I’m sitting sipping coffee before I report for a 12 hour shift that will most likely end up being a 14 hour one and I think, “why not do a blog post?” So here goes. This week I got a chance to experience something I’ve never done before. A salt water soak. So apparently my trip to the ocean last week was not an adequate amount of salt water for me. I’m always up for a good adventure and I saw this great deal listed on Groupon and decided to try it. Apparently there are lots of great health effects derived by soaking in salt and its supposed to promote wellness and a good immune system or something like that. I didnt really care but wanted to try it. First off there was a whole studio devoted entirely to soaking in saltwater. Apparently these soaks range from 90 minutes to overnight soaks. So I go into the studio and sign my life away on a waiver promising that I wont sue if something bad happens. Then to get me relaxed the staff directs me to an inversion table where I lie upside down and listen to ocean waves with low pulsing beats. It was at this point I realized that I might be incapable of relaxing all the way. Lying upside down with headphones in a room with dark lighting probably isn’t the best for someone with slight trust issues. So after an eternity (20 minutes) I the music stops and I go into the float tank. I should preface this by saying that I’m not super claustrophobic but if I was I would have a HUGE issue with the tank. You open up the door and climb in and close the door behind you. From this point on you’re supposed to float in 10 inches of warm water that’s more salty than the Dead Sea where you WILL NOT sink. Now, I havent swam in about 5 years but I figured that it shouldnt be hard to float and it wasn’t. However, the tank is about the size of an oversized coffin and you are enclosed in absolute darkness for about 60 minutes. The only think you can hear is your heart pounding in your ears. Really relaxing right? I don’t like staring into darkness so I just did what came naturally and slept for the whole time just floating in the saltwater coffin. I don’t know if it was relaxing but it was a new experience I just might try again. Self care right?
Author Archives
Missing Home
Growing up, Easter was always a special time of year. Not because of bunnies and rabbits or because of some of the religious traditions of Holy Week but because of Alumni Weekend. The time where my family and I made the relatively short trip to Alabama for the weekend. As a homeschooled kid, these trips were good great for seeing how “regular” kids were and just taking in the sights that only come with a large gathering of thousands. This trip was made every year without fail. Through multiple kids and carting strollers up and down stadium steps, my parents adapted and made it work. My family didn’t celebrate Easter however many family members made it a point to be present this weekend. From aunts, uncles, and extended cousins to people we considered family, it was like a huge yearly reunion. From childhood to adolescence to adulthood, this weekend is the second time in my life (the first being three years ago) that I’ve missed this event. I’ve attended as a grandchild and child of students who attended, as a student myself and then as a student who graduated. The routine is always the same with the exception of little adjustments. This weekend I’m feeling especially homesick as I’m missing the feeling of being in the familiar environment in which I spent 21 years or so of my life. It’s a habit that has become a tradition I don’t like to deviate from. It is a family reunion of sorts–especially considering the fact that I don’t go to my actual family reunions. Everyone doesn’t have the chance to go to a college where their grandparents and parents, cousins and other extended family members either taught at or attended. I had an awesome college experience and while I didn’t believe when people said that college is the best years of your life, I believe it now. Not that there’s nothing to look forward to but there’s something special about living for four years with people you’ve grown up with and known for years and bonding over mutual experiences. I won’t live that close to that many friends at any point in my life again. Adulthood has happened and I have to adjust accordingly. I’m a fan of new adventures but sometimes it’s nice to visit where you grew up and catch up with old friends. There’s no place like home and today I miss my college one.
Mascara-The Song
I haven’t posted about a song in a while and thought that it was time to do so. There are few albums that I’ve gotten and actually regretted the fact that I didn’t buy it the day that it was released and this is one of them. This entire CD is fire and Jazmine has a unique sound that can’t be replicated. This song is in first person and describes a woman who decides to go against the grain. While it’s not ridden with expletives there are a few for effect. The song continues on to describe a woman who decides to work smart instead of hard and allow others to finance her life while she provides certain incentives. One of the stipulations in the agreement is that she makes a deliberate effort to never not look good. This song is not the easiest to sing but Jazmine makes it seem easy as she transitions from falsetto to her chest voice effortlessly while still respecting and displaying her amazing vocal skills Now, I can’t give you all the reasons why I love this song and why it’s been on repeat for the past two weeks straight except to say that it’s one of the most well-written songs I’ve heard in the while. The lyrics match the music and Jazmine’s voice in a flawless coming together of emotion and melody that moves you. The thing I like about this album is that there are no bad songs. Each song is different and unique in its own right and conveys real human emotion. That’s what separates good music from great music.
