Miller October 2023 Update

John's cute artwork he made from scratch at Crafter's Clique!

In case you were curious why I removed our last blog and then put it back up... funny little story: So, I was rereading my psych eval, and for some reason, I never actually read the confidential disclaimer at the smack-dab top, front-and-center of the paper. I already know the legal gist of HIPAA laws (you can't share other people's medical information, yada-yada), so I didn't think much of it. But then I actually READ it and got a little terrified by their choice of language. I panicked for about 2 days, thinking maybe I overlooked their specific guidelines as each location could make slight adjustments as long as it followed the law. So I removed it just in case until I got confirmation that I did understand it properly, and it wasn't an extra precaution for that report (since I did post actual pieces from my report). The guy laughed and reassured me that I understood correctly, so I reposted it. My report and medical info, my right to share. So that's that! ]]

A new month, and another monthly update! Sorry, this is getting longer than I thought it would be. So, so sorry.

Also, I'm not excluding a lot about John on purpose. If you are curious about anything, please ask him directly. When the time comes, I'll be able to get him to write in our monthly blogs, but he doesn't quite feel confident for that yet. =) I've asked him every month since we started our website in 2020, so it's not something I'm suddenly taking over, by the way~

This post is a bit late due to our packed schedule that overlaps into the first week of the new month. We had time to either write this a week and a half before the end of the month or on the second day of the following month! Time just flies by so quickly. My mind is already on and excited about this month focusing on writing, but it wasn't until the 3rd that I had time and energy to write this. Though I said I was going to focus on Nanowrimo, I'm taking it a step further and attempting all my projects that are at the 'writing' stage. I have about 100 papers (no, I'm not exaggerating either) that I have written in prior years that just need to go through the editing and publishing stage. I have about 15 letters I have meant to write and mail out for the past... 5 months now? It's a mental process that I cannot just 'switch' into. It takes a lot of time to get into it and have the time to stay in that flow.

Let's just say I have to actually disassociate and disconnect from the world to seriously pay attention to everything forming, processing, filtering, and racing in my head. So I have to dedicate time to this process specifically and purposefully. With my physical pains constantly bringing me back into reality as is... this is a very difficult balance to keep.

We will probably get a few more posts per month from this month's writing focus if successful. These papers are focused a lot on mental health, psychology, and sociology mostly, with a few musings from John and me. More on that later.

Now, let's get to the monthly updates!

We always think we didn't do enough, but October has always been a difficult season for us. We can significantly notice our health having more issues and us just slowing down to almost stopping due to the cold. But even with this shifting of seasons of productivity, we still did pretty well this year feeling a bit more prepared! Where to start?

We made quite a few cards during the event! The kids loved them.

Our last Who Gives a SCRAP's Art Swap was Oct 7th and we had a lot of fun! It was so heartwarming to hear that there were a few kids that purposefully come to the event to make Artist Trading Cards with us. Lots of art and interaction with even a few new little kids getting the courage to come over and make stuff too who had no part in the Art Swap. We won't be going to the November swap unfortunately and were so blessed and amazed to be a part of this. Thank you again so much Lorrie and Sally for allowing us to be a part of your events!

___

The Artist Trading Card Monthly Event went well! I think we are getting the hang of how to manage these events and are a lot more prepared for each. This time we had FOUR new people!! Quite pleased with this turnout, and we had a full room again. The month's focus was Holiday Cards, so to make an ATC representing any holiday with the various materials available. I managed to collect and separate holiday donations from the earlier months and came up with a very nice spread. John even laser-cut a few holiday embellishments as options to use! A lot of these will be put into the upcoming kits to use for possibly November and definitely December. We have started introducing Envelope Kits! These have the items packaged in an envelope to make three cards and an envelope to mail a card out to someone else. I'm hoping to get more people mailing their artwork to others to create a 'Season of Smiles.' =D I don't know about you, but I do love getting snail mail. Hoping a small personal message here and there can brighten someone’s day~

(Hmm... may want to have another pen pal again... that was fun.)

