same thing. I try to find that great True Crime scam/ Stalking murder podcast and it’s very difficult to find ones I haven’t listened to. Highly….inconvenient.

I guess a lot of these are First World Problems. I worry that we will no longer be a First World. If we lose Rights,health coverage, food resources, education, all else, I see a dark future. I worry about the young people and children growing up in this climate that has been established but I also selfishly worry about myself and my family. This is all more….than an inconvenience.

. It’s very much a convenience I

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I Have No Peace

What brings you peace?

How can I..or anyone have peace these days??!!I have so much personal things going on with myself and family, trying to cope with mental health issues, mine and theirs and how whats going on with the Country is effecting us right now. We all rely on Medicaid benefits and I pay all the bills with funds from a family home i sold but those are dwindling.

   My sister sits all day and night in front of the TV, she’s on SSI and struggling with severe anxiety &depression. I woke up to her crying one day then the next she was in bed til afternoon. I fight with her re being involved in some activities,she needs something to keep her from sitting and wallowing.

  My nephew is on some psych meds but otherwise self medicated by over imbibing in Marijuana,alcohol, coke when he has the money, none of which he has now since he lost yet another job,the 3rd or 4th in 4 years that he and his mother,my sister have lived with me.

    Its a real struggle every day,my nephew has stole money from me but still asks for money for cigarettes,weed, anything. I say no while my sister still gives..and then she runs out of money herself,so they both depend on me.

   They basically dont leave the house except for a weekly excursion..I call them when they go to Harvard Sq for a bite and a drink or Downtown, but with my sister having to pay for my nephew it hasn’t  happened as much.

    We go to the beach often, all these hot summer since they’ve lived with me but I’m kind of tired right now going to the beach even though it’s something I love. I’m not doing anything my basically don’t do anything . We all spend a lot of time at home.

  So aside from beach visits.. which is a place I always find peace but the preparation is very stressful since I’m doing everything getting the cooler together towels Etc any snacks we have in the house all we have to end up stopping for them.

     My Peace usually in nature but I like to take up a lot of walks in it or spending time with animals, I walk dogs well I want one dog right now doodoo some injuries I haven’t taken on anymore clients. But it’s been too hot to spend any time in nature these days hopefully we’ll be doing more, and having more peace when it cools off a bit as much as I love summer and not have to worry about finances

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Was today typical?Yes and no. I started the day by canceling my PT appointment which I keep doing cuz on either too tired,lately I’ve been sick..And my knees are sore.. which I had PT for before and then got a cortisone shot but when I’m sick they act up.

It was one of those days where I’m not sure how it was going to turn out. I have my dog walk which I didn’t have all last week since the pup was away. I start out dealing with my family, my nephew and sister who I live with which is a lot and they’re both home and not working ..which is a lot. My sister said she didn’t feel well either and I really didn’t think what I had was communicable because I often get these summer viruses pretty much since I was a kid.

And if you wanted to know if I was going to the pool in the more I thought about it the more I didn’t think I was going because of how I was feeling and it and I had to go to Trader Joe’s afterwards because we have no salad ingredients and other things. So my sister said she wanted to come. Have to walking in the pump and trying to take a kind of long walk( since I hadnt been out walking or exercising in a while.. well I’ve been swimming in the local community pool which is great because it’s been hot. Today wasn’t as hot but seems so

after the pup we stopped one of our favorite local cafes it’s Middle Eastern that’s one of my favorite Cuisines but it’s also very pricey. We just wanted to get some of their yummy Iced Teas,. Got home and relaxed and ate some lunch then went out and tried to water my plants which is always a fiasco ,I end up wet and dirty. Makes me not miss the pool so much because I’m stopping wet by the time I finish watering my plants

…Had a delicious dinner of grilled shrimp my nephew grilled. He does every night and a salad and some potatoes. Now I’m relaxing on the porch off my sister’s room which is a great spot on summer end of evenings.Yup…my new typical

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Daily writing prompt
How would you describe yourself to someone?