15 Professions You Don’t Want Your Future Husband to Be In
Someone posted this article on Facebook and I thought it was pretty funny. The author takes it upon him or herself to post several professions that women should avoid as they look for a significant other or husband. Now, some of these made sense to me. Like a life coach. I could see how that could be a cause of conflict in a relationship and could translate to being very annoying. This is probably a very biased opinion based on the fact that I’ve never met a life coach that I’ve liked. I can also see how marrying a therapist could be annoying but I think if both individuals were therapists it might be a pretty good fit. To be honest, none of the reasons given made sense to me. I don’t know of many jobs that don’t have any stress involved. The truth is that regardless of the occupation, relationships require time and actual effort in order to be successful.
Good Parenting
Recently I’ve had the chance to interact with some good parents in a professional setting. This is in contrast to the hundreds of bad ones that I interact with. I’ve never been a parent but I know it’s a hard job. I loathe waking up to take my dog out in the middle of the night–let alone getting up several times a night to tend a sick child or feed a hungry baby. It’s a job with rewards, setbacks, challenges, and achievements. I’ve heard many people say that the reason they don’t have kids is because they’re too selfish and I can understand where they are coming from. Selfish parents are the worst. I’ve met them. People more concerned about their money, appearance or property than their child’s welfare, happiness and safety. That’s why I’m always so excited to meet people who are good parents and whose kids actually like them. One of the biggest perks of having kids who like you is that the will fight tooth and nail for you when you’re too old to do it for yourself. There’s nothing like addressing a complaint from an irate adult child about their parent’s care. It’s an experience I don’t relish but I don’t get upset about it because they are genuinely concerned about their parent and the fear comes out in the emotion of anger. I say all that to say that having a kid is like an investment in your future if you get a good kid and you raise them in a way that doesn’t mess them up forever. Easier said than done in my opinion–especially with the amount of selfish parents out here.
weekend travels
So once again I’m on another trip. This time it’s to a place that is incredibly warm with humidity and bugs. To the point that one crawled in my food the other day and I didn’t freak out. The humidity here is so nice and I’ve gotten back into the habit of greeting perfect strangers. There’s something nice about going 90 MPH on the freeway with the windows down and music with a decent beat blasting from the speakers. The sad thing is that while this was a sorta vacation, homework is still due. I will always wonder what possessed me to be in an academic program that has school year round. Regardless, it’s nice to be in a different setting while slaving away writing. One thing that was great this trip was seeing friends and sleeping on the beach. I feel like I don’t really sleep until I get to a beach. I sat in the sun and baked for an extended amount of time and my skin tone is testament to that fact. The thing I hate about coming home is working again but that will probably be a constant thing as long as I continue to finance my own trips. It’s been a good experience and I’ve decided that another weekend trip to Florida is in order for sometime later in the year. Did I mention that it’s summer down here already?
Jobs and Creatives
I ran across this intriguing article the other day. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that the author mentions a group of people called creatives, and while I haven’t heard that term used a lot in relation to a specific category of people, I think it’s similar to people we often call “free-spirits.” You can read the article here. The basic assertion is that creative people hate the traditional 9-5 job and I can definitely relate. While I am an individual who appreciates structure and routine at times, my aversion to feeling confined puts me in the category of people who strongly dislike traditional work hours in traditional settings. The article references the fact that creatives hate to restrict motivation to certain hours during the day. I’ve never been much of a morning person–preferring instead to wake up at my own pace and start my day on my own terms. That’s just not possible in most jobs where you have to be at work between the hours of 7 and 9am Monday through Friday. That’s way too much structure for my taste. I love the idea of taking random breaks during the day to run errands and shop and then return to work. Sounds idealistic I know. Working at my own pace without being micromanaged is also important to me because I think I’m quite capable of getting work accomplished in a reasonable period of time without multiple interruptions from those who have the need to reassure themselves that I am indeed doing my job. It’s funny how much of the work world in the States revolves around this type of schedule. Working 5 days and then only having 2 days off to recuperate. I tried a job with traditional hours and lasted a little bit over three months because it was way too much structure for my tastes. While I don’t think I would categorize myself as a “creative,” after reading the article I can relate to every single one of the annoyances of having a traditional work schedule. I guess that’s why I work nights. For now at least.
