Perspectives

Perspectives: I wrote the post below in late December, but never finished or posted it. The post and its title, “Perspectives,” feel appropriate right now as I am bored and lonely from being holed-up at home during this COVID-19 pandemic. When I feel myself being annoyed by the inconveniences of working from home, socially distancing, …

All My Neighbors Pt 2

Remember how my therapist’s mother-in-law has a second home just one unit over from my apartment? Well, she has been around so much lately! For a long time, she was only there on a rare occasion, but this past fall, she was around for two months straight. She seemed to disappear for a while over …

Holidays and Sewing

One wonderful perk of working in academia is that the university essentially shuts down during the winter holidays. My PIs don’t expect me to work, and they themselves don’t even work. In a job where work regularly comes home in the evenings and over the weekend, the Christmas holidays are the one time of the …

All My Neighbors

One of the events that originally cued my first therapist to refer me to a psychiatrist back in the fall of 2016 was my extreme avoidance of my neighbor, Melinda. Melinda is a physician who had just retired and was suddenly around ALL THE TIME. She would spend her newly free time puttering around our …

So Much Writing

I haven’t had as much motivation to blog lately, despite having topics I want to write about. Work has taken up all of my writing energy.  Our lab submitted renewals for two large NIH R01 grants, I submitted two manuscripts (#gottogetthosepubs!), and I submitted my own grant for pilot study funding in the last few …

Pretending to be a Patient

Last week I was a pretend patient. A pretend lower extremity burn patient to be precise. I got asked to be a patient “actor” for physical therapy students. Part of one of their current courses is participating in these simulated scenarios with patient actors prior to going off to see real patients. For my scenario, …

Newbie Doctor

I was allowed to continue seeing the university student health center psychiatrist for several months after I graduated, but at the end of May, I had to say goodbye to one of the best physicians I have ever had. It took 8 weeks before I was able to get in with a new psychiatrist at …

Finding Another

Last year I wrote about how much I wanted to meet another person in academia with social anxiety.  I wanted to see what their experiences were like, and I think I wanted to feel less alone.  Social anxiety is very common, but many people who have it don’t talk about it, particularly in academia. I …

Body Vulnerability

7/21/2019: Body Vulnerability I recently returned from my annual week-long adventure as a summer camp counselor for children with rare diseases.  This year I was reunited with the sweet little girl I was paired with in 2017, and we had a great week together. My camper is a full-time powerchair user and caring for her …

I Am Not Depressed

Recently I was labeled as “Depressed/Anxious.”  This probably shouldn’t really bother me, but I am VERY bothered. I was checking the status of my online volunteer application for the summer camp I serve as a counselor at each year.  The application is quite extensive since the volunteers become caregivers for a week for children with …