Methodist volunteer, hot tub and gym, diamond painting

September 26, 2023:

Alright, today I did a few things. First of all, I had my meds at 5:16am with some mango and peaches & cream yogurts. Then I can’t remember if I did a little bit of the diamond painting this morning before I left. Then I left for Methodist, where I went to volunteer as a translator. I parked at my actual house, and picked up a few things there before going too, like one of the books about happiness that I got from the mood disorders unit. When I was at Methodist, I worked with a woman named Margarita, who’s Mexican, and is actually a client as well, who just had offered to help out as translator too. Since I showed up even though I wasn’t officially on the schedule, another woman, Anne, actually decided that she could go home because they weren’t expecting to have me to help. In addition to me, there were like two or three other translators, including Margarita and Angie, so I felt useful, even though it wasn’t a day that they couldn’t have made do without me. I didn’t ask anyone for a photo there since I didn’t spend a lot of time talking to any one person. Just got a photo from when I was sitting in the building helping someone check clients in. The most talking I did was probably to this client, Eric, who was 55 and who told me half his life story. Also, while I was there, I even wrote down that Dr. Rohe was going to be the right person to talk to today, since I was a little down about feeling that life “wasn’t worth living” if you didn’t wanna earn money. Being at the food shelf, surrounded by people who desperately need money, kind of made that sink in a lot.

Anyways, then I grabbed a single piece of cheese pizza and drove back to Papa’s house, where I did my Mayo appointment with Dr. Rohe. Dr. Rohe actually pushed me to try to get into art, especially because my finances are generally taken care of. I talked to him about the fact that for literally my entire adult life, I’ve found my meaning in work, and that’s why I’m having an existential crisis right now, since it’ll actually hurt me to work too much. He did suggest that in terms of art, that I try getting back into photography. Dr. Rohe even suggested that I might want to try to look for a mentor with photography, so I could ask about that situation. And in terms of that, I’ve already taken the first step. I’ve contacted Deb, the Star Tribune photo editor, to set up a meet up where we can talk about possibilities. Oh, and he also told me that rather than seeing myself at a “dead end,” I should try to look at in as “I’m in a box.”

After meeting with Dr. Rohe, I decided to go to the gym. Fortunately, I’d remembered to bring my gym stuff over from when I was at my house this morning. At the gym, I didn’t finish the entire workout that Will had written for me, but I got a good portion through it. I didn’t have any issues with my legs, which kind of had been a fear of ours, since my legs have been aching since the surgery a bit. I took a BeReal of myself doing the leg press,

After doing my workout, I went to the hot tub, where I deleted my leg press BeReal so I could post another one, of me in the pool. Still got all the screenshots though. Oh, and while I was at the gym, I ran into Amy H., and told her about the surgery situation. She’s been through a lot of those too. She said, “I’m glad to see you on this side of it.”

Oh, and then I went back to Papa’s house, and I had my meds at 4:45pm with some salmon and rice for about 15g of fat. Right after we ate and did the meds, I joined a “disability and artistry” call with Love Your Brain. The people on the call were saying that disability can enhance and expand artistry. Kind of cool, because it would really go along with what Dr. Rohe was suggesting. And then, at night, I did a bunch more diamond painting. I really have to thank Jessica for suggesting that one to me.

Grateful things: Grateful that I’m recovered enough from the surgery to go to the gym and even enter the hot tub. Hoping that I can become very physically active again, which should do a lot to make me feel less seriously disabled.