for whom the baja blasts

As with anything written here, this will very much be a scenario in which it's up to you to decide who, when, and where this could be relevant for you, if at all. I'm not one for maintaining a "customer service" voice or affect, but this particular realization likely isn't needed for the people you are very close with and may only be relevant when donning such a hat. 

I've come to call it "the gambler's itch," though I'm not sure that's appropriate for everyone. It's the first impulse to do something seeking a shot of chemical reward, or the creeping onset of a manic episode. It's winning a small amount of money on the one time you gamble on a big sports game and believe, even if only for a moment, that you could easily recreate that success given the chance. It's the afterglow of a first drink at a party, lying to yourself that you are content and don't need much more.  Just to reiterate, or let you know for the first time, as of about two years ago, I was diagnosed as bipolar two and have presumably been living with it since my teens. Perhaps I'll get into it later on, or in later posts, but in reflection and treatment since then, had I known that it both existed and what constituted it, there were plenty of red flags that maybe I would have taken notice of back then. Probably not, twenty-year-olds thi...

What is this? I've done some thinking on the matter and realized that there currently isn't a place that I have out there to publicly write about some of the softer skills and lessons I've learned in life. These posts won't be treatises about current events or politics or any of that bullshit, but rather some stream of consciousness about significant, although not necessarily major, events in my life that have made me think or feel something special.  There's been a lot of things that I've been contemplating since starting my journey handling mental health and interpersonal issues that I think might be able to help someone else along their way. Or maybe just entertain. Or disgust. There's a shared belief out there that, at this point, there is no such thing as a unique human experience, and that there is always someone out that who can relate entirely to what someone else is dealing with or has gone through. I will not challenge that notion and hope to possi...