TWLOHA

So I've got a whole list of things that I'm going to write about on here eventually, but it's been two months since the last one, and I don't want to use them all up at once. I'm pretty sure that very few people actually read this, but that's fine because maybe some day someone will and then they'll read back through all of this and it'll be great all over again. Anyway, I had to share something that is really close to my heart, which is To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA). I've actually probably posted somewhere about it before because the work they do really means a lot to me. It's even the reason for two of my tattoos.

But what is it? It's a support system for those who struggle with depression, addiction, thoughts of suicide, eating disorders, etc. They promote "love as the movement" reminding us that love is the answer to these problems we face. Like I said, this really means a lot to me. I don't broadcast it, but I've struggled with depression, and it's taken me a long time to even get to the point I'm at now. I think so many of us deal with this and no one ever even sees it. While it's so unbelievably difficult to admit there's a problem, to admit that maybe we aren't strong enough to handle it on our own, TWLOHA offers options. It's hard to tell someone close to you what you're struggling with. They see you differently after that. It makes you vulnerable. But having an anonymous source of encouragement, a place to find professional resources without having to look far can make a big difference.

All of this to say, that I've finally found a way to help this cause personally. I've been wanting to find a way to volunteer with someone. I have a strong need to help people (which will be another topic itself) and I just kept putting it off. I figured I was no good to anyone while I was still all broken and messed up. But while I'm still all broken and messed up, I realize sometimes that's what people need to see. They need to know that they're not alone. So I am now a part of the "Street Team" (found here: http://towriteloveonherarms.fancorps.com/headquarters/). The whole purpose is to spread the word about what TWLOHA wants to do and to offer support to those who are hurting. Again, this is something that means a lot so I want to spread it around to anyone else who may want to help out as well. It doesn't cost anything, it's just about spreading love.

We were put here to love and take care of one another. May we never forget this. "When life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind."

Have a super, fantastic, great day!

Mandiy

Things I'd rather do...

So I've been thinking that what this blog needs is lists! I love lists and I don't know why. To do lists, grocery lists, even outlines. I think crossing things off makes me feel productive. Anyway, being productive is not high on my to do list right now, even if it should be so I will blog instead. Tonight's list: Things I'd rather do than read articles about evolution and religion and write a paper on it.

(In the order in which they come to me)

1. Write on here.

2. Take pictures of Kisa.

3. Watch Army Wives.

4. Watch Mr. Sunshine.

5. Drink an adult beverage.

6. Listen to Owl City.

7. Eat massive amounts of Cadbury Creme eggs.

8. Go driving in this fantastic weather with the windows down.

9. Read my new Sophie Kinsella book.

10. Stare at the walls.

11. Take a nap.

12. Refresh my Facebook page over and over again.

13. Refresh my email over and over again.

14. Look at my perfect grade in this class. Oh wait, no that reminds me how I'm not helping it right now.

15. Watch funny YouTube videos.

16. Watch music videos on YouTube.

17. Shop on Amazon.

18. Rearrange my living room.

19. Rearrange my bedroom.

20. Clean something.

Well I came up with 20 things. I feel a little better now that I've "told someone" how desperately I do not want to do this paper. I guess I will do it now. Or take a nap. Either way, this has helped me decide to listen Owl City on repeat.

Have a super, fantastic, great night!

Mandiy

Self-Esteem (*Feminism Warning*)

This is something I've been struggling with for a while now. The dreaded scale and the mirror. I have "tried" losing weight 34893948203920 times, and I always "fail." I end up craving the "bad" foods and being too "tired" (wow, I'm using a lot of quotes tonight) to exercise. I tell myself every time that it's ok, that I'll do better the next time. The thing is, I haven't had the right motivation. While I know so many people go to the gym because they want to look better, that's just not enough for me. I do know that I need to lose the weight to be healthier. Because I like life and I want to be able to enjoy it longer without health issues that come with being overweight.

The thing is, I've never really thought I was "pretty." I didn't care much up until the last few years when I started believing not that I wasn't especially pretty, but that I was all the negative things people believe about themselves. In the past few months, however, I have been working to improve all aspects of my life. I want to have a positive outlook on life. I want to change so much about my attitude and that includes the way I see myself, whether what I look like changes or not. Society loves to send us messages that say this is the wrong way to go about it. We should change our appearance and *then* we will look better, feel better, and then we can be happy about ourselves. But what about the months we're miserable in between? Are we supposed to feel like crap until then? Again, I believe in being healthy and treating your body right (still working on this), but the pressure is just ridiculous sometimes. And we set ourselves up to fail this way. We will never be perfect according to society because this perfection is ever changing and unattainable in order for the media to continue promoting new products to make you look "better."