Anyway, I digress... Next month's focus will be Chonky ATCs! I know I have it written on my schedule as "3D ATCs," but I like the word 'Chonky,' so I'm sticking with it. (Isn't it just fun to say?) These ATCs are focusing more on depth and layers where we will be pulling out thick embellishments, charms, and chipboard to be used. I already planned out the whole event (and December's)... literally the day after the last event! John and I love to talk over what happened, what we observed, compare notes and prepare possible future plans to improve the situation next time. Especially with these art events that we enjoy doing with people! It'll be more of a walkthrough this month with stations to work on the steps of these Chonky ATCs. It'll be a LOT of fun, and I'm hoping for a few more people at this event. Though it does happen to be the Friday after Thanksgiving, so many may just do Black Friday stuff. Maybe we can provide another option that day to others to enjoy something else? Either way, sometimes the timing in the year can help or hurt the possible amount of people showing up. But this was our first year, so a lot of research and learning. Next year, if we continue, we may try looking for another location to host the event and later. We wanted 4 pm - 6 pm, but the library literally shuts their doors AT 6, so that limits a lot of people from being able to attend. Also possibly allow food while we create since we enjoy making snacks and treats for attendees that we can't share in the library. If you know of a place that would be open to hosting these kinds of events once a month at this time, please let us know!

And some good news!!!! I finally had time and the materials to focus on updating the Who Gives a SCRAP ATC Trade Display! Take a look:

Doesn't that look so much better than before? Sadly my intention was to work on this in July, but as usual, our schedule was pushed, and I finally was able to complete this only a mere 3 months later.

We can only work as fast as our health allows. And honestly, that isn't too bad for us. Let me tell you... we can plan to have things done MONTHS in advance from when it's due and still get it done months after it is due. I've been working on this problem specifically for quite a few years now. And by a few years, I mean for about 15 years. Every year I plan on making a gift for one of my junior high friends (whom I'm surprisingly still in contact with) who has their birthday in October. I will plan to work on it in February or March and STILL send out her gift in... January or February of next year. Give or take a few months. Luckily she is kind of the same, so we aren't upset about getting our birthday gift or card months late. But this is the norm, so please don't think we are doing it on purpose or take it personally. John would probably never remember, and for me... this has gone on for so long with little improvement. Patience and consistency will be key~

Anyway... how many kits did we make this past month? I think the number was about 109 prepped during October. I do about 99% of anything having to do with our ATC side of the business. I cut each and every ATC blank and backing. I process materials such as checking to make sure the pens work, colored pencils sharpened, papers sorted by sizing and cut to fit, paper punch shapes, stamp embellishments to use, creating the designs/printing/cutting for the instructions/bag tags, design myself each and every instructional kit (of which I am at about 22 different instructions for the free kits and 6 for specialty industry kits for down the line). I also handpick and curate each and every item that goes into each kit and how the items will be perceived and used. I love doing this and it is a joy of mine collecting chaos and organizing it into something manageable. John tends to get overwhelmed with how much I deal with so leaves me to my own devices or when I’m able to delegate what’s needed when he has time. Maybe when we have more space to lay things out we can streamline the process and that will lessen the amount of work for both of us. We want to be able to do more so how can we do more with less energy?

One month we were gifted with a lady's donation who spent a MONTH dedicated to creating embellishments for us to use! She was a significant amount of help, and I sadly already forgot her name. I will definitely ask next time I see her to give her proper credit because she actually did quite a bit of help. Thank you again for your pile of exciting embellishment pieces I got to use in these kits! Gave me so many new ideas of what to include too~

I think I can complete a set of kits (having all materials available to grab and just stick in) takes me about 2 hours. A set of kits for me is 30 at a time. Most of the work is the planning and preparing the materials to be used from designing the brand items to going to the library to get them printed. I typically work on these during Zoom meetings where I have to sit and listen most of the time anyway, not having much to input. I have to be doing things with my hands to help my brain stay engaged in the conversation anyway. Ever since in diapers, I've had to be drawing or playing with clay to even watch TV, so it's a natural process I have to keep my mind focused. Repetitive tasks are great for more back-of-the-mind processing. (Highly recommend it if you are stuck on a problem. Go find something that needs to be done repetitively or mindlessly like chores to change up your routine but allow your mind to either take a break or to think creatively about your situation. Then return back to that task. Rinse and repeat.)

