I want to be able to form and keep friendships I was able to form over the years with friends I have at NAMI Mercer NJ who also struggle with their difficult mental illness. I have been working since January 2016. I am back to work this September 2019. I will be working this semester. I also plan to retest for the Praxis Core Reading test next January 2020. Early in January I plan to retest and take the core reading test for the second time. I may try a third time to see if I pass. I may be able to pass this second time. I’m studying the Barron’s Praxis Core Exams and I will be studying it for the rest of this year. Early January 2020 is retest.
I discovered Alicia Keys in a music therapy group when I was at St. Francis Medical Center on the Psychiatric unit in Trenton, New Jersey back in the 2000s.
I really like Alicia Keys. I am around her age. I’m 38. I love singer/songwriters. I feel like they are cool for singing and especially if they are like Alicia and have fifteen Grammy awards and write their own songs. I like her music. I love how she plays the piano. She is so cool and she seems to be down to earth. I like how in one of her music videos she has on a nice outfit playing the piano. She has a Yamaha piano too. To be a pianist is something very cool and to write your own songs. I just like and admire Alicia Keys so much.
I had a health scare.
I was hospitalized for blood clots in my lungs and I was having anxiety too. I have been up since 7 am. I am going to be working on my writing. I am taking a course with The Institute of Children’s Literature. I am half way through my course. I need to work on my assignments and make them better. I will be in the library from 10 am to noon. Then I’m just going to chill until 12:30 pm a friend is picking me up and we’re going bowling and getting pizza.
I am so happy I am working at my alma mater as a Mentor.
I am happy to be able to help my Mentees. Some of them are African American and I work at Mercer. I try to be helpful to all of my Mentees. Some of them are Caucasian and others are Hispanic. They are all very nice and I have been able to connect with almost all of them. Sometimes when I meet a new Mentee at the beginning of the semester I introduce myself to them to familiarize myself with their names as well.
I believe in God. I am having quite a bit of cool successes older. I thank the Lord for these experiences I have had in my 30s. I applied to a few Master’s degree programs. I shared a spooky Halloween story with a small audience. It felt cool that everyone seemed to like the story I call the story “black kitten”. It was so cool to have shared a short 100-word memoir with a small audience. I have been to a few open mics. I just love poetry.
The moment I accept that I can’t solve all of my problems I reach a figurative crossroads or point in my life where I can actually see own my progress myself. I acknowledge that even though it’s not glamorous it is my life. I can heal my life. I enjoyed Louise DeSalvo’s book Writing as a Way of Healing. I like woman writers more than male writers. Once I heard memoir writing being called “misery literature” by an older woman who taught memoir writing classes. I really enjoy reading memoirs but memoirs written by women. I don’t have to live in yesterday or the past thank God. I try to be good to myself. I’m trying to start by taking things step by step, and honoring the process. Life is not an event it is a journey. I know life can be hard sometimes for us all, but one day it dawned on me I realized that my own life is a gift to me from God. No one is promised tomorrow so I am living for today. I think of the time I have left.
I have a happy childhood poetry story.
One of my favorite things I remember from my childhood is my happy childhood poetry story. In fifth grade I experienced a lot of bullying. I always got verbal abuse from other children even older kids, and though I like to say sticks and stones may break my bones but words didn’t hurt me their the verbal abuse did. I feel cool about the success of my blog though. I had a lot of hard early experiences too. I know all I can think of is happiness as a newbie writer and the experiences I had with being nominated four times in the past two years. I also have a brand new 2021 wall calendar with Paris and the Eiffel Tower on the calendar. Whenever I have a success older I am filled with gratitude for this blogging community.
I am looking forward to my fortieth birthday in late January 28, 2021.
