Vivienne's Adventures

  Executive dysfunction sucks. But to understand it better, let me first describe its opposite. Executive function is the part of your brain that lets you pay attention, remember, and multitask. It's also important for getting things done. This can be as simple as getting dressed and getting ready to go to the store to buy something you need, or choosing a time to go mow the lawn, or anything like that. Large or small, any goal you set and steps you take toward that count as part of executive function. Executive Dysfunction, however, makes it difficult to get things done. It shows up as problems organizing yourself, low motivation for getting things done, generally struggling to get yourself to work towards goals. This means sometimes simple things become a struggle. Checking your email, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, and taking out the garbage, to name a few, seem too difficult, or you just cant find a way to motivate yourself to just get the task done. Getting out of bed, eve...

  **Content Warning: suicide, suicidal thoughts** Moving on from self-care and therapy, I want to switch it up a little. Have you seen those little semicolon tattoos and pins that people have? Ever wonder what's up with that? Spoiler, it isn't to show you're a grammar nerd. In grammar, the semicolon connects two sentences that are each full thoughts; something that's quite useful in certain cases. (See what I did there? hehe) The semicolon movement, Project Semicolon (find them on Instagram), however, expands on that. In 2013, Amy Bleuel started a nonprofit organization to raise awareness and encourage those with mental illnesses, self-harm, suicide, and addictions. Why the semicolon though? Their slogan is this: "A semicolon represents a sentence that author could've ended but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life." Beginning to make more sense? Amy Bleuel started this social media movement, encouraging people to draw a semicolon o...

  Let's talk about therapy. What is it, why is it something to be considered, and why is there such a stigma around it? Therapy is the term for seeing a counselor, therapist, psychiatrist or anyone with similar credentials for the purposes of talking about yourself and your experiences and thought processes to heal from things that have hurt you. That's my definition, and you could probably do a google search for a more concise definition, but really, that's what therapy is. I've found that it is insanely helpful. When you see a good, caring therapist, they're there to listen to what you say, bring an objective view point to your experiences and show you how harmful past experiences were, and how to cope with certain things, and point out when you're doing well. Sadly, there are plenty who either haven't had great experiences with therapy, or wouldn't consider it because of the stigma attached. This is often a subconscious decision. Why is there a stigma...

  Happy Thursday! I meant to post yesterday and the day escaped from me. Sometimes that happens, but I'm back! Today I wanted to talk a bit about what self-care isn't. Proper self-care is taking care of yourself, mentally and physically. The opposite of that is staying inside all day, not showering, forgetting to eat, not drinking enough water, not sleeping enough or sleeping too much. Sometimes it's avoiding your friends and isolating yourself, or eating too much. Another big thing that's important to not do when you're trying to take care of yourself is to be authentic. It's really easy when you're depressed to pretend you're okay, to pretend nothing's wrong. It's hard to be genuine. When you're vulnerable with people, sometimes they don't return that vulnerability, sometimes you get hurt instead. But when you're vulnerable with people who truly care, you'll find that you receive kindness, love, and validation instead of blame, ...

  Happy Monday! We're going to talk about self-care. What is it, why should we care, and how do we self-care properly? First of all, self-care is taking care of your physical and mental self. Self-care is important, and it is Not Selfish, even though those of us who struggle with anxiety and depression tend to think that it is. But taking care of yourself helps banish the shadows lurking in our heads, helps us feel better physically, and while it doesn't Fix the problems, it makes them feel smaller than they were.  Self-care can look like a lot of things, eating more than once a day, reminding yourself or a friend to drink water, disrupting anxious thoughts with a movie or music, taking a walk and getting fresh air, going to see a friend to get out of your head, practicing a creative hobby, playing a video game, and a hundred other things. Find what works for you, something that's refreshing and breaks you out of your thoughts when you get stuck. Personally, this is why I p...

  So in terms of depression and anxiety, there are a number of things that I have found to be really helpful. First and foremost, a support system. I'm extremely lucky to have found a group of people who're like-minded, kind, loving, and most importantly, Safe. But I didn't always have them, My life has improved considerably since I joined BOOM, the pirate entertainment group. I already knew Slippers (his daughter introduced me to her family years prior), but I met a lot of wonderful people. Each person is so fascinating and unique! And most, if not all of us are neurodivergent in one way or another, to use a blanket term.  Interestingly enough, most of my closest current friends, my chosen family, are people I've met within BOOM. I love them dearly. They're safe to be vulnerable with, they understand my struggles because they deal with the same or similar things, and they're all filled with so much love and nerdiness that I feel at home with each and every one ...

  I have to admit, this topic has surprised me. I didn't think it would be so hard to keep the blog posts short and sweet, but I also don't regret the length they've been. Mental Health is an extremely important, extremely under-talked-about topic. To that end, it feels like this is something I need to continue talking about. Not just my own experience, but sharing the experiences of others. I don't just want to talk about the problems with depression and anxiety. (Again, focusing on those two for now because those are the illnesses I deal with.) I also want to talk about some things that help. Personally, I have been seeing a therapist for a few years now, and it's been really helpful to have an objective viewpoint who helps you see what experiences have been really harmful, someone to Listen and take you seriously, someone who gives you options and coping mechanisms. It might take you some time, trial and error to find someone who's a good fit for you, and may...

