Tag: masculinity

New Directions, Graduating Therapy!

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I know I said this before, but I’m going in a new direction on this blog.

I have learned a lot and graduated from therapy, and I (maybe paradoxically) no longer feel like I have the expertise to advise anyone in mental health. While I had a lot of KNOWLEDGE about mental health (and especially dissociation), it wasn’t the same as wisdom. Obviously, graduating from therapy doesn’t mean that I am perfect, but I am definitely capable of putting into practice what I have learned– which is mainly that we need to feel our repressed feelings. Mine is generally anger. Even if I struggle, I usually have a much better sense of what exactly I’m upset about, which used to be a big hurdle for me. I would often feel nebulously Upset and be unable to figure out why or what to do about it. Even just figuring out the truth about my emotions and their roots can be powerful, and often neutralizes the emotional problem.

I said before that I wanted to write about masculinity, from the perspective of a trans guy. (Not necessarily the same as writing about being trans.) However, I am not the expert on that either.

So what direction AM I taking?

I’m going to write about whatever I’m thinking about. As someone who used to be a professional writer, I always think that I have to be monetize-able and professional on my blog. Fuck that. That doesn’t mean, however, that I am going to use this as a public diary. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but I am more interested in sharing my thoughts than my feelings. I do a lot of reading and research and I’m interested in sharing that.

Lately, most of what I’ve been thinking about is witchcraft and paganism. If that is something you’d like to read about, stick around!

I’m also going to grad school in January 2024 so I’m sure I’ll have lots of thoughts to share then. My major will be Library Science. I’ve been working in libraries for a total of like 7 years, so I feel pretty qualified to move up; I just need the degree.

Currently Reading: Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (a re-read of a favorite!)

April 2023 State of the Blog

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When I started this blog, I intended it to be focused on improving one’s mental health. I had a lot to say on the subject. I am an intellectual-izer (I made that word up just now) and, once diagnosed in my twenties with Major Depression and PTSD, had made it my life’s mission to learn about the mental illnesses that plagued me and stopped me from living the life I wanted. I became an armchair expert, which I will not discount— I don’t generally think a lack of formal education makes one’s expertise invalid, after all.

But recently, in my journeys with psychodynamic therapy and actually improving from my treatment for the first time, I have realized that I don’t actually know all that much about mental health. This Beginner’s Mind (or Socratean realization that I only know that I know nothing) has helped me make strides in my recovery by reminding me not to be set in my ways. Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom, and knowing the difference between dopamine and serotonin did not make me any happier or more functional. Obviously, despite all my research, I still had a lot to learn, and I want this blog to reflect that.

From now on, this blog will be loosely themed around becoming a better person. There will still be poems and book reviews and other musings and anything I feel like publishing (tbh), but I have decided I want to take the “meat and potatoes” of the blog in a new direction. There will probably still be a lot of stuff about mental and emotional health, but I also want to write about stuff like:

  • social justice (especially transgender issues)
  • being your true, authentic self
  • learning (both formally and informally)
  • anti-capitalist ethics and leftism
  • setting and achieving goals
  • healthy masculinity and what it means to be a man
  • healthy relationships (especially polyamory)
  • getting organized (especially Bullet Journaling)

On to my credentials: I have none. I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist. I am not an influencer or a wildly successful business owner. I am just someone who has struggled to improve himself over the course of about 10 years.

A note on money: My job doesn’t pay all that well, but I make enough to survive. Write Mind will never involve affiliate marketing, selling ads, or upselling (beyond basic SEO to get my words seen by people who could use them). The point of Write Mind is not to make money. Any money I make will be from Patreon, in which subscribers can contribute donations freely and without coercion. If I make any resources or downloads, they will be free for anyone to use and not require an email list sign-up. If you appreciate my content and would like to be someone who helps me out, I’d love that!

If you’d like to be part of my journey, please stick around to read more!