Again... I digress... which I'm realizing is another reason why I need a month of writing. I'm really sorry for so many pages of writing in these, and it will only get worse if I'm not able to separate the topics. Yes, I'm going to emphasize this because it's kind of an epiphany this year and a necessity I personally need: I need to have time to write more. Or else all other topics swirling in my brain take my attention and processing power away from my current projects. I also start to mix a lot of my topics at very odd moments that only make sense to me (and quite often to John). If I don't have time to 'Brain Dump,' then it becomes maddening. Every year I end up needing a few different days to just write 11 pages in a few hours JUST to get everything out of my head that's been swirling around. It prevents me from being more present and aware of people around me, so that can prove to be a detriment. So possibly allowing myself to have at least a month per year may help, since I can't switch in and out of that process too well. (At least yet? Maybe another aspect I will try to train for the future years). I’ve also gotten John to write more this year too! It’s been a significant help and now he’s remembering to write something down immediately when important info pops into his head. It’s exciting how much it helps and works. If you’re lucky, do this before you start losing your mind or before your memory starts failing. It’ll keep you rolling further than you’ll know later in life! (Plus you’ll save nuggets and gems you’ll need in your future *wink wink*)

I have about 2 or 3 new topics John and I have been researching and discussing for months that are at their ramble/rough draft stages, so I'm excited to get on that! Some of those may not be 'happy' topics per se due to being discoveries through trauma work, but in order for us to learn more about human behavior, we both have to observe what's around us and within us from our own history. These topics have been very prevalent in our daily lives, so please look forward to reading these discoveries, and hopefully they will help you see this thread of reality that exists for more people than just John and me. Stay tuned!

I do want to mention the fun little Halloween Crafting Party we had with Crafter’s Clique! Hung out with great people, made art, some showed off their costumes, enjoyed pizza and cupcakes, and generally just had fun. This was also the day it started snowing so we got in right before it started snowing, and then it stopped and melted just enough before our car’s brakes froze! Lucky Lucky! Also, here is the art we made~ John worked on one of the drawing pages which is in the back, and I made the spider and the multiple ghosts. Can you guess the connection between them all? (Besides being ghosts) John and I had a few more ideas to add for next time!

What other ideas that match the theme would you suggest we add?

We had a lot of fun and were happy to be able to do something for Halloween this year (though not ON Halloween). For us, this holiday is mostly focused on crafts, candy, costumes, and fun. Yes, there is a demonic undertone, but we don’t focus or get into that part. We accept Christmas less than Halloween. I may write a paper on our growing views on holidays. You may actually walk away with something to think about if you aren’t quite happy about holidays or interested anymore or why they just feel so empty. Whether you feel you agree or not, you’ll at least be able to understand our points a bit more. We think there are some observable facts that have always been out there and connected but we are just no longer aware of them. Either way, we can always love aspects of some things and hate others, whether we actually agree with the holiday or not. =)

More on that later.

With the seasons changing from cold to deathly cold, we are planning on staying in more! Not just by choice (even though it IS our preferred first choice, lol) but mostly out of medical necessity. We have tested each year the amount we can leave the house without severe negative impact, and it is a lot less than we thought. I’m a little torn on wanting to explain ALL the different reasons we have to take seriously, but I also don’t want to overburden you with details for our monthly update. I’ll see if I can kind of summarize:

-The cold impacts us severely: we have multiple injuries that get exponentially worse; it is a PTSD trigger as many traumatic events occurred during winter months; our depression kicks in (and Seasonal Affective Disorder); I have trouble breathing in the cold, where it makes me feel like I either have heartburn or a Pulmonary Embolism in my lungs (Which has sent me to the ER twice) so I have to be wary if it may actually be that or not; my muscles and back are in much more pain with the cold tensing my already tense muscles into it being unusable. And when I say unusable I’m saying I cannot use any muscles. I cannot even move my arms under my body and push up. John has to take time to massage my muscles so I can just sit up in bed. So I need to be hyper-aware of my physical state and allow time to take care of myself. This includes laying down every couple of hours to needing rest in the middle of the day.

-The altitude makes the cold worse. Some of the issues above are overlapped here as well. Such as trouble breathing and level of cold.

