Tag: self care

Today I Can’t Talk

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody!

BIG study day for me today. Final assessment out of the company boot camp tomorrow morning. Also, today’s a day I like peace and quiet. Along with the pressure for the presentation tomorrow, it happens to be the anniversary of my brother’s death today.

I can get further into detail about all of this stuff at a later date. Today my goals are to keep my head down and study, be there for my parents at the cemetery, and play some damn good sand volleyball. That’s all I got for you today. Heart is racing quite a bit and it’s racing more as a type, so it’s time to sign off devices.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Goal Met

~ Henry Butterfly ~ 1 Comment

Hi, everybody!

Writing from my phone today. You’ll never guess. I’m busy again today.

WordPress does this thing which notifies you when you’re on a blog post streak. I set out a month ago to knock out 30 in 30 days, and just yesterday I was notified from my last post that I did in fact achieve that goal.

So I guess I’m done here. Thanks for reading.

…

…

I’m kidding (you could probably tell). There’s less pressure on me from myself to write now, but I think I’ve built a good habit of making sure I get something down on this site.

I need to come up with a list of topics moving forward. I still just sit down and start typing. Let’s see… what would be good to go over? Let’s try gratitude.

Today I’m grateful for many things: Friendships, family, steady job, boxing (my passion), coaching (having an issue here but still grateful), the food in my fridge, the water in my outdated water cooler, MY DOGS, really so so much. My life is pretty dang cool. So is your life. Please remember that.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Last Week of Boot Camp

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody.

Big exhale.

It’s the last week of Boot Camp for my work. That’s all I have to type today. We’re almost there, baby! FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST (in a week). I guess I did start the morning off well with a workout and a dog walk. That was nice.

Oh, don’t worry. I’ll write a long blog post to finish off this 30-day sprint. This is laziness but I promise you I have a very busy day.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Giving Myself A Break

~ Henry Butterfly ~ 2 Comments

Hi, everybody!

Don’t worry, I’m not really taking a break. I’m just not going to write anything today. Today will be a “quote/excerpt of the day” type of day. Not happy about it? Deal with it. Or maybe the quote/excerpt will help you deal with it.

Man Is Not Our Enemy
By Thich Nhat Hanh
“The roots of discrimination, conflict, and war are not to be found outside us. They are within our own way of thinking and looking at the world. The real enemy is our ignorance, our attachment to views, and our wrong perceptions. With looking deeply and the practice of compassionate dialogue, we can transform misperceptions and anger into understanding and love, just as a gardener can transform compost to grow beautiful flowers and vegetables.”

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Peace and Quiet

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody.

It’s pleasant inside and outside my home today. Same with my mind. Right now I’m lying in bed with one of my dogs and a friend (no, we aren’t doing anything like that). I finished boxing training this morning along with mowing. Oh, had the chance to pick up Dunkin’, too, and everybody knows America Runs on Dunkin™.

Sorry for that.

It is peaceful today. I’m about to head out to a wine festival in midtown. 400 wines to sample, plenty of food vendors, and a wonderful sunny sky. Calm winds, low 70s, and … why am I sitting in front of this computer?

Oh yeah, I love writing. This is peaceful and quiet, too. This gives me balance during a hectic week, a hectic weekend, a hectic life. I am loving lots of life right now, though. Feels good. Don’t get me wrong, still battling my demons, but I think I’m finally breaking through. And if I’m not, I have you lot to fall back on, right? I can trust you. More importantly, I can trust myself now.

Thank you for your help in finding me some peace and quiet. You’ll get there soon. Hell, I hope you’re already there. I really do.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Back Where It Started

~ Henry Butterfly ~ 1 Comment

Hi, everybody!

I hope you’re all doing so, so great today. Each day is bringing something new for me right now and boy does it feel good.

Yesterday I was quite busy. Crazy, right? Never happens. Anyway, I had my normal work schedule but had to follow it with legitimate sparring rounds and sand volleyball. You could say my body is quite tired, but it’s not limiting me. I enjoy being sore. I enjoy being tired at times. I enjoy having the feeling of “I am doing shit”. It’s an empowering feeling, especially when “doing shit” means jabbing someone in the face and torso for 3 minutes straight.

Do you lot know I’m on a 26-day streak with blogs? I can’t stress enough how instrumental writing is in maintaining my mental health. Remember, this thing started off as a mental health blog. I still think it is, but I’m not having as many struggles right now. It’s a good feeling but I do know things will change and I’ll relapse back into that negative state. However, this time I’m confident I’ll be able to navigate away from it quicker than ever. I’m happy about that. Very happy about that. My apologies if the change in this blog deters you from reading any further, but if it does, you’re kind of a butthead. I mean, think about it. You want me to be sad? C’mon, this is a good thing!

I guess I should tie in the title, eh? Forgot to do that. “Back Where It Started” alludes to me sparring at my first ever boxing gym I trained at. That’s literally it. I am not creative with titles. You know this by now.

I’m trying to figure out my next step with this blog. I’d like to do more. I don’t know if I have the necessary time to do more, but I would like to do more to help those struggling with mental health. If I could do it through boxing 100% of the time, my life would be complete. However, things don’t just fall into place like that.

