I Was Nominated for The Mystery Blogger Award!!

Thank you to Okoto Enigma for creating “The Mystery Blogger” award and connecting bloggers in a new and hilarious way.

And thank you to https://myloudbipolarwhispers.com for nominating me! I am honored and humbled by your random act of kindness.

She is another ~bipolar 1~ sista, so if you like my blog, I bet you will love hers!

Rules for the “Mystery Blogger Award”

1. Name the creator of the award and link their blog. (check)
2. Place the award logo or image within your blog post. (check)
3. Thank the person who nominated you and link their blog in your post. (check)
4. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
5. Answer your nominator’s questions.
6. Nominate 10-20 people.
7. Ask your nominees 5 original questions of your choice.
8. Share 5 links to your best blog posts.
9. Notify each of your nominees by commenting on their blog.

Three Things about Myself:

1. I work with kids with special needs, and it is my passion in life. I’ve known this since I was 16. My kids teach me daily how to speak louder, express stronger, fly higher, and love better. I want to be a doctor to continue helping my kids. (A bit ironically, I decided to become a doctor longggggg before I was diagnosed with bipolar.) I love my kids. If you want to know anything about me, want to try to understand me to my core, know this. My kids constantly remind me that my life is worth living, that hurt and pain will pass, that better days are to come. Better days with them are yet to come.
2. I’m a perfectionist with a horrendously messy room. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Well to me, it does. I am a perfectionist in school, in extracurriculars, in friendships and relationships, even and especially in my “recovery” (I kind of hate that word). I am a perfectionist to a fault, and I hold extreme guilt and shame deep within me. In the midst of my striving for perfection, I must forfeit some things to remain on top in others. For me, my room pays the price. Clothes and towels and makeup strewn everywhere, turning my dorm into an environmental disaster. When I finally cannot stand it any longer (or my roommate finally cannot stand it any longer), I spend entire days perfectly arranging every. single. thing.
3. I am in Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. This sounds really annoying and typical-sorority-betch to make this one of my top three things about me, but I can’t explain to you how important my “zistas” have been in my “recovery” (there it is again….). Not only do I receive “check ups” from different girls every week, but they all have literally saved my life. They carry me home when my depression and impulsivity horribly combine, and my brain tells me to drink until I can’t stand up any longer. They hold me through my tears and my panic attacks. But the best part is, they visited me in crazy people jail!! My last night in the hospital, I had 16 visitors come see me, love me, and tell me goodbye. I felt normal for two hours, for the first time since I could remember, and I so desperately needed that. My friends are imperative to my recovery and to my daily happiness. I hate having to lean on people, to be vulnerable, but if I have to experience the not-so good parts of life with anyone, I want to experience it with them.

My five questions to answer:

1. What is your favorite sport? I LOVE basketball. I am a die hard Curry and Golden State Warriors fan, and I’m thrilled that they have almost their entire team back for the 2017-2018 year!!! I watched pretty much every playoff game this year (And no, not just the GSW games. I mean every game). I go to the University of Virginia, and my friends and I make a point of going to as many games as possible each spring. Malcolm Brogdon, one of our star players our first year in college, now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he won NBA Rookie of the Year this year! I also watched almost every March Madness game. I swear I get post-basketball-season depression.
2. What is your favorite NFL Football team and do you watch football every Sunday? Honestly I just looked up teams on Google to see if I knew any of them (oops). I’ll do anything for a good viewing party though. I’m just more into it for the people and food (especially the food) than I am for the games. 🙂 But I loved going to see my high school football team (does that count?!?), and I am always down for a tailgate at school. Hate to say it, but UVA does not have the best team, so usually my friends and I don’t make it past those tailgates. Best case scenario, we go watch them on TV at the bars. That’s enough support, right?
3. Why do you write, and why did you decide to write a blog? A few of my therapists along the way suggested that I get a journal, since they weren’t having much luck trying to get me to talk in group and individual sessions. They told me I needed to start acknowledging my life, needed to pull out my repressed memories. I refused…..And then I didn’t. I wrote hundreds of pages on my laptop, but I only shared with my therapists what I wanted to share. But the blog was a particularly manic idea on a particularly manic day in the midst of a long-term manic episode. I thought blogs were stupid, were only there for people who wanted and needed attention…..And then I didn’t. And here I am, two months later, still blogging. Surprise!
4. What is your favorite television show? Embarrassingly enough, I’ve watched 21 seasons of America’s Next Top Model since I’ve been home from school. I love me some sassy (and slightly trashy) reality TV. But my all time favorite shows are Criminal Minds and Law and Order: SVU. Unfortunately, I have watched every single episode of these TV shows as well. But that doesn’t discourage me! Right now I’m rewatching an episode of SVU (really freakily ironically, this one is about two women with bipolar disorder, Season 18, Episode 4–‘Heightened Emotions’). Can’t stop, won’t stop.
5. Besides writing, what is your favorite hobby and/or talent? I have been a dancer for 16 years. Long before I knew about my bipolar, I used dance as a way to cope with my strange, seemingly unnatural thoughts and feelings. The first person who suggested I may have a “problem” with my mental health was my dance teacher, who is now a clinical psychologist. She noticed something important in me when I was only 14, when I was caught up in the whirlwind of puberty and boys and transitioning to boarding school. Thank you Ms. Melissa!

