My progress in my life goals as someone living with a mental health condition (Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type and Panic Disorder) (currently in a stable period)

So I finally started volunteering! My first day was on Monday. Second day was yesterday (Wednesday), I have been being a kitchen prep assistant for the lunch shift of a local shelter/organization that serves free meals to the community. The first day was pretty easy. The second day was difficult. As in I got so stressed I almost started crying and was about to bolt but I managed to keep from crying and leaving, I just stuck with it and made it through the shift and it got better after awhile. I was extremely shaky and nervous, bordering on panic while serving the first couple of people but I managed to get through it and after that it was pretty easy. I am going to volunteer again on Friday. I’m glad I started doing it even though it’s stressful sometimes, it is good experience. It also gives me good insight to know that I would probably do better in a lower stress environment when I start working part-time eventually, so I’m thinking shelving books at a library or something low stress like that.

Last week I got my root canal finished. I have 3 more dental appointments. One to get my last filling. One to get impressions made on the tooth I got the root canal done to get a crown made for it, and one last one to get the permanent crown put on. After that I just have to keep up with regular dental exams/cleanings. So I’m happy about that.

Yesterday I had a meeting with my case manager. We both think I’m ready to graduate from the care coordination program I’ve been in the past 6 years. I’ve made a lot of progress, and I’m a lot more indepentent in terms of being able to get places on my own, picking up my own meds, taking my meds, keeping up with my appointments, making appointments, advocating for myself, budgeting, etc and my mental health has been a lot more stable. So in October I will be graduating from there, which means I’ll no longer have a case manager through that orginazation. I’ll still have a case manager who works at my supportive housing apartment complex, but we just basically meet to discuss housing stuff and goals.

In January I’m going back to college part-time. I’m planning on getting all my general education classes completed while I decide on a major.

So I’m doing very well! I feel like I have made a huge amount of progress over the past couple of years. Some of it was very slow going but I feel like I was persistent enough to keep trying whenever I failed or fell off track (which was a lot of times), and I think it’s all starting to finally come together in the past couple of months. I’ve been taking my meds consistently, I’ve been sleeping well most days. I’m finally in a routine with when I sleep and wake up. I also have been cleaning my apartment regularly which is something I struggled a lot with and have been doing really well with my hygiene which is another thing I struggled a lot with. I’ve been getting out of the house a lot, which is something I had a very difficult time with, I probably spent the majority of 2020- late 2021 inside my apartment.

I feel proud proud of myself and excited for the future! I hope everyone is doing well, thank you for reading! 🙂

My 6 Month Goals

I decided to make a list of my goals for the next 6 months to keep myself on track

These are the goals I want to accomplish by mid February 2023

• Get dental work finished (I have 2 appointments this August to get the dental work finished)
• Cut back on sugar (mainly pastries, candy, ice cream, etc stuff like that)
• Eat more vegetables, and a wider variety of them
• Lose 10 lbs (starting weight is 169 lbs)
• Get a dental cleaning and exam
• Get a physical done
• Volunteer
• Enroll in 2 college classes for the Spring of 2023, and choose a major
• Drink mostly water
• Cut back on caffeine
• Exercise regularly, stay active

Art, cats, volunteering, and some other things

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Been doing really good though! My mental health is great. I’ve been stable for like 6 months now. Kittes are doing well too, Mustachio is getting big! Here’s a picture of Mustachio and Maybelle together, I took the pic I think a month or two ago, she’s gotten even bigger since then.

I start volunteering on the 22nd of this month. It’s at a local place that serves free meals to the community, I’ll be doing some lunch shifts as a kitchen assistant. I’m nervous but also excite at the same time

I’ve started drawing again too, here’s a picture I drew yesterday, I drew it with the help from a tutorial in a book called How to Draw Cool Stuff: A Drawing Guide for Teachers and Students by Cathering V. Holmes. I’m also continuing to practice ukulele, trying to learn some new songs for the holidays

I’ve been much more active, exercising, cleaning, spending time with people, getting out of the house etc. I’m probably at my best I’ve been in years.

