During my earlier years, my life revolved mostly around athletics, my family, and the same group of friends. When I was in 6th grade I broke my arm leaving me unable to play sports. Without sports, I did nothing but sit in the basement playing video games all day. As a result, I fell into a depression and I became socially disconnected. A distance was created between my friends and I. It was a hard crash and throughout middle school, I struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts, and I searched for ways I could reconnect with others and make new friends.
Being one dimensional was a huge problem for me because when sports were taken away I didn’t have anything else to fall back on.
|
Being one dimensional was a huge problem for me because when sports were taken away I didn’t have anything else to fall back on. For years I blamed my social awkwardness on my middle school experience and it worried me that I could potentially relive my middle school years if something of a similar nature were to occur.
At this age I came to realize that I had become multi-dimensional and being so has been a great advantage. I struggle with watching television and I can usually only watch live programs so I’m constantly looking for new activities to pursue. Fictional programs sometimes trigger schizoaffective disorder for me but this has wound up helping me a great deal. Through pursuing a number of activities I’ve gained a great deal of life experience that I otherwise would never have had. Getting out and living life by experiencing it instead of being a spectator has helped me develop resources, skills, and tools that transcend between skill sets and also towards learning new skills and trades. Through continually putting forth the thought, effort, and hard work towards becoming adept at new occupations I’ve learned that I can accomplish most things. I’ve also gained great tools for learning and being forced to constantly learn has developed my learning ability. I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge from having experienced activities and this has given me insight into a number of arenas that I otherwise would have never had.
In regards to seasonal affective disorder, I used to struggle when I was forced to stay inside for the winter having been stripped of my golf and outdoor activities for five months. However, once I became a pool player and a writer, Winter suddenly became more fun and far more interesting than it than it had ever been. I constantly had things to work on with writing and I had a fun activity to work towards with pool. Along with that I also learned how to play guitar in younger years so music was another activity that helped to keep me occupied. Having occupations in all seasons lessened the burden of being forced inside. The cold was still difficult but there were now activities that kept me interested and excited for life instead of just counting down the days until the snow melted and I could start golfing and playing sports outside again. I found at the end of several cold winters that I had actually really enjoyed the Winter because I pursued some meaningful and fun activities. The burden of Winter and being cooped up inside has been abated a great deal now that I have other activities I can rely upon.
When I was younger I was dependent on one group of friends, so when I was upset with that group I was either forced to go along with them and ignore my issues or I sometimes isolated. At this age I’ve learned to have a number of groups of friends so when one group is busy or we can’t get together then I have the others that I can still spend time with and hang out with. This is also extremely helpful when I have been going through rough spells with some friends. If I can’t count on one friend(s) then I have the others to fall back on. This is important because it alleviates the pressure of having to immediately resolve our issues or discrepancies so I can have people to hang out with again. It gives me a buffer where I can take my time and compose my thoughts before jumping into conversations in an effort to resolve issues before having collected and composed my thoughts. Jumping into conversations too early sometimes leads to arguments. If I only had one group of friends then every time we were at ends with each other we would immediately want to reconnect, however, this allows me time to think through the situation, develop a logical stance towards it, and express the thoughts that are going to help us reconnect and resolve our issues.
I tend to pursue a number of activities and I have different groups of friends that I like to pursue different activities with. I have my writing friends, music friends, golf friends, pool friends, and also just regular friends who I’ll hang out with and get drinks with. We all hang out outside of our activities but having activities that brings us together helps create connections and provides us with material to talk about. Bringing different types of people together diversifies our conversations and it creates for a fun and interesting experience. We all learn something new from each other and have something different to bring to the table.
Recently, I learned that a lot of my time and energy revolves around writing and it has been extremely helpful to know that I have other activities I can pursue to take myself away from my writing. Sometimes I am so eager to constantly pursue my craft that I over-work myself and I have to withdraw because I’m too exhausted. I work forty hours per week as a meat-cutter and I pursue my writing on the side. A lot of my time has been consumed by writing and I’ve come to realize that if writing ever drops off the table for one particular reason or another I would still like an intellectual activity to back it up. I do feel I can always write however, I’ve began scheduling more lecturing to give myself another outlet for teaching. Having backup and replacement activities has made me multi-faceted and being multi-faceted has given me a number of things to fall back on.
Having these interchangeable activities has been important for me because if one falls out I have several others to replace it to keep myself participating in life, which keeps me mind active, and also prevents me from falling into a depression.
|
When I’m unable to pursue one activity I know I’ll have others that I can rely upon to keep me going. Having these interchangeable activities has been important for me because if one falls out I have several others to replace it to keep myself participating in life, which keeps me mind active, and also prevents me from falling into a depression. Being multi-faceted has taught me a great deal about a number of different crafts, trades, games, and interests, and it helps me relate to a number of different people because I’ll usually find a common ground we can both talk about. Having the variety of activities that I pursue means that I’ll always have something meaningful and interesting to pursue regardless of whether I get a physical or mental handicap. This means I’ll always have something to fall back on, and I don’t have to fear of falling into a depression from only being one dimensional. When you sit on a many-legged stool, if one leg gives out the others still support you. However, as I learned and fixed, when the stool is comprised of less legs the loss of one can send it crashing to the ground.
Photo by Emergency Blake