-Daylight impacts our internal clock. Well more directly for John. For me, I had to always get up at least twice before the sun came up anyway during the summer, so waking up to the dark isn’t too discombobulating. But when you disassociate and don't know whether the dark is morning or night… it can cause a bit of a panic. We absolutely hate being aware when we realize we have disconnected and lost hours to sometimes days at a time. I have to take naps during the day as sleep at night is far more restless and filled with busy nightmares. Since our energy is dropping significantly, we have to nap during the day as often as we can. Realistically… How many days can you go through and keep up with everything on 4 hrs of interrupted sleep Every. Single. Night. For months at a time? For me since 2012. We get a 6-8 hr full rest about once a month. So naps during the day are a necessity to keep up. I don’t mind working from 1 am to 5 am, and in winter, I will be ‘going with the flow’ on sleep patterns and inserting as much work time in between when I can.

Some aren’t built to work at home. We are built to work best at home.

I hope that summarized it? It’s quite a lot to deal with on a daily basis… and we are going to need to prepare for up to EIGHT MONTHS OF THIS. We both love and hate Colorado… It's so cold, and winter just wants to stay for most of the year. If it weren’t for our health, we wouldn’t even think of moving out of state to Ocean level.

So with that little rundown, we are going to focus on most of our projects and work at home...

…and with that meaning a lot of cleaning the home! Prepping more ATC kits, working on Mary Kay projects, and just generally sorting/processing/using our TONS of materials laying around that we want to get to. I was thinking of putting up a post of a section of our home to share the piles of stuff we have and the plans for each item seen. As well as a little look at how we evaluate what we see in their odd stacked piles everywhere. It would be an overwhelming picture, but it’s also so exciting for me because of all the artistic possibilities and results waiting to be discovered! (Okay, also stressful and overwhelming as it is a LOT…) A lot of items we hold, we end up coming across people whom those items fit, so we always give as much as we can to those who are actively wanting and are creating. But thanks to Who Gives a SCRAP, they have been SO GENEROUS to us this year with their art supply donations, and we are trying to find more creative ways to get them in the hands of people to get them creating. We really couldn’t have done as much as we have without them. We are extremely grateful for their support and highly recommend anyone/everyone to stop by their store. Even if you don’t have money, they have a free section at the front of the store you can pick from to take! Even if you don’t care for art supplies, it’s just a fun place to walk through and see what they have to offer. Even if you aren’t an artist…they have other things you may be interested in such as party decor, or containers, or cards/envelopes, or antiques. Seriously, go and just have FUN! For those who do not live near here or may not be able to vacation here, see if there is one in a large city near you.

Another big reason for us staying in is our car issues. Still the same problems and we haven’t really had time or money to fix. I think there are new issues as we can’t hit 60 without the car doing the weird shaky/wobbles, so we have to stay on the side streets and avoid the highway. Two days later it’s now making a lot more sounds which is…alarming. This winter we will try to find a replacement car ASAP, as finding a new place to live may have to wait. It seems we are called to stay here. We are making so many new connections with so many possibilities. Doors keep opening up and we are actually enjoying what we’ve been encountering. We do love it here and hope to build a strong community with a lot of remarkable people. Just this past year we have encountered what…15 new people that not only we really like but are eager to see and spend time with. You may think that’s not a lot for a year…but for us this is far more than we thought possible. Normally we meet ONE to TWO people a year and then lose contact with them within 6 months. And THAT was our norm for years. Prior to that it wasn't any better.

But thanks to Mary Kay I’m working on trying to be more social and focus on connection for my next steps to keep this up genuinely. Though there are some…bumps in the means of approaching the business, I am very determined to make this more a part of our lives. This company is impressive. You may think MLM, but honestly… What company or organization ISN’T a Multi-Level Marketing Business? Even our Gov’t is an MLM. But they aren’t the “MLM” you may be initially thinking of.

I'm having fun making our own displays and photoshoots of products.

(Now I’m not trying to sell you the business/career/products here, but genuinely want to share a little sliver of my excitement.)

