Halloween is normally my favorite holiday, but I haven’t had the time or energy to do anything special for it. There’s a large pumpkin next to our front steps and a few mini pumpkins on our entertainment center and that’s it. I’m a little sad about it, to be honest.
The past month has been crazy productive for school, work, and research. It’s also been insanely draining. Here’s what I’ve been up to and why it got in the way of my holiday spirit.
FunctionalMe MVP ready to demo
Seven years ago, I had an aneurysm coil procedure. Recovery was rough because I had a lot of new neurological issues that affected my executive functioning on top of my baseline ADHD. Productivity apps weren’t very useful because they were aimed at getting things done rather than healing effectively.
The idea for FunctionalMe started out as MetaEgo. (I know, it’s an overly high concept name.) The app would have me check in throughout the day about my emotional state, pain levels, motivation, and self care. Using this data and some trauma-informed, harm-reduction techniques, the app would help me arrange my day around my capacity rather than my productivity. On hard days, the app would serve me content that encouraged self-compassion.
It wasn’t something that was easy to work on while recovering from an aneurysm. I even lost the entire original prototype at one point when my computer crapped the bed.
Still, I managed to get the basic product design and development roadmap fleshed out in a way that made it easy to rebuild these past couple of months. I’ll be demoing it at my school this upcoming Monday for the Psi Beta & Psychology Club.
DV Awareness Month Content Series
This was tough to do, but this month I managed to create a bunch of content for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. My little mini-series started with basic stats, then started moving into what abuse actually is, how to spot it, and why victims struggle to leave.
Part of the reason it was tough is that I am a DV survivor myself, and my content created a space where women could talk about the abuse they’d survived. It was hard to read some of the stories but also gratifying to see that my work was helping women feel safe enough to talk about their experiences and share their courage.
The mini series inspired me to keep going next month with a new series about the way trauma from domestic violence, racism, and maternal death impacts child development. I have the first two videos locked and loaded and ready to post.
First field observation at Abby's House
Speaking of DV, I also started my first field observation at Abby’s House in Worcester, MA. My first day was a trauma-informed care training session.
What I observed in that training session was a workplace full of genuinely caring people who trust each other and have been empowered by the organization to really learn more about how to best serve their residents and guests. It was so inspiring. The whole staff was welcoming and interested in my thoughts as well.
From the moment I stepped in the building, I could tell a lot of thought had been put into the design and decor. Trauma-informed design is something that I’ve obviously been interested in from a UX and UI standpoint as a developer, and seeing it in practice in a human services organization made my heart melt.
I’m excited for the rest of my time with Abby’s House next week, and looking forward to getting my next field observation on the books with CASA Project Worcester.
Club and coursework
I’ve been taking six courses this semester. At this point, I’ve completed over 2 dozen reflection papers, several PowerPoint presentations, and a few hours of LMS learning content. I also completed the college’s required Title IX / Sexual Harassment / Abuse Prevention training, got my Office of Student Life officer training, and run a few unofficial tutoring sessions.
In Psi Beta & Psychology Club, I was elected Publicity officer and got the club Instagram account resurrected. We’re cranking through the writing process for our research project and will be submitting our research proposal to the EPA Conference in Boston by the end of November. It’s exciting! I’m also the National Delegate for the club, and got to meet with the Psi Beta National Council earlier in the month and connected with a bunch of other chapters.
Human Services Club is doing a winter clothing and toy drive for single parents on campus this holiday season, so we’re getting that stuff all set up and ready to go. I think I might be president of the club? I genuinely do not know at this point.
I also read a chapter of the horror novel I started writing last spring to the Creative Writing Club, and I’m glad I did. Reading it out loud helped me hear how repetitive the writing was. I got to meet some truly phenomenal writers and can’t wait to hear more of their work and see what comes together in the school’s literary magazine!
Weight loss complications
I have lost 70 lbs at this point, and I knew that I would eventually experience some complications. It finally happened in the form of kidney stones.
The amount of protein I need to consume while on Zepbound is fairly high. Although I’ve managed to avoid oxalates, caffeine, and other stone-forming sources of food, the high protein consumption finally got me. I had to offset it with some high-carb eating. That caused me to plateau a little.
There was a moment where it seemed like I might need surgical intervention again. Fortunately I ended up being okay. But it drained the hell out of me.
