Saturday, October 14, 2017

Life + Mental Health Update

So I've officially been living in California for 2 months! A lot's happened and I thought it was time for a little update.

As far as work goes- Target has offered me 40 hours throughout the holiday season, and my last day at Ross is this Wednesday! It'll be so nice not having 14-hour work days, and to have 2 days off a week; however, I'm actually really going to miss a lot of the people I worked with at Ross (and how there was so much to do that the days flew by).

Other than work, only a few exciting things have happened recently.  My roommate, Brooke, and I ventured down to San Francisco last month to see Harry Styles in concert!  It was his first-ever concert as a solo artist, and it'll definitely go down as one of my favorite nights ever.



The drive down, however, did leave us encountering a mountain that was on fire to the right of us... but seeing the city of San Francisco is always a pleasure.



And then today Brooke and I went with two of our other roommates, Natalie and Rhynell, to a pumpkin patch!  Not only did I enter my first-ever corn maze, but there were also sunflowers and the cheapest pumpkins of all time.





That's about it- as far as adventures go.  I've been to the movies a few times, but that's kinda it. (Sidenote: Go see Kingsman: The Golden Circle and thank me later.)

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Moving on to mental health (slight trigger warning)... Things have been a little shaky.  Most days are good, but there are lots of little moments where my old thoughts come bursting in.  The most common of which seems to be "what's the point?"

My family is either in Michigan or Washington.  And my two best friends are in Washington and Illinois.  And I'm still so far away from the 1-year mark of living here to receive in-state tuition to go back to college.

When I lived in Washington, I didn't have to pay rent, so my "point" was to attend conventions that made me so unbelievably happy.  But with rent now due once a month, that's not possible.  A convention was recently announced for January whose guests include the actors who portray Captain America, Spider-Man, the Winter Soldier, the Falcon, Peggy Carter, and Liz and Ned from Spider-Man: Homecoming, and, being a massive Marvel fan, this is the convention of my dreams. And as my friends are purchasing their tickets, I'm just sort of watching in the wings because I simply am unable to do so.  Funny how saving $1,000 wasn't a big deal when rent wasn't a thing.  Amazing, right?




The most frustrating thing about mental illnesses is how there are these time periods where they seem to vanish, and things are really great and life is good and you feel like pushing through all of it was worth it- just to have the depression, anxiety and so on make a reappearance.  It's infuriating and annoying and tiring.  I'm really, really tired.  And I know that money doesn't equal happiness, but being limited due to your financial state truly is anything but happy.

But like I said, most days are good.  I get so swept up in work and customers that I don't have time to focus on this.  It's just the moments when life slows down and I start wondering what the point of everything is that I feel the sadness start to set in a bit.  I get nervous thinking of January coming around and seeing my friends at this convention without me and how the sadness will affect me then.  It's this daily struggle- and I know it's all so silly.  But without these silly conventions to look forward to, my life is simply work-home-sleep-repeat, and unlike seemingly every other human who recognizes the normality of that, I can't get over how pointless it all feels to me.

I wish I could go inside my head and rewire all my thoughts into being okay with simplicity.  I wish I could look forward to a life that includes a job I don't love, and a family I can't afford, and the emptiness of retirement, but I can't bring myself to do that.  I've never been able to.  And I'm not sure how to go forward into a better, more productive thought process.  I'd like to try, but I don't know the steps to get there.

Anyway- I'd like to end on a somewhat positive note, so some good news is that I'm going home for 5 days next week.  I get to see my family and my puppies!  Maybe I'm in need of a break from this routine.

Fingers crossed that things start to look up again, and that I find my "point."

-Jordan xx

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Jordan_Winans
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Monday, August 14, 2017

I Moved To Northern California

On August 11th, I moved into a house in Arcata, California.  It's a 6-bedroom house, meaning that I will be living with 5 other people for the next year.  The 4 girls have already moved in and the 2 boys will be coming this week!  I met a girl named Brooke at a Wizard World convention in Sacramento in June of 2016- and this year we decided to move in together!  So Brooke and I found 4 other people and got the ball rolling!

There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room space on both floors.  (Brooke is downstairs and I am upstairs.)  Plus, the attic is the space of the house- AKA it's huge which is perfect for storage.

I'll update more on life later, but for now, here are some pictures of the house for the people who have been asking about it!

This is the front of the house, which is technically the second floor:



And here is the back of the house, which is the bottom floor... The other buildings in the background are parts of the property that we do not own; there is a studio apartment, a bed & breakfast, and another 2-bedroom apartment.



Here is the downstairs kitchen (which has a side door that leads to another little yard), the winding staircase that leads upstairs, and the downstairs living area.




Here is the upstairs kitchen, living space, and the cute area by the front door!  Plus, that door in the kitchen is the one that leads into my bedroom.





My bedroom connects to the upstairs bathroom and the backyard can be viewed from the window by my bed!




Once my room is all put together, I'll upload those photos as well, but without a dresser for all my clothes, it's a bit chaotic at the moment.  A special thank you to my mom, my sister, and my best friend (Kelsi) for helping me with this massive move from Washington to California.  I'm excited to see where this adventure leads, and I'm so in love with my new home!!!

-Jordan xx

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Jordan_Winans
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/jordanashleywinans
Vlogging YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/jordanwinansvlogs
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