Mental health check-in

sunvalleylaw said:
So update. A bit syrup-y sweet. But nice.

I started seeing someone in July and she is turning out to be pretty damn awesome. We are hanging out quite a bit despite distance between Boise and the SV area (about 2.5 hours drive). I come down here to Boise often during the week, and she comes up to Hailey often on weekends. Will get challenging during ski season and I will drive a lot. She is pretty darned accomplished and is on the executive team of the Idaho Transportation Department basically in charge of their communications and public affairs and the director really leans on her as his number one at times. Gets stuff done in a hard political climate. Former Boise news anchor. Divorced several years and practical with her feet on the ground and at the same time very loving. Hoping to take this a step at a time and that this will grow and go the distance.

So yeah, I am in a good mood a lot, despite working through final stuff on divorce and trying to get our house sold.

Ok, sappy photos set forth below. :)
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Excellent news!
 
smurfco said:
It's not really the climate that has me feeling this way (though that is a big concern and thank you for the hopeful links). It's just the increase of hate and violence and those that seem to perpetuate it. I feel like the world is on the verge of a really, really bad couple of years and I just don't see how things get any better. Couple this with a total lack of momentum and happiness in my personal life and it's just got me finding it really tough to maintain decorum and function in society...
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I get this. One thing to bear in mind - the news channels tend to push the 'bad' news going on to increase viewers/screen hits. There is a lot of good stuff happening all over the world, but good news is generally judged non-news worthy. Spend less time on news sites. While I am of course quite concerned with what is happening in several parts of the world, I don't dwell on that as the 'final answer' to my peace of mind/personal contentment.
 
smurfco said:
It's not really the climate that has me feeling this way (though that is a big concern and thank you for the hopeful links). It's just the increase of hate and violence and those that seem to perpetuate it. I feel like the world is on the verge of a really, really bad couple of years and I just don't see how things get any better. Couple this with a total lack of momentum and happiness in my personal life and it's just got me finding it really tough to maintain decorum and function in society...
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sending MOJO!! and one foot in front of the other, don't look at everything at once. None of us can do it.
 
smurfco said:
I am having a real tough time finding much hope for the future of the planet. every day the news gets worse and worse. it's having a real impact on my ability to function, i feel anxious and scared most of the time. mojo to anyone else that is struggling
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I'm right there with you... when I see frightening climate science responded to by corporations flooding youtube and written media with anti-science propaganda to protect their stock price...

... and don't get me started on the large percentage of the population who slept through history class and are blindly following the Orange Autocrat who actively chews up news cycles to obscure and exhaust the population from his crimes.


Then I have a kaleidoscope of work and home projects vs repetitive grind, personal and family medical and financial challenges, trying to grasp for anything that provides any satisfaction without being physically or mentally harmful...

I've sought out some online therapy in the form of recognizing my triggers and what keeps driving down my dopamine levels... and almost as if on Queue, Ben from Crimson guitars posted the following video which I replied :



"I have always believed that music is the magic electricity that can connect the hearts and minds of large groups of people to energize, console, sympathize, and heal... but the same could be said for moments like this that connect us music makers and mad scientists. While this multi-faceted beast is far reaching, It can be encouraging to think that we are fighting the same foe at the same time like a Luthier Army." :baimun:
 
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Inspirational quotes are dicey, as they can make me feel small for having my feelings. So I am careful. But I like what this guy says about acting in however small a way, and letting go of some Utopian future. The future being an infinite succession of presents. And for me, one foot in front of the other, trying to increase the percentage of present moments I can actually function, and letting go of the rest or the outcome, seems key. And remember that successful batting averages are all well under 50%. Hoping none of this sounds preachy or trite. Just sharing how I am trying to manage my own shit and mindfuckery.

My friend Mollie and I discuss mindfuckery (that we often allow to happen between our ears or that we even do to ourselves) all the time as she is a very intelligent woman. We all deal with it if we are intelligent at all. At least I believe we do. None of us are alone in this.