Anyway, all of this is to say, I've begun a new approach. I will continue trying to eat better and exercise because it makes me feel better when I do, but I am also learning to love who I am already. Because I spend so much time on Facebook, it should come as no surprise that I like somewhere in the vicinity of 2380192019398 pages. Many of these now, though are ones that promote healthy body image and learning to respect yourself. One that I feel very strongly about is Operation Beautiful (http://operationbeautiful.com/). So many of us struggle to fit into a mold that we were never meant to fit. And while each of us is struggling, instead of encouraging each other to stay who we are, we buy into the bull that society force feeds us. We gossip about each other, and we are only loyal to a select few. But what if this wasn't the case, as OB suggests? What if we were to promote real beauty and what if we cared about each other?

Personally, I think this is in large part a way that men have been able to keep women under control for so long. If we are so busy, even from an early age, working on our image, we don't have time to really change the world. If we weren't focusing on our bodies and were focusing on our surroundings, we could really be making a difference.

Again, not to say that we shouldn't take care of ourselves, too, but spending all of our energy on this is not fair to the rest of the world. We are depriving them of our awesomeness. So what if we encouraged each other and put our God-given talents to good use instead of on the back burners? Just a thought.

Have a super, fantastic, great day! And remember, that you are beautiful!

Mandiy

Another Answer

"How was it so easy for you to just all of a sudden leave?"

It wasn't. It was hard and it was painful. And it wasn't sudden at all. There was simply one last straw that broke, and I couldn't do it anymore. I think I put on a brave face and let everyone believe everything was fine (well, that's what I thought they believed, even though I now know I was wrong).

I say it wasn't sudden, even though even for me it kind of felt like it was. I held on for so long to hope that I only somewhat believed in. But I can look back and see my own words on paper where I knew something was wrong.

1-15-10 (over a year ago)

my life

it's going nowhere and it's going there fast. too fast for me to keep up as it spirals downward, out of control. I watch the pieces breaking off and falling. Soon, there will be nothing left to hold to. I can't recall what it's like to laugh, what it's like to not have anything hurt. was my heart ever whole? Was there ever anything worth living for? Surely there must have been a time in the not so distant past where smiling and being at ease was allowed. But here I am now, worthless, useless, and broken.

I don't write this and put it out there for pity or any reason other than to offer an explanation to the questions that are both spoken and unspoken. And just in case anyone else feels this way, I want them to know they're not alone and we all feel it at some time.

And also, I'm not in this place anymore. There is another side where there is laughter and love and it's just. better.

Have a super, fantastic, great day!

Mandiy

What I Love About Being on My Own

Since I've written about being all lonely and what not, I figured I'd write about some of my new revelations of how nice it can be to live alone.

1. I don't have to cook unless I want to. I can eat Yogurt for dinner for a week straight.

2. If I decide I want to "cook," that can mean spaghetti.

3. My decorating skills make it look like the color Pink just threw up all over my house. I love it and no one can make me change it.

4. I can read. All the time. No interruption.

5. Kisa sleeps with me and cuddles with me when it's just us.

6. I can pick what I watch and what I listen to.

7. If I don't have to leave the house, I can stay in bum clothes all day.

8. No one will know if I don't do the dishes or vacuum for a week.

9. I can have 298,748,392 posters/calendars/action figures of Jacob from Twilight around my house and no one can say anything.

10. I can re-arrange the furniture as much as I want.

11. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I carry something heavy up the stairs on my own or when I put together a piece of furniture or fix something all by myself.

12. I can spend way too much time on Facebook.

I feel like this is a step in the right direction since I have at least 12 things I love about being here with just Kisa. Moving forward!

Have a super, fantastic, great day!
Mandiy

Words

Well, I think tonight/this morning I finally figured out what it is that I want to study. About time now that I should be graduating soon. I just started a philosophy class, and I love, love, LOVE it already. Unfortunately, there are two problems with me studying just philosophy. 1. My school does not offer a Bachelor's in this. 2. What in the world would I do with a philosophy degree? lol So while reading my text (yes, I am actually reading for this class!), I was reading about philosophers discussing the beginning of language. This took me back to a class I had at Winthrop when we looked at how language formed, the purposes it took on and what it would be like to live in a world without words (I do NOT like that idea at all). And I really started thinking. I love words. I love language. Maybe pictures do speak louder, but I'd rather read the thousand words 9 times out of 10. It allows the mind to create it's own picture beyond what any artist may be able to capture. And I have a secret soft spot for very basic math, which is what syntax and that sort of thing is to me. It's a form of math that still involves my favorite thing: WORDS! So what do you know? The newest available Bachelor's degree from Ashford is, in fact, Applied Linguistics. I mean, what perfect timing! So I sent the email to my advisor asking how to change my major and how far back this will set me. I just, I feel passionate about something to do with school again. I thought I was burnt out on English, but I think I was just looking at the wrong aspects of it. Literature is wonderful, but it's not what I love. I love the words and the grammar and, yes, all the "nerdy" parts. I just think this is maybe what I should've been doing all along. And maybe this is why I didn't finish at Winthrop the first time around. Maybe this is why it's taken me so long to finish, so I finish with the right degree. I'd also love to learn Greek.