Describing myself…when I’m always thinking about…myself. I have a lot of time for that, unfortunately. I don’t consider myself one of those people who I can’t stand all they do is talk about themselves.. in a group of people.Maybe I am.

The basics are ..the typical things, I guess, im an empath(oh no, not that)! I often see what others may not see, in people. I think I got that characteristic from my mother. I’m also moody, can be pretty negative, as I’ve been told by others. I can also be very sarcastic, got that from my Dad.

I love to laugh and my laugh is loud. Often when I see something funny sometimes I’m laughing at other people laughing at the funny thing. I’m very sensitive, and my teachers always used to describe me as conscientious as well as many of my bosses in a work review. I’m also very talkative something people in my family find in the way at times because sometimes I can’t shut up.

I love animals and nature which is why I’ve been a pet caregiver for the last almost 10 years. I can never get enough of birds, gardens trees, forests, beaches,

Guess that’s it

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How Do You Feel About Cold Weather ?

Funny you should ask..it’s mid May and we’ve had everything from November to July, weather wise here in the Northeast. I lo e to get outside and enjoy all the flowers and trees blooming and just enjoy nature, i notice everything. I hear a bird I’m not familiar with I stop and look up and see if I can identify it myself or in an app.

The birds don’t even seem to know what time of year it is as I start hearing many of the in February when it’s still very much Winter, here and I’m standing looking at them in my Winter coat, maybe asking are you crazy..or maybe..cuckoo?.

No, I’m generally not a cold weather person having been born in high Summer, mid July, always called myself a ‘summer girl’I have my most vivid childhood memories from Summer. I always hated when Summer ended with cooler nights then cool , chill rains I could never get warm in .

These days, since I’ve been a dog walker I’ve gained more respect for the seasonal changes, the cold which I mind less as I’m lway dressed for it..though I always say in Winter I don’t really get used to winter cold til January. Those early cold months have been a bit tough.

This week, today in May we’re about to embark on a Worcester, no,not with snowbut rain.We’ve seen many of these chilly rain storms, one a whole Memorial Day Weekend , past week long ones including Mothers Day and many more in Fall months. When it rains and colder months I always say I’d rather have snow. This is one of the ways in which I’ve learned to appreciate cold weather, I do enjoy the snow. I don’t do any snow sports but I just love watching it fall and I love it when it covers the ground which is otherwise otherwise so ugly in winter

Today because of the coming storm I’m cold with the change of the Wind to East. My home has been chilly and I’ve tried turning up the heat to no avail which I knew because it has been so warm. I’ve tried to turn on the heat in my car too but that doesn’t really work either it just blows cool air even at a temperature of 69. We had a few summer Tuesdays when it was very warm out which is why this is so hard to deal with the weather this week. We want May, not the potential cold of November or April . I Ike having circulation in my fingers

Daily writing prompt
How do you feel about cold weather?

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1st World Problems in a 2nd World Status

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What If…

Figuring Out What To Blog About

What if you didn’t know how to start a blog, what to write about? Are blogs about..just our

thoughts..or to inform? Do we journal just to write down our thoughts? Essay? Op Ed? Earlier on when blogging was becoming popular I thought it was just a meant to express and share our thoughts, only to find it was a means to share our knowledge, an article on a certain subject of interest, and/or expertise.

I love to write, I think I’m a pretty decent writer and have wanted, for years to blog as a career I I discovered I needed to ‘build’ something, kind of like building a business if I wanted to do it for income.

I didn’t have any areas of expertise but there were SO many things on my mind, daily where I want to express my opinion. Isn’t that what social media’s for? I guess it’s not quite enough..unless someone creates a platform to monetize their own Facebook posts. Hmmm..

If I said that to my friends, that I didn’t have any areas of expertise, they’d try to pump me up ( I have great friends) and tell me, ‘ well you were in the mental health care industry for almost 20 years, at the same company? I’d say, not much to tell there, I was just doing clerical work but for me to talk about it on a grander scale? I never felt as though I had enough of that knowledge. I could more so talk about the workplace environment there and how dysfunctional, even toxic it was. I’ve done that enough and for long enough, at times I really don’t want to return to that..at this juncture.

