Anniversary

As of today it has been a full year of The War Paint. First of all, thank you so much to all the anonymous (or otherwise) contributors that helped this spontaneous project of mine take off. Right now, we stand at 14, 833 views and I am unbelievably grateful to everyone who has added to that number over time. 

This was started as just a simple place for me to compile my thoughts on mental illness but it has become so much more to me. I’ve had some smooth sailing, turbulent times and occasional moments of pure lunacy and you all have witnessed it all (via the helpful invention of the interwebs). 

An overview of my year since last December 10th (…not chronological):

1 Play

1 Graduation

1 Birthday

1 Birth of my goddaughter

1 Christmas with my best-friend 

1 Kitten

2 Relationships 

2 University acceptances

3 (ish) Hair colours

4 Trips

5 Proms 

Repeatedly learning I can’t solve people’s personal issues

Innumerable break downs

Re-learning that I’m stronger than I think

Constantly appreciating my family anew

Handing out more flowers

Adding to my arsenal of stress-relieving activities 

…and a partridge in a pear tree

I know that lately I have been slacking in my posts. I can’t express enough how grateful I am for this blog and it’s ability to be a constant in my life as well as all those who continue to remind me of it’s importance. 

The last couple months of my life have been wonderful, crazy and all together quite the learning experience. The single best lesson I’ve learned from being in university is that I am a much stronger woman than I ever previously thought possible. There have been occasions before in life where I surprised myself with my ability to keep going; however, now that I live away from my family and am expected to be an adult (for the most part) I have found opportunity and ability to prove how truly strong I can be in the face of, for lack of a better word, nonsense. It’s easier to see big picture and not get so caught up in the moment now that I have larger things on my mind like “should I move?” or “where should I work next semester?” The world isn’t coming to an end because I feel crappy one day, or because I had to drop a course, or there’s a lot of conflict going on around me. 

I have to be adamant about doing what I know helps me get out of a funk but if I do those things and keep going when I feel like I’m in hell, then there will be another day and another chance to enjoy life.

I do wish that I had learned this lesson before I moved out, before I found myself sinking and had to quickly learn to swim. So if you get anything from all this, take that I am really grateful for everyone involved in this blog and that (if you do what you need to) you, too, will find yourself stronger than you could have imagined.