Blogtember 8: Discuss ways that blogging or social media has changed you.

To start off - I don't do much shopping on Etsy, which is why you don't have a post from me for yesterday. I felt like pretending I'd bought stuff would have been awful!

It's no secret that social media as a whole has changed the way that we do things in our day-to-day lives. With Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it seems like there should be no way for us to have secrets from the world. Of course, at the same time, the oversharing drives me absolutely up a wall. As for me, though, I think it's changed me - it has made me more comfortable with sharing parts of my life I otherwise wouldn't have. It's fun to be able to post a picture on Instagram of one of my cats, or just something silly I'm doing, and have other people like it and comment on it. It's also great to be able to promote my brands (both my blog and handmade business) via an outlet like Facebook. I'm not one of those people who just sits on Facebook for hours at a time - in fact, I barely use it to communicate! It's just a good timewaster for when I have a few minutes.

As for blogging, for a long time, I always just read blogs and loved reading the stories of other people's lives. It was a bit of a double edged sword, since I've been a writer for a long time and figured there would be no reason why I couldn't do it, except for how I felt about myself and how I compared myself to others. Now, though, I've gotten comfortable enough to toss caution to the wind and just write again, which is something I haven't been able to do for years and something I can definitely thank blogging for. And I always thought it would be really difficult for me to think of new things to write, and things like that - but every once and awhile, a great idea just pops into my head and I run with it! That's one thing I love about blogging, and one thing I definitely wouldn't change.
 

Blogtember 6: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

While I sat and thought about this prompt, I really couldn't think of anything. I did other stuff for a few minutes, and then it came to me: my life took a turn when I decided to stop drinking myself into a stupor each and every weekend.  I was at a very, very stupid time in my life a few years ago. I didn't want to meet people in Milwaukee, so I stopped trying and just opted to go home to Green Bay every weekend. I would go out to the bar, hang out with people who didn't give a shit about me, treat my family like garbage, and all around just feel stupid when I finally got my head back on straight. But did that stop me? Of course not. I decided to just keep going, and going, and going, until finally, it hit me.  It was 3 AM, I had just gotten home from the bar and was eating some kind of leftovers in my dad's recliner, with a true crime show playing on the TV in front of me. I wasn't drunk, but I also wasn't sober, either. It hit me like a ton of bricks: you haven't done anything constructive in months. And it was true! I hadn't been making anything, writing, or doing anything good. I was pissing all of my money away every weekend to hang out in a shithole of a bar two hours away from Milwaukee with people who could care less about me. What a horrible way to live. And it just hit me from there. I had to pick up, do something, anything, that wasn't what I was doing. Since then, I've been living a lot differently. I focus on positive things, like creating. And writing. My job, that I love more than anything. And friends. And building up a great life, just because that's what I'm supposed to do.  To be honest? I haven't ever looked back to that life.

Blogtember 5: Take a personality test and respond to your results.

I had a lot of fun with today's post! Today's prompt was to take a personality test here and respond to your results. I'm not usually one for this kind of stuff, but I figured hell, why not! 

My results stated I am an ENFJ, or "Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging". Honestly, I feel like it was pretty spot on! Here was the description: 

ENFJs are the benevolent 'pedagogues' of humanity. They have tremendous charisma by which many are drawn into their nurturant tutelage and/or grand schemes. Many ENFJs have tremendous power to manipulate others with their phenomenal interpersonal skills and unique salesmanship. But it's usually not meant as manipulation -- ENFJs generally believe in their dreams, and see themselves as helpers and enablers, which they usually are. 

ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability. 

ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness. But they don't resemble the SJs or even the NTJs in organization of the environment nor occasional recalcitrance. ENFJs are organized in the arena of interpersonal affairs. Their offices may or may not be cluttered, but their conclusions (reached through feelings) about people and motives are drawn much more quickly and are more resilient than those of their NFP counterparts. 

ENFJs know and appreciate people. Like most NFs, (and Feelers in general), they are apt to neglect themselves and their own needs for the needs of others. They have thinner psychological boundaries than most, and are at risk for being hurt or even abused by less sensitive people. ENFJs often take on more of the burdens of others than they can bear.

Seriously! Spot on! It's funny - I feel like I'm the most introverted extrovert you could ever meet! I love people, but I also love being by myself, too. I have a crazy attention to detail, and often fixate on the needs of others and/or the wider view of the world. And, imagine that, I'm an entrepreneur, too! 

Take the test and find out what you are! I'd love to have you share it in the comments!

Blogtember 4: A story about a time you were very afraid.

You know, this is a weird one for me. I can't say that I scare that easily. But here goes nothing - the last time I really remember being afraid was, oddly enough, my last breakup. 

The end of us was near, and we both knew it. The two of us had been fighting for weeks. Most of the time, over nothing, but I was just sick of him and I'm sure he of me. These fights weren't just pithy, small, get-over-it-in-two-seconds fights. They were explosive, horrible fights where we just screamed at each other for no reason, and he even punched a hole in the wall of our apartment. It was going to end, and it would be a car crash, and I knew it. So, in an act of self-appreciation, I threw him out, instead of leaving myself. I was just so shaken, so emotionally over it all, that all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

Know what the worst part was? I couldn't. I had myself so convinced that he would break into the apartment while I was sleeping (for what reason I don't know). For weeks, I felt like a crazy person as I listened to each and every sound in my apartment - and honestly, at one point, the refrigerator's ice maker scared the shit out of me to the point that I thought someone was in my apartment. It was ridiculous.

I honestly can't remember being so scared of anything before, or since. Unless you count the first time I ever knocked the wind out of myself falling off of a set of monkey bars when I was nine. 

Even though the story isn't the best, and not really something I wanted to revisit - it's true, and honest, and all I try to be. 

Blogtember 3: Share useful advice or information you learned and always remembered.

"You know what's true."

These words have echoed through my entire life. My mother always said it to me growing up, but I never quite knew what it meant until I started to navigate my way through this crazy thing they call life. As I went through trials and tribulations, one dead end job to another... it was always in the back of my mind. 

When she said it to me as a kid, I just brushed it off as one of those "mom-isms" that would never come into play in my adult life. And you know what? I was wrong. Here you go, Mom! I was wrong! There are always outside influences at play in life, and knowing yourself is one of the most important things about getting through it. It really comes into play in my every day - at work, at home, even alone - it comes into my mind every day. As far as others went, if someone treated me like shit and I was upset about it, I always remembered that. It has been my security blanket and my one true word for my entire life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I always remember that I'm a good person. A hard worker, and someone who would give a friend or family member the shirt off my back if they wanted it. It's been difficult to maintain that ferocious level of loyalty, especially since it seems to be lost on so many people, but I still do. Do I feel like the loser for it sometimes? Sure. But at the end of the day, do I sleep well at night? Of course. Because I know what's true. 

 ( Today, I found out about this awesome September blogging event courtesy of Story of My Life, and I decided to get into it - keep checking back, as I'll do everything I can to keep up! )