My friends would also say, well ,you drove rideshares for a year or two, I’d say yeah that wasn’t for that long to make that big an impression..to discuss. The ‘impression’ was made driving for the food delivery apps which I did start writing about since those gig jobs for me created a lot of difficulty in a tumultuous time in my life. They made me aware of traffic and road conditions which I did write about, the low pay to drive far for one order (the customers unawareness) how these apps function, car problems I often didn’t have money to fix.

People may also tell me , you cared for your elderly father with MS at home, finding care for him we couldn’t afford and then went through the process of getting him into a nursing home and the financial and legal escapades we had to endure. I don’t want to reexamine that at this time, either. Been there, done that.

I’ve tried to start blogging about my expeditions in nature, going for walks in local areas but have gotten nowhere. I mean to return to that at some point as it is something that is very important to me and I enjoy, love to share. 500 million photos in my phone and social media(s). Well,not quite that many but..

Along with my love for nature is that for animals, pets. I’ve started working in the pet care industry, particularly walking dogs whom I love and am obsessed with. Due to injuries and perhaps old age I’ve had to cut down the ones I walk to two and I am still, always seeing other pet care jobs that don’t require as much walking. Hence I could talk about aging, which I’ve recently realized is happening to me, a bit about pet care..

I don’t know what to start blogging about, again. My mind goes everywhere all the time. ]

Doesn’t yours?

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Conflicted

We’re living in a current state of if we racially offend, we will be outed.. If we do so today, or did so last week, a month ago, our infraction will become public. Thank you social media, theage of high tech where we carry devices every where we go which allows us the ability to document everything under the sun.

 

What if we’re a public official or figure and we say or do something offensive twenty, thirty, forty years ago?Should we be accountable for it or can we get a pass because we were of a certain age of ignorance , naivete, youth?. What if we did , or said these things before the Age of Civil Rights? Should we then be absolved ?

 

For me, some of these issues are not Black and White. I’ve decided grey is my favorite color. What brought this on is the most recent News story on the issue, that of Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam. A photo of what is said to be him dressed in blackface, standing next to someone else dressed in a KKK costume appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook. He denied it’s a photo of him but said he did appear in blackface when dressed as Michael Jackson. There has been an uproar from Black of note, Politicians, NAACP for him to resign

It was 30 some odd years ago that these pictures were taken.
 This is the same man who sits in Virginia’s Governor’s office? Northam says no. At first. The question continues , in my mind, is this the same man , from 1984, who thinks, feels the same as a young medical school student who believes it’s ok to dress in blackface and stand, smilin next to another young white man dressed as a member of the KKK? If so, how would he have been elected Democratic Governor  of a southern state, one that has a long and storied racial  history. The first documented slaves came to Virginia. Richmond was one of  the Union’s the busiest slave markets. There were concentrated legal efforts throughout ( Virginian) history to keep Blacks separate from Whites banning  interracial marriage in 1924  per the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, a law that again criminalized interracial marriage. Blacks were considered ‘less than’ and black blood was not to be mixed with white. Schools shut down, rather than integrate in 1956 and in one County schools were shut down until 1964 when the Supreme Court ordered them to re-open.And let’s not forget as recently as 2017 a young woman was killed in Charlottesville when White Supremacists marched and caused turbulence with protesters.

Upon googling Ralph Northam’s record on race issues and incidences I found nothing, only everything on this most recent uproar. He did receive a large percentage of the Black vote in Virginia in 2017 but those voters are now feeling betrayed.

While I read on and remind myself of Virginia’ past I am beginning to understand and feel less conflicted. But not completely , on  whether or not Northam should resign.
Why am I still feeling this way? I’m always first to say ‘ that’s not right, that’s racist’.when witnessing, watching online videos of, hearing of racist incidents, feeling I’m a victim of ingrained prejudices even in the liberal environment I live in. I’ve lived in this Liberal Mecca all my life, grown up in white neighborhoods, went to white schools, have had and still have mostly white friends, peers. I’m sure they all believe Northam should resign. I’m remain unsure.

 

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