Married At First Sight
Lately I’ve been watching a television show that portrayed a social experiment that was so intriguing. The show is called Married at First Sight and chronicles the experience of three couples who meet at the altar. The couples are put together by a group of relationship experts who match them based on comparability tests and personal interviews. While I admit the idea is out of the ordinary, I think there’s a lot of merit to it. The couples most likely would have never met if it had not been for these experts. As I was watching the show I asked myself if I could marry a perfect stranger in that type of situation and I would. It’s one thing to be set up by friends and family and another one to be set up by people who have studied human behavior and have years of experience and degrees in their respective fields. As someone who is familiar with many of the personality theories that guide studies on romantic interactions and the longevity of relationships, I would feel fairly comfortable marrying a perfect stranger in these circumstances. As I watched the show it was eye opening to observe how people requested certain traits and characteristics in their future mate but weren’t willing to compromise in order to complement those requested traits. An example of this was one of the women who talked and discussed with the experts at length on how much she wanted traditional gender roles and wanted a man who would do all the manly chores and be strong. Yet, she was appalled when she got what she wanted and found out that her dream man also expected her to cook for him. I’m a huge fan of social experiments and while matchmaking is a significant industry, it’s different when there’s a team working together to match compatible people.
Self Care
For the past few years I’ve been one to associate happiness with a geographical location. Namely foreign countries and the southern region of the United States. However, I think that that is also related to my occupation. From the moment that I say I’m a social worker the usual reaction is, “I could never do that, it’s such a hard job.” And I agree that it is. My undergraduate experience with social work was varied and included working with felons and patients on hospice. It was then when I had to work hands on with others when I discovered that people are a lot more complicated in real like than they are in textbooks. Thankfully, I had a very well rounded experience in college that gave a pretty accurate depiction of the field. I knew that I didn’t want the stereotypical job of a county caseworker and I wanted to focus more on the counseling side. Somehow I found my way to the mental health field and have stayed in some capacity ever since. The thing about mental health is that it is the opposite of predictable. It’s messy, it’s chaotic, it’s stressful and it’s real. But it’s also rewarding. However, it takes a lot out of you. I’ve heard stories that have been horrific and have talked to hundreds of individuals who are experiencing their own personal crisis. That’s why this field is so notorious for burn out and people who are so overwhelmed with their job responsibilities that they’ve given up completely. There are some days where I wish I could publish some of the stories I hear because truth is stranger than fiction. One of the best things about traveling is the physical distance between myself and the daily chaos I work in. It’s like a breath of fresh air and a chance to finally relax to some degree and not think about work related things. Self care at its finest.
What an Introvert Won’t Admit
I don’t typically post or write about introverts but this particular article was such a dead on representation of myself and other introverts I know, I had to comment/blog about it. You can read it here. Now, the list of things listed in the article makes so much sense to me. It also explains why I haven’t had a public birthday celebration in years. Now that doesn’t mean that I didn’t celebrate, it just means that I went on a trip instead. I remember trying to like everyone when I was younger and it didn’t really work out. I believe that all people deserve respect, kindness and fairness but I’m a firm believer that all people can’t be liked. I’ve worked with too many parents whose parenting choices I didn’t agree with. Or people so full of themselves that they refused to acknowledge the truth or anyone that spoke anything contrary to their own personal reality. The reality is that some people are hard to like. But back to the article. Getting stuff done is something that I have the ability to do. Granted, it doesn’t always happen because I’m easily bored but when push comes to shove I can focus and be productive. Of course it always helps when I’m facing an impending deadline. The article mentions small talk and I’m so glad that it does. Small talk has got to be one of the most annoying things created. I really don’t care for it and that’s why I put such an emphasis on building rapport and having conversations with actual depth with others. However, small talk is the way to more meaningful interactions and I’ll be buying a book in the near future and forcing myself to learn how to do it effectively despite my aversion to it. While I don’t know the exact split between introverts and their counterparts, I think that this article scarily accurate in describing what most introverts would never actually admit out loud. Interesting stuff.
Alisha's Angle 