This company is IMPRESSIVE. From someone who has a business degree and has been focusing on business structure for a while. Even John, who was kind of against it, is now all for it and just as excited as I am to help. You have to actually listen to their speeches from the National Sales Directors who had to all start at the bottom and have earned their spot. Not one was given the position and not one just bought their way to the top. You have to be working with others and helping THEM improve in order to move forward. By helping others you help yourself. The way they want consultants to approach people is to connect and NOT to sell. To focus on each person as a person and get to know them. I have been isolated most of my life (and actually negatively impacted by it), so even eye-contact is painful. Thus I have to purposefully work on these specific steps to build even basic friendships and keep them.

Not only their focus of ‘serving others’ (which goes with their God/Faith First, Family Second, and Career Third motto) but the company is structured specifically to help their consultants. Multiple chances of winning bonuses, incentives, prizes, getting products at a discount, or winning product sets you can sell for 100% profit, and having a 100% satisfaction guarantee being replaced by the company and never comes out of the consultant's pay. If you choose to leave Mary Kay, they will buy back, I think it was 80% of your unused inventory back. They invest in their own research scientist to focus on building their products whereas, say, Avon doesn’t, though they slap their label on the products. Mary Kay products try to be as pure as possible, meaning they don’t add in multiple chemicals so that ‘this item can do everything!’ as chemicals do not work that way and can be more damaging. They make sure each ingredient can work to its fullest potential so though there are some products split into two, they will be more effective and gentler on your skin. (Oh and when I talk about Mary Kay, I’m only really focusing on skincare as I don’t wear makeup). I cry too much, so I just rarely ever wear makeup. But clean skin? Yes please! (I cry easily from people’s strong emotions around me ok? ,_, )

That was just a short rundown of just what popped into mind. Not everything that actually is or that I love was included. But this company is one I’ve grown to really love. (Also, I think I remember being a little girl liking red/pink and drawing hearts on everything…when/why did that stop?) So I’ve been working on other means of communication through art. I have two connecting projects to help me with this part so when I start off being in front of people, I’ll have something to help cover areas in case I forget. I need to be prepared! Art also makes me happy, so I’m hoping to ride that happiness when interacting with others! (John has been having a lot more fun creating and showing off his artwork. It’s been very encouraging to see it well received!)

I’m also going to try and host my launch party on November 17th @6pm (I’m always going to aim for at least ONE party a month to keep me active in my practice around people). So if you would love to help sit and ask questions (while having fun being pampered for free), then please send me a text message to get you in! (719-492-5617). I would greatly appreciate any support, even if you are willing to give me some of your time to practice! Yes, the money-making part is important…after all it is a business…but I don’t want to start on the wrong foot by focusing on the financial gain. That will come in due time. =) As long as our main bills are paid on time, I am happy.

LET ME PRACTICE WITH YOUR FACE PLEASE!!!

If not able to meet face-to-face, would you perhaps join me on my Facebook page (Michelle Hoiling Miller: Skin Care Consultant) to help support me online? Even a comment a week on what I post would mean a lot. Also, it is very encouraging that I know you are thinking of me even if for a second! I want to add a little secret I’ve been working on this past month here and there: Mary Kay Zines and ATCs! Yes, you’ve probably seen a few or something but I am going to be making special ones for kits that come with bought sets! So say you purchase a skincare set as a gift for a family member, I will include a Mary Kay Zine going over the steps on how to use it! PLUS a little laminated ATC with simplified steps for you to stick on your bathroom mirror. John’s gonna do the laminating part. ;D I’m so glad that I can use art to communicate my excitement for these products/businesses when my words may fail me.

Oh man, I’m approaching page 8 and I still have THREE more topics to cover. Here we go!

We both really love this book.

So about 2 weeks ago, something occurred that really got me into reading the book for myself of "The Body Keeps the Score." I was going to wait until a certain time, but the event kicked me into needing to start reading it. Most of it I was getting from discussions with John as he read it and needed to process information. by bouncing ideas off of me A lot of what he was going over kept triggering these ideas, connections, and realizations I had to make sense of. The more I read this book (I did have to take a break for about a week due to time and so much to process), the more I noticed that not only do ALL medical professionals of any area need to read this, but that PARENTS who are eager to be great parents for their children should read it.

