On the Cusp

If you've been reading any of my recent blog posts, a consistent theme has surely cropped up and that has been the desire for me to have my own place to live. A few weeks ago, I actually signed a lease on a new studio apartment - for real.

Nestled in a lovely Stepford-esque neighborhood just south of where I work in Lowertown, this ground level unit is running me less than $700 a month and has freshly painted white walls, newly refinished floors, surround sound speakers and well....excellent water pressure. Because that's important.

Last weekend, I started moving in and it was an adventure:

One member of my moving party cancelled on me the morning of - due to a hangover - and while I was initially bummed at not having her large SUV at my disposal, I made the best of the situation in order to move 80% of my personal belongings via two car trips. A huge shout-out to my cousin and her boy for the assist. And a special thank you to Angie who was battling a hangover of her own and …

7. What are my personal gifts? I used to think that I viewed the world from a lens that was very different to other people's. Where someone saw opportunity, I saw struggle. Where most would see the glass half empty or full, I was looking at what the contents were. Where I saw beauty and wonder, most others saw decay or rot or vulgarity. I saw paths other people couldn't...

For a long time, I felt very at odds with the world around me. I knew I wasn't the only "different" person in the world, that was statistically impossible, but I don't think I was meant for the small farming community I came up in either. It took travel and years of relocating to see that there are so many different lenses through which to view the world - each of them valid and unique to the individual bearer.

One of my best and strongest of gifts is my ability to change out which lens I see the world through, depending on who I'm interacting with, what kind of perspective-shift I need…

6. How do I feel about my personality type?
First things first. What is my personality type?

I've taken a good number of the free versions of the Myers-Briggs Type assessment, but it wasn't until I had the opportunity to take the full version at my old workplace that I was able to really unlock just how my brain works. See, I'd always clocked in as INTJ - and that felt pretty on the mark.

I'm definitely the most introverted of all the introvert types, I am definitely on the analytical side, I prefer dealing with logic over emotion, and I need to have all the pieces of a puzzle in place before I can make an informed decision.

Lo and behold, the full assessment pegged me as INTP. Okay, a little off the mark, but they can't be that different, right?

Turns out, they are - but mostly in their dominant and secondary functions - and I'm not going to bore you with those details. You can read all about INTJ versus INTP if you're interested. As I read more deeply abo…

So I've done two of these so far (find them here and here) and now I'm back with a whole new round of unpopular opinions. Agree or disagree, some of these are sure to spark conversation or debate!


1. Glossier is overrated.

2. Short hair on girls is super cute.

3. Game of Thrones was probably the worst series of the decade. 

4. Traveling alone is more fun than traveling with a partner.

5. Bob Dylan is good, but probably not the best folk singer of all time. (Sorry, fellow Minnesotans!)

5. What is my life’s purpose?

How does anyone answer this question?

Better still, does my life need to have a purpose? Can't I simply exist, taking it all in, with no greater aim? But then, that would become my purpose in life, wouldn't it? Ahhhh the paradox!

No, but truthfully I've always kind of envied those individuals who knew exactly what they wanted to do with their life and what they were all about. They moved with purpose...every action taken was a step towards something meaningful to them.

I've never had that. I used to flit from dream career to dream career, but never really put any effort into working on achieving any of them. I guess I knew all along that most of my "passions" were fleeting. I've never been truly driven to accomplish anything...

Until quite recently, actually.

You see, I had this novel idea (quite literally) that had been stewing in my brain for years, and it wasn't until I made the commitment to participate seriously in la…

*Content warning: Mentions of mental illness, crisis, and symptoms*
What is a crisis kit, you ask? A crisis kit, for mental health or other types of crises, is a kit in which you place all the things you would need to get through a crisis - kind of like a 'bug-out bag' or an emergency overnight bag if you need to leave home suddenly.

In this blog post, I want focus especially on mental health crisis kits because they can be tailored very specifically to your own mental health needs in a crisis.


Why should you have a mental health crisis kit? 

Those of us who suffer from mental health problems can't always know when and where we'll be when something happens to trigger a low point - be it a depressive episode, an anxiety attack, etc. Even if you don't suffer from any serious mental health concerns, traumatic events can happen to anyone and a mental health crisis kit could be the one thing that helps you get through that moment until you're able to seek more concr…

4. What are the operating principles of my life?
I had to think about what this question was really asking for a moment... and I've concluded that it's about my personal operating system. What are the principles that guide my life and my behavior, what are the values that I live consistently, etc.

There are a lot of principles I like to think I'm abiding by consistently, but let's be real - I'm probably not. So after careful examination, here are the key components to the operating system of my life:

Autonomy

I am my own person. I wasn't always though - I spent a good number of years living in the shadow of others, in service to their goals and dreams instead of my own. I turned 30 a few years ago and it sort of woke me up to how much time I've been wasting living other people's lives. I needed to make some changes and start pursuing what *I* wanted and live how I want to live.

It's still scary, for someone like me who has always had social anxiety a…

I'm a subscription box enthusiast - I've used both Ipsy and Birchbox - and there's no greater feeling in the world than seeing a nicely bundled care package waiting on your doorstep after work! Sadly, I had to cancel all my subscription boxes a while back because finances were too tight to justify them.

With a new job(s) and a new apartment where rent is significantly cheaper, I may be able to indulge one more, but I'm limiting myself to just ONE. The boxes below are the ones I'm most interested in trying - maybe one will strike your fancy too!

Inspire Me Korea

Inspire Me Korea is a Korean Cultural Box that ships worldwide for just $31 a month and features a variety of Korean goods - like skincare products, snack items, and Kpop memorabilia. It's perfect for the Korean enthusiast who is already hooked on K-dramas (like me!) and wants to delve just a bit deeper without buying an expensive plane ticket just yet.



Tokyo Treat

Tokyo Treat is the box for you if you want …

3. What are my most important needs and desires? Does my present life fulfill them?

At my core, I am a very internal being. I live in my head a lot - and to be fair, there's a lot happening in there. From the crafting of entire worlds and characters and story arcs to the simple calculations of how many hours I need to work in a week to make sure I can pay rent, my mind is a very busy place to exist within.

Sometimes I need an escape from that. It's critical to prevent mental burnout. One of my most important needs is having a safe space to exist outside of my head and a way to truly connect to my body in real time. Pilates and yoga are great for that, but there's also a need to find a green space in an otherwise concrete jungle. I need to have ready access to quiet parks - for walking, for reading, for meditating, etc.

Socializing with like-minded individuals and those who don't drain my energy is vital to keeping me firmly rooted in the real world, too.

My current lif…

What I love about the Duolingo app is that the first thing you learn when you take Japanese lessons is how to read and pronounce Hiragana - the most basic alphabet in Japanese and one you could conceivably use to write entire sentences in Japanese (excluding foreign-borrowed words that are always in Katakana) if you don't know any Kanji.

There are 46 standard Hiragana characters - and essentially, 46 standard sounds to be found in the Japanese language. We'll discuss modified characters/sounds later.*

The first row of Hiragana characters featured here are the vowels and they're the most important to learn. The good news - there's only five of them.

あ - a (pronounced like ah) い - i (pronounced like ee) う - u (pronounced like ooh) え - e (pronounced like eh) お - o (pronounced like oh)

There are a few Japanese words that are comprised only of vowels, such as あお (ah-oh) blue and  いえ (ee-eh) house. Most, however, are comprised of two or more consonant characters.
The next set of Hi…