I feel more myself now that I am older. Some days can be hard but other days I am happy to be alive. I had blood clots in my lungs a bad health scare. I have been smoke free for over six years. I say no to urges to smoke. I try to stay away from convenience stores too. I do some shopping at Walmart only for cleaning supplies and hygiene products. I quit smoking over six years ago with Chantix. Chantix worked for me. I will stay smoke free. I am going to continue to be smoke free. I want to live. I want my life. I know God has been blessing me. I even have had many of my successes older. I stay inside and focus on being more present. When I was in the hospital I was being treated for blood clots in my lungs. I smoked for a long time but by my early 30s I felt like I needed to stop smoking. A caring doctor prescribed Chantix and it took away urges to smoke from me. I think now that it’s more than six years I have been smoke free I can continue to say no to urges and people who might ask me if I want a cigarette. I say no. I became a vegetarian too. I lost like 40 or 45 pounds after a few months gone meatless. All I eat is fish and seafood.
I want to be free to be myself.
I want to find a partner who I am attracted to and can get to know. I don’t believe in premarital affairs or any other sexuality like lesbianism. I know God is blessing me in this season of my life. I felt really sad when I got bullied all through K-12 in school. I am going to be forty but I thank God everyday I feel good just the way I am. I don’t want to have to be like any other person. God don’t like ugly. Nothing is more of a turn off than someone who hates themselves and practices self loathing. I feel good about myself. If I get photos with friends I thank God for years of quality of life. I enjoy being a volunteer at NAMI. I do a lot of peer to peer events, and I facilitate a support group. It keeps me sane. Now I do ZOOM chats online but it feels good to be in a good place. Happy holidays y’all!
I know there may be different opinions about this but I think it shows signs of maturity when you try to learn from the mistakes you made in the past. I don’t focus on the past. I am trying to be more in the moment with the time I have left. I know we all make mistakes in life myself included but for younger kids especially if the kids are really young every thing from skipping school sometimes called truancy for children in high school or middle school. Playing hooky was what they used to call it. The country and NAMI National recently started creating more programs for kids to get a few mental health days I think elementary and middle school aged kids may get a few mental health days every school year or marking period. Kids in middle or high school have IEPs but the kids deserve a few mental health days school year. NAMI has newer programs that started a few years ago reading the NAMI Advocate magazine. I think this is a great step. I used to volunteer with Just Kids the kids program.
I don’t sweat the small stuff. I feel like my maturation process is good for me. It feels good to have come a long way from where I started. I was a bullied kid. Now all that is left is cyber bullying but I am older and wiser. I am Internet Ayesha now!
I have goals. I try to set short term goals and long term goals. I know if I have goals that is fine but first ask yourself are my goals attainable? I also need to say Esha stop procrastinating. Girl you are the princess of
I thank God for being there for me.
My mother and my father had the best of intentions but only God has been there for me on days I felt like giving up or throwing in the towel. I see life as a journey especially now that I am older and have more perspective on things. I was like seventeen when I graduated from high school and it took me while to see in myself what God saw in me. My mother has been supportive of me and so have certain members of my family. I don’t have a lot of supporters but I try to support my supporters too. We all need a few mental health days a month even if we work. I appreciate God and I thank God for his presence in my life and His diving intervention. Can’t nobody do me like Him. I could not have made it this far without God. I think the reason the devil tempted God was to cause Him to bow down to Him instead of the devil bowing to God.
I am older and wiser now.
I will continue to celebrate my life while I have my life. I may be an ordinary person, but I have faith in God, and I have hope for my future too. I try to help my mom more around the house and with laundry, cooking and grocery shopping. I know I can drive on my own. Although I am in my late 30s I will not judge myself. I will keep getting driving lessons. My mom agreed to help me pay. I went through a driving school because I knew a professional driving instructor was the best way to go. I have a driving lesson next week. I am hoping next Spring or next summer I can get a preowned car of my own. I need a cute little SUV. I like the Honda HR-V models I’ve seen. I also like KIA Soul and KIA Sorento models at KIA Motors. I will retest and take the road test again early next year. I pray I can pass the road test on the second try. I can’t go over 10 miles per hour when I take the road test. The road test examiner gave me reasons I failed on November 30th. I’ll get some help paying for driving lessons. I’ll set up four or five more driving lessons until I feel ready to retake my road test. I am enjoying my driving lessons too. Life feels different in the driver’s seat. New Jersey has a seat belt law where the driver and all passengers in the car need to wear seat belts and buckle up.