And have I mentioned what I want to do with tattoos? I want a collage of words on my back. Yes, words, of course. Again, while I love pictures with the people I love and like to look at some art, words are just more important than images to me. Carefully selecting the right word is just such a thrill sometimes. And to be able to understand language and work with it? Yes, please :) Ok, well now I should go to sleep. I just had to get this revelation out before I explode.

Have a super, fantastic, great, and wonderful day!

Mandiy

Why all the tattoos and piercings?

I've had several people ask me about this: Why do you do that to your body? Why are you putting holes and ink in your skin? My other favorite is: did it hurt? I think these are fair questions (even if they do drive me crazy), and all of them are ones I expected to hear. So here is my big, loud, public response (if only everyone in the whole world would read this and never have to ask again... lol)

I've had several people tell me: "I didn't see you as the tattoo 'type.'" To which, I can't help but wonder what this type is. Honestly, I'm not sure I ever saw myself getting any, especially not as many as I have now, and I surely was not going to get piercings. Never. Ever. But I also never really saw a reason for tattoos for myself. Heck, this was a way for me to willingly hurt myself? Um, no thank you! But we all grow and learn. So did I. I never saw myself as a "broken" type either. I didn't see myself as someone who would be unwilling to get out of bed until I absolutely had to. (Kisa helped with this since she absolutely had to be fed and had to go out.)

What I've learned, though, is that we all get broken at some point. We all have scars that maybe no one ever sees. We all lose people we love and have our hearts broken. And we all deal with it differently. We even deal with each time in our own lives differently. For me, the answer was body art (along with a heavy dose of good music, good friends, and positive thinking). I dealt with emotional pain in negative ways before and had long ago decided I did not want to go back down that road.

Each one of my tattoos means something to me, and each is a quiet reminder of a lesson I needed to learn.

The first one I got was the one on my neck: it says Libre (which means free in Spanish. It does not say Libra) with wings on fire. This was my first reminder to myself that I am a free soul. No one may dictate my actions. I have the mind to decide on my own. I have not always allowed myself to make my own decisions, and I did really well at relinquishing my control plenty of times. So there are wings rising out of fire, as a phoenix rises from the ashes. I may not have always seen myself as free, but I am now. And while I may struggle, I will always get back up and out of the flames.

The second one I got was the word bird in Greek on my left wrist. Because I have so many in Greek, I will say this now that they are in Greek because it is the language of so many great philosophers. These were the great thinkers that heavily influenced our society, and I wish to model my ideals after many of theirs. The word was chosen for its strong literary symbolism. The main story I had in mind was Kate Chopin's The Awakening, but so many others use this symbol as well. The bird is a feminist symbol that, in my own opinion, perfectly describes women. I could write forever about how perfect it is, but I will try to shorten it down. Basically, they are free spirits and can soar and be above the world. But they are also very often domesticated. They are put into boxes that they are expected to enjoy. This tattoo is a reminder (along with the previous one) that I am a free bird.

The third one I got was the word love (in English) on my right wrist. The easiest way to explain this one is to send you to this sight: http://www.twloha.com/. A short version: it's a reminder to treat those who struggle (and really everyone) with love. Love could cure so many of our society's problem if we let it. It was not for my husband at the time, it was actually for my brothers.

The 4th and 5th ones are serenity and harmony (both in Greek) on my right and left foot, respectively. I got these at a very difficult time, and they remind me to seek the right path toward peace with every step I take.

The 6th and 7th go together. They say super woman (in Greek), one on each of my shoulder blades. These remind me even when I do not feel strong, that I am. I can handle whatever I need to, and I can do it for myself.

As for the piercings, they are a way to "decorate" and use pain in a more positive way than previous methods.

So yes, I am putting holes and ink in my body. But each time, it creates a reflective, and in my opinion, beautiful scar. They remind me that pain doesn't last. Wounds heal, and while scars remain, they are nothing more than a memory. A lot to some. But none hurt as much as whatever drove me to the tattoo shop. And, really, so often we do things that we know will very likely scar us emotionally in the long run, but sometimes we just do it anyway.

And to answer the "did it hurt?" question, the answer is yes to pretty much all of them. So just in case you've ever wondered about them, ever asked politely, or ever been rude about my body art, here are the best answers I could give.

Have a super, fantastic, great day!

Mandiy