If you have an idea of where you’d like to see this blog go (I can write about almost anything), please let me know. If you’d like more stories of my life, let me know. If you’d like more self care BS or book quotes, let me know. I’m open to it. I love my readers. You lot save my life each and every day. Thank you.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Constant Meetings

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody.

I wish I could type out more to you today but as the title states, I am in quite a few meetings today. Even right now I’m in one. Someone named Cathy is speaking and I’m just making sure I keep my eyes on my webcam while I type. If there’s typos, I can blame Cathy.

I’m in the final week of “Boot Camp” for my new company. So ready for it to be done. Like just right now I was asked a question and dominated it. And I’m typing to you lot. It’s like my buddy. He was put on the Top 100 in some sort of academic award but the professors don’t know he spent about 2,000+ hours gaming during his Masters program.

I just compared myself to that. That’s not accurate. I’m just answering basic questions. And I might be missing some information I’ll need later, but that’s later. Right now I need to write. I love to write. This is how I start my day (well, after my morning workouts now). I must keep my routine. If I break it, it must be my choice, not someone else’s.

Also, has anyone noticed how little I speak of depression and anxiety nowadays? It’s breathtaking. I’m not fixed. Never will be. There is no “fixed”, but I’m in a much better spot now. And just a few months ago I thought I’d take my own life at some point here soon. Now I could never imagine that. Life’s crazy, huh? Or maybe it’s just me. Either way, I’ll take it.

Oh, some news: I believe I’m fighting four times next month. You could see me drop off a bit from the blog but I promise you it’s for a good reason.

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

A Mother’s Day Post

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody.

And of course, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms reading this post. You are very much appreciated in this world, even if you have a son like me who sometimes doesn’t show it the best.

But today isn’t about me. Mother’s Day is about my Ma. And always a good reminder that I do need to be a better son each and every day.

My mother is something special. I bitch and moan on here but her story is much more difficult than mine.

She lost her son, had a massive brain aneurysm, and had to deal with a drug addict son (me) for a long while.

But she never faltered. My Ma is the strongest person I know. I talk about my Pops on here a lot, but my Ma is the most resilient individual to ever grace this planet. I really believe that. She is… such a pure individual who gives and shows love to each and every single person she comes across.

I love my Ma. She doesn’t see these posts, but I plan on putting these words into action. Showing gratitude. It’s important we do that as sons and daughters — it’s one of the only ways we can ever “payback” our parents and/or parental figures.

Happy Mother’s Day, Ma. I love you. Maybe you’ll read this one day.

Get out there and hug your Ma and/or mother figure in your life. Show that gratitude.

I wish you the best. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Breaking Exhaustion

~ Henry Butterfly ~ 3 Comments

Hi, everybody.

Good morning. I’m still trying to wake up and it’s 10:30 AM already. I’m through one cup of cold brew but nothing seems to be picking my energy levels up.

Food? Well, I had some yogurt and some fruit. I think I’ve nourished my body plenty so far today.

Really it comes down to getting myself to go to bed at a decent time. Even with my mental health somewhat in control nowadays, I still have an issue falling asleep any time prior to 2 AM. I’d really love that to change. Do any of my readers have any advice?

I don’t know why I stay up so late. Am I dreading the next day? Is my anxiety beating me up? Is my depression crippling me? Am I just not tired? I must be tired. I work all day, I box at night, coach at night, and talk with one of my buddies for a good portion of the night, too. It’s not like I’m doing nothing. I’m very busy, so my exhaustion comes from that. But it could be helped by going to sleep at a decent fuckin’ time. I need to figure this out at some point in my life. Waking up early in the morning to work out after a solid night of sleep sounds lovely.

I’m going to try to sleep a bit earlier tonight. I’m going to shoot for 1 AM. That’s an hour difference, an hour of improvement, and an hour to change.

This is one of the few times I’ve written and not really came up with a solution. So, my friends, please feel free to comment with what helps you wind down at night. We can all help each other, ya know?

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.

Hell of a Day

~ Henry Butterfly ~ Leave a comment

Hi, everybody.

I have to make this quick. Also, I can’t really look at the screen while I type. I’m actually in the middle of a meeting. This meeting is from 9 AM – 5 PM over the next two weeks, so I’ll give myself a break for a quick blog today. Don’t feel too bad about it.

Let’s talk about yesterday real quick. Hell of a day. Did I tell you lot that I got my female boxer matched up? I think I did yesterday. I might fight on the same card. Who really knows right now.

Also, my dogs busted their heads through my living room windows during a meeting with my VP of Sales at this company. Super awesome. Glass everywhere. Dogs were fine. I freaked out. Yelled. Felt guilt after my dogs looked scared. Apologized. Gave treats. Retreated.

Then I reached out with anger but my support system (Pops) noticed I was reaching out with frustration and stress. He let me go to the gym to get some boxing in while he came over and fixed up my patch job. He told me he’ll have the windows fixed my Saturday. The man is a miracle worker. I’d be lost without him, honestly – well, for the most part. At least with household chores.

I really do need to start paying more attention to this “Boot Camp” (orientation) for work. I’m glad I took the chance to write to you lot. Have a fantastic day. OH! And if you’re graduating soon, congratulations!

I wish you well. Try not to beat the shit out of yourself.