Meditating has been a big help for my anxiety too, I started that up again recently.

I plan on trying to post in here more regularly, try to document my progress with drawing, etc.

I’m spending the day with my friend today, should be fun 🙂

Thanks for reading! Hope you all are having a good weekend 🙂

Vet visit, my new piercing, applying for a job, college

I got my nose pierced a couple weeks ago for my birthday! I’m really happy with it, I have a tiny diamond stud in it. It’s healing well so far, it takes 6-12 months to fully heal though.

The kitties are doing well. Mustachio’s vet appointment is tomorrow morning. She’s getting spayed! So glad her appointment is finally here. She gets dropped off at 7:45am and her pickup time is 4pm

In other news, I’m applying for a part-time job at a local library, shelving books. I’m meeting with my case manager tomorrow and she’s gonna help me with completing the application and resume. If for some reason I don’t get the job then I will try applying somewhere else around here.

I’m also hoping to get back into college soon. I need to make an appointment with someone there and see what the next step is after I make my final payment on what I owe them. I should be able to get the process started in a couple weeks from now. I’d like to take 1-2 classes at a time while I’m working part-time, and try to finish up my associates degree.

I’m very excited that I will be working soon hopefully and possibly back in college. It will give me something constructive to do, job experience, and will be a good overall thing for my mental health. I tend to do better when I’m busier and have actual things to do to distract me, things that are more involved than watching tv or playing games. Going places, doing tasks/errands, etc.

I’ve been trying to eat healthier and exercise too. It hasn’t been easy. I have a bad habit of boredom eating and stress eating, so I think being busy with a job and school will help a lot with that. I think I’m just tired of being home doing relatively nothing productive with my life, I feel mentally well enough to work part-time now and maybe take a class or two alongside that.

Finally started watching the show Bridgerton after hearing about it from my friend all the time. I’m really enjoying it.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on with me lately, hopefully I will have some good news in a few weeks regarding a job and school

Thanks for reading!

Doing well, kitties, my upcoming birthday

I’ve been doing really well. I’ve been eating healthy, exercising, doing self-care, being more active, staying on top of cleaning, socializing, getting things done, etc. Things have been going great for me in terms of my mental health. I spoke with my psychiatrist earlier this week and she said she’s really proud of the progress I’ve been making and of the things I’m doing to keep myself well.

My birthday is next weekend. Getting my nose pierced! Super excited, I used to have it pierced but I ended up in the hospital at some point in the past and had to take the jewelry out, lost the jewelry and never bothered replacing it for some reason. Anyway, I’m getting it done on Friday at a local tattoo parlor.

My kitties are doing well, they’re getting used to each other, sort of lol. Anyway, I don’t have to worry about leaving them alone together anymore, they do fine when I leave them alone for awhile, usually when I come home from somewhere they’re napping in their beds.

Here’s some pics I took yesterday:

Thanks for reading! I’ll try to start posting more here 🙂 I’ve just been preoccupied lately

Maybelle is here!

My new cat (previously my sister’s cat that is now mine) is here now! She’s been here for going on 2 weeks now. She’s doing very well. She’s such a sweet kitty. She’s 13 years old and loves to snuggle and purrs a lot. Here’s a picture of her in her new bowtie collar, and a picture of Miss Mustachio in her collar 🙂

Mustachio has an appointment at the vet on June 16th to get spayed. Hopefully it goes well 🙂

Just wanted to update you all and let you know she’s here and doing well, and Mustachio is doing well as usual, they’re happy kitties 🙂

I won the coloring contest! and other news

Last time I wrote here I posted about the coloring contest my apartment building was having and my entry, I won! I got a visa gift card as a prize. That was such a nice surprise today, I wasn’t really expecting it, here’s the coloring page I did/entered