Let me explain:

For medical professionals: The brain has quite an impact on every little part of the body. It sends signals we both voluntarily control and do not control. From our direct movement of our hands to the indirect creation of very specific cells. No matter what direction your medical specialty lies, it will be impacted by trauma for multiple patients you will encounter in your profession. If you genuinely want to help people improve their health, sometimes not just noticing and fixing their symptoms but possibly noticing a core issue that all these symptoms stem from would improve their health. Understanding how the body adjusts to take an impact mentally and emotionally to physically has astounding long-lasting threads that could be key information to recovery. Take for example my back. I have gone to a pain management clinic for almost 3 years now. I have done physical therapy multiple times and been discharged because I can do the exercises, but the pain never subsides. I know how to push through pain which isn’t a good thing to do too often but I have to daily to make ends meet. I have taken multiple pain meds, have lidocaine back patches and gel that I use almost daily just to function. I have had multiple injections of various kinds from simple TPI (needles muscle deep to release quick/temporary relief) to Ablations (burning off end of nerves in the spine) to lessen my pain. I have gotten to the threshold of needing to talk to a surgeon. I was given massages, I’ve done chiropractic and acupuncture to help manage. I have seen multiple doctors, nurses, therapists over the course of 8 years. My back is still in extreme pain with few options left. The exact spot where I have multiple herniated discs is the same spot my ex almost snapped my back in a rear-naked choke when he was threatening to kill me. Now I can’t be 100% sure that it is a direct correlation, however if you read the book, it connects a lot stronger than you think. I haven’t been able to FULLY process my trauma with that abusive ex due to a few toxic strands I accepted from that abusive relationship came from my accepting of ‘that was just reality’ prior to that. Not realizing that was unacceptable behavior towards any living being. While I was still high on adrenaline from being around constant physical reminders, multiple incidences a few years later kicking me back into that fight/flight state wouldn’t have had time to process the traumatic experience. It wasn’t until I started getting stable about 2 years later with John that those back pains really started to kick back up.

Crap, I think I went off on a tangent a bit. BUT as I was discussing with one of my physical therapists over a year ago, it was about the connection of that traumatic event and my back pain and that the stretches, meds, and injections aren’t doing even the minimal amount of relief they said it would give me. This book was way ahead of me but I didn’t get a hold of it until just this year. (Thank you again so much Sue McMillan!! <3) Now this, right now, is mostly conjecture and up in the air for more information to clarify. But with the book, it’s bringing new light and information that we have been craving for years. Taking pieces of memory and stories and weaving them together with threads of information found from various sources. If you want to understand about human behavior and the amazing extent that we humans are built, you MUST read it. You just become more and more amazed by “…wait, our bodies can do THAT?”. I am more and more impressed by how resilient humans are and so eager to learn more. How far can a human go when this weight is lifted? How far can someone really GO?

Wow, I’m writing far more than I probably should on this. I apologize. I hope these are making a bit of sense though on what we are dealing with and doing behind the scenes of our business, artwork, and socially. We talk for HOURS over what we have researched, discovered, planning, ideas, hypothesis forming etc until almost midnight almost every night. There is so much about this world that is so EXCITING and GRAND!

Oh right. Sorry. So my reasoning for why I recommend reading the book “The Body Keeps the Score” for parents is to help teach how humans are built. Providing clothes, a home, and food are the MINIMUM requirement of having a child. It is your duty once you create a child. However, that doesn’t make you a great parent. That just makes you a parent by definition. Now I’m not saying that a great parent protects fully or doesn’t make any mistakes. Far from it. We are human and limited. We must take into account and be lenient for these unavoidable faults. However, our attitude and actions upon discovery IS what makes the difference between a great parent and even just an ‘ok’ parent. Your desire to do your best and then DOING it based on what you research is what pushes you there. But the book explains the level of impact these experiences will have on children, if not taught how to regulate and manage their own personal reactions, can leave long-term debilitating issues. A parent's role is also to protect their child from not just physical harm but what their mind can do to themselves if not addressed. Take for instance, a child sees something traumatic and doesn’t know how to process the information. They become disconnected, aloof, barely speak and hide…or the complete opposite where they become loud and aggressive needing attention but not knowing how to ask for it. Recognizing what state they are in and walking them back to stability is a parent’s role. They need to be taught how to handle the world AND themselves. Yes, there will be some very depressing topics in the book, after all, it is about trauma. But knowing what you want to avoid gives you CLEAR boundaries on what to pay attention to makes you a great parent. Not every child is the same, so knowing what the guidelines are to make adjustments with is necessary based on the uniqueness of each child.

