Mental & Emotional Health

I’ve been tagged by Neel so now I get to have a mid-week me on Monday! It’ll be a Monday-Meme day or something!
-Pass your friends a note by leaving a comment.
-Visit them by hitting their site.
-Show them love with a link to their entry.

So here goes: Seven Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Me
1. Most of my in-person/in-real-life/see-everyday friends don’t know about this blog. Some of them don’t know that I deal with so many mental illness issues and because I work really hard to keep myself 100% put together in front of them 100% of the time, so I don’t want all of them seeing the real me. Yes, this means that you, my faithful blog readers, get to see the real me.

2. I detest being called by diminutive names by people who I’m not close to. I’m okay with nicknames from my friends, from my family, and even if I’m close to a guy I’m dating, but I hate being called “sweetheart” by the grocery store clerk. I’m not her sweetheart and I never will be; I don’t call you honey-buns, you don’t need to demean me and call me sweetheart! (I’ve been told I’d never cut it in the South because of this!)

3. The sound of ocean waves puts me in a melancholy & contemplative mood. I love the ocean, I love the water, I love the salt, I love the sand, I love the fact that I’m standing on the edge of a continent when I’m at the ocean, and it always makes me think. I didn’t see the ocean for the first time until I was 12 (I played on glaciers in AK when I lived there, but didn’t count that as the ocean) and ever since then I’ve been entranced by the feelings the ocean gives me. The ocean makes me want to write. Even just writing about the ocean makes me want to write.

4. A year ago I lived with such strong social anxiety I couldn’t make friends. I couldn’t keep friends because I wouldn’t leave the house to hang out with them, I wouldn’t call them back, I wouldn’t even write them back with emails because I was that anxious about making the “right” impression on people. I have grown so much in the past year that I have no problem making new friends, calling people back, attending concerts (I saw Willie Nelson on Saturday night and that was AMAZING!) and thoroughly enjoying myself while I do so.

5. I love to cook, but hate cooking for only myself. I make mean chicken or ground turkey enchiladas and I’ve never had anyone complain about them. I love to bake (especially sourdough and banana bread) and take pride in people complimenting my culinary abilities. Because I don’t like to cook for myself, I don’t cook hardly enough anymore though. Eating the same thing day after day can drive me crazy so leftovers (which I do love) aren’t always fun for myself. I need to learn to FREEZE stuff and then just reheat it a week later when I’m ready for it again.

6. Vacuuming is my absolute favorite chore. There is something relaxing about the back and forth motion of the electric sucking machine. Everyone I tell this to stares at me funny and I always laugh. I hate to clean the bathroom* (don’t really know why) but I do love to suck dirt from the carpets with my trusty Shark!

7. I think I have a mineral deficiency. I have recently realized that I am starting to bruise really easily, and have been doing research as to why. One of the things that came up may be that I am eating too many almonds. Almonds apparently have some of the same properties as aspirin and I’ve been eating a lot of them, so that may be part of it. I could also be lacking in Vitamin C (which might very well be the case, too). I’m going to continue doing my research and see what happens.

Now I’m supposed to tag some other people so I’m picking four people I know regularly read me!
1. Amanda at Depression Talk
2. Mad at Mad Haiku (do it in Haiku form and you’ll be even more of my hero!)
3. Mallory at Mallory In The Middle
4. Just Me at Master of Irony (when you have time, sweetheart! *giggles*)

mental and emotional health, meme, 7 things about me, personal, nicknames, pet peeves, grocery shopping, ocean, sounds, waves, writing, melancholy, contemplative, social anxiety, making friends, keeping friends, growing, learning, healing, cooking, recipes, leftovers, mineral deficiency, vitamin C, vitamin K iron, anemia

*that bathroom is NOT mine!