  Alrighty, first things first, yesterday I talked about some of the stats around depression and anxiety. There are a lot of other stats out there, but that's what I was focusing on specifically because those are the mental illnesses that I suffer from. Depression, if left unchecked, gets worse and worse more often than not, and can lead to suicidal ideation (or giving serious thought to suicide), and from there, it can lead to suicide. I know people who have died by suicide because of this. I know people who have seriously considered it, but didn't because they got help.  Personally, I am getting professional help, but not everyone does, or can. Why? Because of many reasons. Some people don't have access to help, but a lot of it can stem from the stigma surrounding these two major issues. What's stigma, you might ask (I did)? Stigma is the idea that something is "bad" and therefore that person is a lesser being. Some examples include racism, and how a lot of ...

  Yesterday's post was an overview of Mental Health Awareness, focusing on depression and anxiety, focusing on the What of this whole issue. Today I'm going to talk about the Why. Why have a Mental Health Awareness month? Why is this important? There are several answers to this question. First, depression and anxiety (among other things) are bigger issues than you might think, more common than you might know.  So, naturally, I'm going to share some stats. (I will post links at the bottom of this post so you can do your own research.) According to the CDC website, mental illnesses are one of the most common health issues in the USA. Over half of the people here in this country will be diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their life. (I'm paraphrasing from the website, but seriously, Half of Americans!) One out of five Americans will experience mental illness in any given year. Worse, one in five children will have a seriously debilitating mental illness at so...

  So! New theme for my blog is Mental Health Awareness! May is Mental Health Awareness month, and I'm going to talk about that for the rest of the month. I'm also going to do a giveaway, but more info on that later. First thing I want to talk about is What is Mental Health and Mental Illness? Mental health is our overall emotional and psychological well-being. It's like our physical health, if one thing hurts, our entire body is affected, even if we don't really feel it. Likewise, when our mental health isn't where it should be, it can affect a lot more of our life than you might think. Mental Illness on the other hand, are conditions that affect how we think and feel, it affects our moods and behaviors, and it honestly affects your ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. Let me reiterate: on a Daily Basis. I'm not talking about this topics just 'cause it's a good cause, but because I deal with this myself. Every day. It's difficul...

  Snoozlebug puppy! I just wanted to talk about one of my adopted siblings, the one known on this blog as Lady Caeliana. She has the sweetest, cuddliest puppydog, Sasha. Lady Caeliana, however, is evil. In the best way. She's an enthusiastic enabler, and she's great for brainstorming for stories and for picking really cute, unique clothes. I may have spent far too long on the phone with her while looking at a fun local clothing shop...I regret nothing. lol But seriously. She's so fun to talk to. We both get so excited and jump around to different topics, but it's so nice. Hours fly by before we know it, and we have been known to stay up far too late chatting. But I love it! She currently lives too far away for me to just go and visit, so when I do, it's like a vacation! We get up to all kinds of mischief and have lots of fun. ...Can you tell I miss her?  Anyway, I am honestly super excited about the new clothes she helped me pick out. I tend to wear a lot of black a...

  Yesterday I went back to the archery range for the first time in a while, and my heavens! I had fun! I went with my sibling, and it was funny because I was trying to explain how to do a certain thing (keep in mind, this is something I've done quite a bit) and immediately forgot how to do the thing. Mental facepalm. It's kind of hilarious how you know how to do something and when you try to explain it to someone, you immediately forget everything.  Why does this happen?? Brains are weird. But it was nice to get back into something physical that I love! I have a few more days set with friends to go do some archery, so I am excited to shoot with people again! Have you all been able to stay connected with your people? (Picture taken by my wonderful sibling!)

  Taking my own advice accidentally yesterday, I got to wander around a nearby park with my adopted sibling and we had a really nice time! The sun was out, everything was green, and...parts of the trail were unexpectedly squishy from the nearby lake. I was amused, but it was nice to explore an area I wasn't super familiar with.  For some reason, I am amused by skunk cabbage, the leafy things pictured above. They remind me of wandering around as a kid with my cousin on my aunt's forested property. We never got lost because we knew how to get back, but it still felt like we were in another world. It was fresh and fun and we got to explore and make up stories and game and climb on things and now I really want to go into a forest and climb on old logs. There's something about the simplicity and purity of growing things that's absolutely refreshing. I should probably schedule some hikes this summer. ^_^

  This last weekend, I went to meet up with a friend who I hadn't seen in probably six years. I was super nervous, because when we parted ways, it wasn't on the best terms. My memory of all that is unfortunately fuzzy (thanks, Depression), but another friend was on my mind a lot this year, and in talking to my sister about it, we also brought up this friend. Remy encouraged me to reach out, and so I did!  We got back in touch, and it was interesting. When we met up, he had a subdued energy to him, and I could tell we were both nervous, but as we caught each other up on the last several years, we both opened up more, and his energy returned. It was really nice to be able to reconnect with him, and now I might get a bonus friend! I'm hoping to meet his girlfriend soon, and I'm really excited! Nervousness is still there, but that's much subdued, thankfully. Sometimes you just have to do the thing, and it works out! Even when it's scary.

  Sometimes all you need is a shoebox and everything is right with the world. Oh to be a toddler sometimes! I love my nephew. ^_^ But it really is nice to focus on the little things sometimes and remember that there's lots of good things in the world. The other day I went to my favorite coffee shop and one of the baristas was outside with his puppy! After asking permission, I got to love on this excited little one-year-old puppy and it made my day! She was so wiggly and happy and it was so nice to be able to just drop everything and pet a doggie. Lately I have been trying to really notice the little things and appreciating them. Like this weekend! I got a fun new shirt! And got to save money because it came from a friend. I love when hand me downs give you something you absolutely adore! It's always a fun little adventure to look through the bags of items and see what strikes your fancy. All this to say, notice the little things, take pictures of the pretty flowers, love every ...