I also helped decorate the Easter eggs today for the building’s Easter egg hunt for the kids who live in the apartment complex (the egg hunt and potluck was supposed to be last week but had to get rescheduled to today)

I also have some big news.. I’m getting another cat! My sister can’t keep her 13 year old cat any longer due unforeseen circumstances and moving into a place that doesn’t allow pets. Her name is Maybelle, she’s a beautiful tortie, I can’t wait till she’s here, I’ll be getting her by the end of this month. I’m allowed to have up to 2 emotional support pets in my apartment, I already have Miss Mustachio, so Maybelle will make the second. Really hope they can get along, Maybelle is very mellow. Mustachio is only 6 months old so is still very energetic. Here’s a picture of Maybelle:

Still here

I’m still here, I didn’t post for awhile because I was adjusting to some med changes. Anyway, the good news is I’m doing very well. My mood is a lot more stable and I’m having way less paranoia, I feel really good. It’s the first time in 4 or 5 months I’ve been doing this well.

My cat is doing good, she’s growing a lot! She’s a good girl, I love her so much. Here’s a recent picture of Miss Mustachio

I am entering into a coloring contest my apartment building is doing, this is one of my entries. I don’t have my good Prismacolor pencils anymore but I made do with my Crayola colored pencils

I went to the dentist recently for a cleaning and exam finally, it had been 3 years since I went. I need quite a bit of work done. At least I finally got myself to go. I have 2 appointments in May and will have more after that. At least I’m getting it all taken care of, I put it off too long. I’m now brushing with pronamel Sensodyne toothpaste 2 times a day, flossing 2 times a day, and using fluoride mouthwash 2 times a day. And I’ve cut back a lot on the sugar. So hopefully that is helpful or at least prevents further damage to my teeth. Years of purging from my eating disorder really messed them up.

I’m going to try to start posting on here more frequently again

At the moment I’m procrastinating and trying to motivate myself to go grocery shopping

Thank you for reading and sticking around if you’re subscribed to this blog, I appreciate it 🙂

Gaming Updates

Here are some updates and screenshots on what I’ve been doing in some of my games lately 🙂

In Pokemon Legends Areus, I beat the frenzied Lilligant, made it to the Cobalt Coastlands, caught an alpha Octillery, and got Basculegion so I can ride across water, screenshots from my game are below

In The Witcher 3, I explored Novigrad a bit, I’m under-leveled to really do anything there but look around. I enjoy the music there. I am currently doing the Hunting a Witch quest in Velen and am in the Elven Ruins

Aside from that I’ve started playing Skyrim a bit, so far I’ve only done the introduction but plan on playing more this weekend. I’m considering buying Elden Ring, it looks like a fun game, and looks like something I’d enjoy.

Pokémon Violet and Pokémon Scarlet were announced, super excited for those to come out holiday 2022. I’m also really looking forward to Hogwarts Legacy, it looks good from what they’ve shown and I’m a big Harry Potter fan so I’ll definitely be getting it.

Trying to pull myself out of a depressive episode with art and music

Lately I’ve been in a depressive episode. I don’t want to go into it any further than that, but I’m trying to pull myself out of it. I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type, and manic and depressive episodes are a part of that. I decided I’m going to start drawing again, it’s been a few years since I’ve drawn. I really used to love art and drawing but lost motivation for it for awhile and lost self confidence. I’m going to start with sketching again, not sure what but I’ll post some pics on here when I do. My art is going to look like crap for a long time probably since it’s been so long since I’ve drawn but I want to keep at it for several years and try to improve.

I’m also going to start practicing ukulele again, since I typically feel good and accomplished when I learn something new on it. I’ll post videos when I learn some new songs.

Part of the idea of getting back into these two hobbies is to improve my skills with them and spend less time wasting time scrolling through Facebook and other social media when I could be getting better at things I’m interested in, that have much more value to me.

That’s really all I have motivation to write today, so thanks for reading if you did, and I will post more next week