All tagged mental health
COVID 19 - The Vital Need for Community
“Communities are tough to come by in this isolated quarantined world. They provide a common space and activities for their members. Throughout good and bad, small collectives provide support nets for us. But, with the Covid-19 outbreak, we’ve struggled to maintain close communities and it feels like the groups I’ve helped lead and strengthen are weakening. Humans are social creatures and depriving us of meeting others is criminal. Still, these times are temporary, and for the greater good, we must maintain our focus on spending time with others.”
COVID Quarantine Journal Day 7
“It’s been a week since I joined the quarantine with the rest of the masses. I’d been driving through the apocalyptic wasteland from Chicago. Not much was out of the ordinary. My companion and I were able to order food at restaurants and drink beer, but this time, in the parking lot. Throughout our journey, we only “dined-in” once in North Platte, Nebraska. Returning home, I hardly noticed anything after the first few days of no social activity.” [652 words]
King David's Top 6 Activities During Quarantine
“As the apocalypse continues, there’s a pretty good chance you’re starting to experience cabin fever after a week in isolation. You’re lonely, dying of boredom, and long for the contact of another human. We’re social creatures and need social stimulation to live meaningful lives. This lonely lifestyle is going to last until at least May if not longer. What can you do to mitigate these feelings of isolation that you’re experiencing?”
Marijuana. Good? Bad?
“Welcome to 2020: Marijuana is becoming legalized state after state. Right now, you can use marijuana recreationally in eleven states and with a doctor's recommendation in 33 states. Strangely enough, Marijuana is still technically illegal under federal law, but then, the FDA has approved cannabinoid derived medications, like Marinol, Cesamet and Epidiolex. As Weed becomes legal across the country, you are going to see and hear more about it. How do you filter the good, the bad, and the ugly about marijuana? Well, that’s where this series on recreational drugs comes in.”
Laughs: Counseling and Abrasive Adolescents
“At the main office, the teacher thanked me for coming and stated with vigor, “He’s the most oppositional and disrespectful kid I’ve ever seen. His parents are monsters and I can never finish anything in my classroom with him around!” I ensured the teacher that this was not my first crisis call and that I was well prepared to deal with a 6-year old. Eh, maybe he was 5. It doesn’t matter. I only ever took one childhood development class in college, so 5 or 6, who cares?” [646 words]
2020: Onward to Salvation
Here’s my New Year’s Resolutions for 2020. I think many of my readers will be able to relate.
We Need Universal Healthcare! My Healthcare Spending 2018-2019
“But, King David, why didn’t you buy a better health insurance plan? King David, why weren’t you able to negotiate the costs down? You shouldn’t have gone to the ER! You should have done your research. It’s your fault you’re broke.” I’ve heard it all.” [760 words]
Digital Hoarding: Should you be Concerned?
What about digital hoarding? Should we be concerned about the cloud? Are the memes we’re all collecting and sharing each day concerning? There’s virtually unlimited space for content on the cloud. Those Epstein memes aren’t going to crash Amazon’s web-hosting services.
Vocation, Vocation, Vocation!
“What should I do? Is working with people with disabilities a career I should continue? Is my lack of focus due to my current employer or would this struggle translate to any employer? How do I reduce the paperwork that I’m required to do?”
A Homeless Man Attacked my Car
The homelessness crisis in LA is untenable. We’re living in a world class city and not the slums of fucking Karachi. LA inhabitants regularly deal with trash and hoards of shopping carts left on the curb and the street. [513 words]
Ignorance, Violence, and Mental Health
“I spent two hours arguing with a father of an ER patient. The mother of the 13 year old brought her into the ER for throwing her own feces at her siblings. I thought to myself, well, this is gonna be an easy one. She’s getting committed, but things went south once her father arrived.” [405 more words]
Burnout: I can get out of bed, but I drink to kill the anxiety I experience at work after work.
We’ve all been there. Either it’s a job we dislike, a terrible boss, or simply too much work. Burnout is a major factor for the millennial generation and it’s making us miserable. There’s a severe lack of work-life balance and for those of us salaried employees, we’re often expected to answer calls, texts, and other problems, way outside of our working hours.
Anxiety: Ubiquitous Technology Increasing; What do we do?
With the prevalence of smartphones and instant gratification, anxiety is becoming more and more common among millennial and future generations. Smartphones allow for us to look up nearly anything available to human knowledge in a few seconds. An unread text message, a ‘read’ text, but no response. These are causing us to develop new avoidance behaviors from ghosting, ignoring friends, and skipping out on social events. At this point, why even read the text if it’s going to cause you harm?