My five questions for you to answer:

1. Who are you? Where do you come from? What are your key personality traits? What do you love the most about yourself? What makes different, makes you you?
2. What is/was your favorite school subject? (English doesn’t count!!)
3. Stealing the question I answered above:  Why do you write, and why did you decide to write a blog?
4. Who’s your favorite singer/band/musician and why?
5. Andddddd the classic (because I can’t think of anything else): You’re stuck on a stranded island. What three things/people would you want to have? This is a life or death situation, so I wouldn’t recommend asking for Kanye or a cell phone. Electronics wouldn’t work on a stranded island anyways….(and neither would Kanye, I assume)

My nominees for The Mystery Blog Award are: 

1. Sue, who was kind enough to let me guest blog on her page! https://scvincent.com/ “Echoes of Life, Love and Laughter”

2. Marje, who was also kind enough to let me guest blog on her page! https://mjmallon.com/ “Kyrosmagica Publishing: A magical shore of Books, Writing, Photography, Quotes, Haiku, and Inspiration”

3. Amelia, one of my real life in person friends!! https://coffeewithasideofcrohnsdisease.wordpress.com/ “Amelia and a thing called Crohn’s Disease”

4. Claire, who featured my blog on one of her ‘Inspiring Blogs’ posts! https://painpalsblog.wordpress.com/ “My family & friends living with me…..and chronic illness”

5. Michelle, who will be sharing her fascinating story with you on my page! https://unhingedandunenlightened.wordpress.com/ “A Polytheist Wiccan’s Thoughts on Mental Illness”

6. John/Luda, who will also be appearing here soon! https://fightingiseasy.wordpress.com/ “Life is Hard. Fighting is Easy”

 

7. Meet Katie at https://bipolarbrave.com/blog/ “Power, love and a sound mind”

8. Meet Sarah at https://girlanxietyblog.wordpress.com “A blog about letting go and letting God. Well, trying to.”

9. Meet Michelle (number 2!) at https://polarizedmindblog.wordpress.com “Welcome to my whimsical and wacky world”

10. Meet Mer at https://knockedoverbyafeather.wordpress.com “Knocked over by a feather…it was a big fucking feather…”

11. Meet Victoria B. at https://800recoveryhub.blog “Written by people in recovery for people in recovery”

12. Meet Jeanette at https://jeanettepurkis.wordpress.com “Thoughts on all things autism and mental health”

13. Meet Katy at https://katysrecovery.wordpress.com “A completely NSFW but lovely recovery blog.”

14. Meet Bethany at https://bethanykays.com “NOT MY SECRET…overcoming the shame of sexual abuse”

15. Meet Danny at https://dreambigdreamoften.co “A blog to inspire and challenge you!”

5 Links to my best blog posts

My first blog: https://highrisk1.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/high-risk/

My most recent blog: https://highrisk1.wordpress.com/2017/07/23/13-reasons-why-we-need-to-continue-the-mental-health-conversation/

My most popular blog: https://highrisk1.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/becoming-bipolar-surprise-im-depressed/

One of my personal favorite blogs: https://highrisk1.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/manic-attack/

Random blog I feel like sharing: https://highrisk1.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/my-first-psychiatric-institution/