I’m hoping to go more in detail about this later. I’m sorry this is probably a bit of a jumble right now. It’s another big topic I wanted to cover: “An Adult’s 24hrs is not the same as a Child’s 24hrs.” I’m really excited to write about that and John will have his input about Time Dilation. So please keep a lookout for it.

Again, I would highly recommend reading this book: “The Body Keeps the Score” By Bessel van der Kolk, MD. It’s now used as a textbook for medical students about trauma and is packed full of information. Even digesting a page a day will make all the difference in your life more than you’ll first realize!

Quick adorable Sherlock picture break!

Ok enough of that topic. I know it’s strange to meet us because we are so open and fascinated about Trauma. But when you have lived with phantom issues following you for decades, getting heavier and heavier literally each day…with sudden realizations during research providing relief and release…it’s exciting and encouraging. We want others to experience this freedom. It’s not a struggle we have dealt with here and there; this has been something we have been carrying since childhood with huge amplifying abusive events in our lives during young adulthood…our trauma has formed us into who we are today.

We honestly would not have become who we needed to be without it. We are now blessed with the insight and knowledge WITH the ability to do something with it. I have always believed that EVERY event in your life and every decision you make helps push you toward the person you need to be and that you are supposed to be. So I have grown up trying to keep that mindset. “I’ll learn this lesson or I’ll die trying!” Yeah, I said that as I walked into my 7th abusive cycle with that ex. (There were 8 cycles, btw). But hey, I’m still alive! With our personal stories and experiences, backed with research and common threads in other life stories…we hope to help those where we were, escape and heal quicker than we had.

My long-term life goal is to open a mental hospital that is structured to help those in need. So I need to be well-versed in understanding Trauma. After all…why else would you be in a mental hospital if you didn’t have some level of trauma? (Oooh, I’m also thrilled to get back to this project!!) Four binders full and waiting for the next steps! This month is going to be full of writing and research! Oh..and I guess other writing stuff. ._.

Let’s step away from that and mention a few things that popped up technically in November but throwing it in here so I can remember the details and share about it.

We hosted an ATC class with The Headway Group on November 1st! I know I said no schedules in November but we scheduled this in August and it was the earliest Debbie could add me in considering I couldn’t make the first opening she had in August. The Headway Group is a brain injury and stroke support group that meets twice a month to eat and do activities together. We got to make ATCs with them and many of them were so adorable! Though there were some people who did not like the project, they still participated and did their best, which we greatly appreciated.

Check them out on facebook and see if you can send them any support! <3

It was a great learning experience for me. I did learn about how I will host the class as well as being more careful with the materials I provide. We will be more prepared for their needs next time with these new insights! I have noticed I’m a bit…extreme in some situations. Such as most people are struggling to complete a card and here I can make a 42-card series in 2 days. So I need these reality checks on where to make adjustments for others in the future.

Some good news! John will be [tentatively] hosting an Art AI class through our church: The Road at Chapel Hills! Thanks to Asia (She has such a cool name, doesn’t she?) with Kingdom Arts in Action who is trying to help provide art classes to the community. This is expected to be in June of next year, so we can keep updated on the progress. He will be showing you the basics of AI, such as the different generators and AI language. I won’t be speaking much, as this isn’t my realm, but I’ll make the helpful resource papers you’ll get to take home with you! Details are to be rolled out as they are more solidified.

If you read to the end, thank you! This ended up being almost 112 pages long and still not covering everything that we did during the month worth mentioning. This kind of ended up being a partial brain dump for me to also help push me into the writing mindset, so thanks for putting up with it! Hope you learned something new and are looking forward to what we have coming up next!

[[Oh…and we just realized we were going to walk through Spirit Halloween this year…even looking for where they were popping up and still never went in (or thought about it) until I did last night before we fell asleep. ._. Wow does time fly or what?]]

Hope you have a lovely week and see you in our next post!

[[[ok yes I keep adding things…but the YouTube Edition posts from last month will be posted this month instead..if YouTube hasn’t removed them lol]]

ok …bye again!