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Hey @smurfco, I don't want to say I know how you're feeling, 'cause that feels dismissive. What I do know is that when I have similar feelings or thoughts I tend to shy away from the news cycle and remember that when I was a kid, something had to be *really* big news to make the national cycle, and the world wasn't quite as small as it seems now. These days, anybody with a dumb idea can make national news. And like mentioned above, good news rarely gets promoted, as the doom 'n gloom gets the clicks, and everything is about the clicks now. I was recently sharing fond memories of the internet before social media (ironically on a Mastodon conversation), and it certainly seemed like there was more light and joy in the world.

But maybe I was just a dumb kid at the time, too. That's definitely a possibility. :lol:
 
Mojo to those in need right now. I just hit 6 months sober a couple days ago. It has not been that bad honestly. I am definitely not the guy that will take my experience and expect that of others. I consider myself very lucky.
On the other hand, work is nuts and my wife's MS is rearing its head again. Mostly because of work. Ah the cycle. How fun.
 
There's a fine balance between staying engaged, and becoming overwhelmed by the darkness that is exposed to open eyes. I sometimes have to take a rest from the world to restore my equilibrium and charge up my heart's battery.
 
I'm having an MG flare-up = seeing double much of the time, so I have to up the prednisone again. I'm resigning myself to the fact that I'll likely have to be on that for the rest of my life.
 
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Didn't want to make a whole thread about it but would like some healing thoughts. My daughter, 8, dumped an entire, piping hot bowl of ramen in her lap at a friends house last night. Ended up at the ER and they made an appointment for this morning at the Arnold Palmer Burn Center. She has some pretty nasty peeling going on which is scary as hell. I'm waiting now to hear the word from the burn center. I don't think it's going to be too bad but to watch your child in so much pain with nothing you can do is awful. Not the first time but I still hate it.
 
^^^ Much mojo, I hope she heals quickly and no permanent scars. Similar thing happened to my son when he was around the same age, my other son’s GF accidentally spilled a pot of boiling water on his arm when they were cooking something. Def. scary and it’s a helpless feeling when you can’t do much to ease their pain. Thankfully he healed completely and without any lasting scars.
 
Follow up about my daughter. Burn center said she should heal fine but will be very sensitive for a couple weeks. She basically can't wear pants right now. Thankfully they don't go back to school until next Monday. Hopefully she'll be a lot better by then.
I would have sworn this was approaching 3rd degree by the way it looks. Yikes. Hospital says it's a moderate 2nd degree. Still sucks. She's doing great though. She did mention that the kids hospital is way too boring to be taking care of kids. lol
 
Jeez glad it's not as bad as it first looked.

That's us been in the new place 4 weeks this Thursday and still living out of boxes which sucks but we're slowly moving in the right direction. New windows and a set of French doors going in next week. New radiators going in soon-ish too and will be able to start decorating in the next week or so.
 
My annual checkup Dr's appointment last Wednesday was right out of a TV soap opera. I drove 80% of the way to the wrong location before I realized my mistake. This is odd because I've been going to the same clinic for over 15 years. The irony is, one of the issues I planned on bringing up is my growing memory loss and cognitive impairment. The realization of possibly developing something like Alzheimer's hit me in the gut for the rest of the holiday weekend. This scares me more than death by a long shot. The doc referred me to a neurologist and ordered an unaffordable MRI. I'm kinda' at a loss right now.


I remember as a kid thinking the "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" saying was dumb. Funny how accurate it really is.
 
Tig said:
The realization of possibly developing something like Alzheimer's hit me in the gut for the rest of the holiday weekend. This scares me more than death by a long shot. The doc referred me to a neurologist and ordered an unaffordable MRI. I'm kinda' at a loss right now.
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There are other diagnostic tests and evaluations that a qualified neurologist can administer that are far cheaper than a MRI. I'd be upfront with whatever medical provider you're consulting and tell them you want to start with some of the more basic tests. There's a bunch of standard cognitive evaluation tests that should be no cost to you and could help at the least establish a baseline.

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/diagnosis/medical_tests

My wife spent the better part of her professional life involved in the treatment and support of patients w/ cognitive impairment & it's pretty terrible how hit or miss accurate diagnoses are, even at the neurology specialty level. Get more than one opinion before committing to any expensive testing.
 
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