Celebrating My First Year Anniversary

Today is June the 14 th, and one year ago to this day I published my very first post.  Now a whole year later, and with 122 articles under my pen so to speak, I feel a sense of personal accomplishment.

I decided to celebrate the day by making some  éclairs caramel au beurre salé(caramel with salted butter) seen in the photo, that is always fun to do and does not require much effort.  With a little leftover pate a choux, I also made some French cheese puffs, called gougères.  Bubbly, of course, but later on!

Blogging for a year has been good for me in many ways, and has helped me deal with what I have considered some self deficits.   Not that this blog has cured me of them, but it has helped nevertheless, in an enjoyable way!

I have always considered myself more gifted in listening to others and bringing them out, than myself, which is wonderful for what I do as a therapist.  My own self-expression, in my view, has always been rather reserved.

Some of that I can attribute to my innate timidity, though I have learned to break through that  and can even appear to be extroverted at times, however difficult that can be for me!  The major reason for my reserved expression, is being a sensitive empath, which again is wonderful for a therapist to have, but!

Empaths read clues from others very easy, perhaps too much, and in general will make every effort not to displease or bring out any disharmony.  In social settings, that might entail curtailing and  reserving my own expression of thoughts, in preference to others.

Blogging is first and foremost  all about sharing!  Sharing your thoughts and views and experiences with others, and letting others get to know you.    Each of us is a walking story to be told!   If only someone would listen.

I always get excited to meet a new patient for that very reason, because I find each person comes in with their own unique story that I always find fascinating to hear and help. Having been a therapist for all these years has given me a rich repertoire of knowledge to draw upon and share.

I enjoy teaching whatever I have learned, to others, which this blog has been a good vehicle in doing.   I have forever found human personalities intriguing and likewise the various psychiatric pathologies.

Another deficit I have always struggled with is procrastination and deadlines!  This blog has kept me very tuned in to getting it done or else!  Although, I have been good in writing clinical notes on patients, after learning early on the hard way, I generally will put off doing other things till the last-minute.

My only other experience in writing and deadlines was when I was in graduate school of course .  During that time, the local town’s magazine asked me to write restaurant reviews, paying for my meals, not writing.   I remember all too well making hospital calls on patients, some in the evening, then going home to try to write the whole article due the next day.

That being before the net and spell check, proved formitable.  Most physicians and clinicians are poor spellers and we got away with it, writing in hand all hospital patient notes, that were difficult to read in the first place.

Since I am a therapist who writes, not a professional writer; the best advice I ever learned about writing came from one of my patients.    Upon learning that I had a review to write about a restaurant that specialised in hamburgers, and that I was lamenting that this “gourmet” didn’t know how in the world I could expound about the glories of a hamburger, she offered this simple advice that works well even today.

” Cherry, just go home and write as bad as you can;”  “just don’t care if it sounds good or not”  “just write!” I did exactly as she instructed as I was already exhausted.  Frankly my hamburger restaurant review turned out to be one of my best!   To this day, I am forever grateful to her.

Believe it or not, each post requires a lot of writing time for me, so I have learned to start writing my post generally a day or so before it is due, which is totally new to me!  Alleluia! I know my procrastination is not “curred” by any means, and never will be, but I find myself somewhat surprised occasionally starting another post even before another one is finished.

If you have read this blog, you know the vast majority of my posts are a mixture of mental health topics, historical personality analysis, and experiences I have had living here in this magical city.   My son likes to tease me about my posts on food and wine, which is certainly one of my passions and I enjoy writing about, but not the scope of my blog.

What may be for others a simple activity or excursion, I generally will see it as an opportunity to expand upon philosophically or psychologically, which I enjoy tying together.

Being very spiritual in nature, I find it personally very nourishing , as I have in being a therapist, if through any of my inspirational posts, someone can find comfort, understanding, hope or even solace.

Sometimes, I would love to be able to write with more wit, which I don’t have anyhow, but, all in all, with typos and other mistakes, am proud of what I have been able to produce.

One thing is for sure, they have all been written from the heart.  So to each of you, who have taken the time to read my articles, offered encouraging comments, and helped me with technical issues;  I send you hugs and my heartfelt thanks!