Tag: Anxiety

I’m not ready to go back.

Posted on by Warren Dalton

The CDC lifted mask mandates for fully-vaccinated individuals and my stomach dropped out from under me. Immediately the public came out in droves not wearing masks, not social distancing. We were back to the unsafe times. Not that they were over in any meaningful way. The next day, my job dropped mask orders, not even asking customers to wear them when they come into the store.

We’re at a 37% vaccination rate so that should mean that only a third of people more or less shouldn’t be wearing masks… So why is it about half? I mean it could be the place I live, middle class. Or it could be the demographic 70% Caucasian, 18% Asian, 7% Black. But, I’d wager the people who were resistant to wearing masks, the ones who took them off after they got through the door, or those who thought the vaccine had microchips or some other such nonsense went and got their shots. I’d have to guess they’re just taking advantage of the further weakening of limp regulations.

So where does that leave us? I know where it leaves me. I’m fully vaccinated and I’m still going to be wearing my mask as much as possible. I don’t want to be the one to put anyone in harm’s way. Now I’ll be honest and say like the title of this blog post I’m not ready to move on. I feel safer wearing a mask and being with people who decide wearing a mask is for the good of all. I know more than a few immuno-compromised individuals and it only makes sense to keep things as safe as possible for as long as possible.

So Readers, What do I think am I just a sheep in the cog or am I just paranoid cautious? We live in this world. What are you doing?

Guilty! Guilty!! Guilty!!!

Posted on by Warren Dalton

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, Derek Chauvin was finally convicted of the MURDER of George Floyd. After kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes, 42 seconds while George Floyd was handcuffed behind his back while on the ground. He was unable to breathe and that resulted in his death. Derek Chauvin believed he had no chance of being convicted you could see it in his face right up until conviction.

Think about that for a second, Derek Chauvin murders a man in cold blood, the video is watched tens of millions of times on national news and the internet, his private life is picked apart, and still, this man never thought there would be justice. And even worse most of the people watching the case didn’t believe there would be either. There’s a major problem in the world where this is the case. Police can’t believe the law doesn’t apply to them.

Derek Chauvin isn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last but, he’s in every way indicative of America. Some people believe they’re above it all and some of them… are right. We live in a country where the people on top can break all the laws they want because for them the same thing would bankrupt us or ruin our lives would or even worse end up with us dead. We have to work hard to change this. Most of us will never be on our strata, not because we’re not smart enough or hardworking enough but because a system exists to keep us down. Many times for just an accident of birth.

Hey readers, sorry I’ve been MIA things in my life have been moving quickly in my life and I haven’t been here. That’s gonna change but, don’t just take my world for it. Stay Safe out there and take a breath, You’ve earned.

Get the COVID vaccine, please!

Posted on by Warren Dalton

My day job is an essential one and I haven’t been able to stay home under  lock down. Every day has my nerves on edge because I know getting it will most likely ruin my health in ways that make me uneasy. I have mild allergies but, I live with someone who has a cat and that would really mess my breathing up more than it already has. My friend’s parent is now disabled because of this disease. And I just want to feel safe again. I think that’s been the worst part of this thing for me. I don’t feel safe anymore.

I don’t have much if any real side effects just a headache and a sore arm. In the grand sceme of things the weight that I feel off my shoulders is emmence. If you can get it, it’s definetly worth it. I am asking everybody I know about getting the vaccine. You’ve already done the big thing. You wore a mask, you stayed six feet away from everyone, and you stayed home as much as possible. This is the easiest thing. Even if you don’t like needles this was nothing. My flu shot was way worse. Get it, you’ll thank yourself.

Uncomfortable

Posted on by Warren Dalton

Over the weekend, I did something that made me feel uncomfortable. It scooped my stomach out because I thought it was the right move. I believed that sacrificing my comfort was worth it to make someone else happy. And the worst part is I don’t know if it did.

I wonder sometimes why we do the things we do. Like why do we roll over our gut feelings and instincts to try and make people happy? I mean is it cause it makes us happy? I believe that answer is no. I think the reason we do this is because we can’t stand the tension. I think our fear of even a bit of tension in our lives leads us to do self-destructive things.

I don’t mean things like punching walls or cutting ourselves. Even those are symptoms of a problem built up over time. I mean self-destructive like refusing to apologize or leaving a bad situation. We try so hard to keep that tension inside that it ruptures our insides when if we had released it much earlier it would have been much less a problem than we probably made it out to be.

Now I’m not saying to steamroll over someone else’s feelings but, maybe what you think is a big deal isn’t real. Maybe you should trust your relationships with those people you care about to bear that bit of tension. Maybe they’ll surprise you by understanding and the people who don’t weren’t worth all that much worry anyway. I know that’s easier said than done, throwing out your bad relationships but, I will tell you that they lift so much weight and anxiety from your shoulders.

So good luck out there, Readers, dealing with your uncomfortable feelings but, maybe you have a better way of dealing with them than I do. I knew this was probably going to be a lot for me going in and I just didn’t listen to myself. Hopefully, you all are better listeners. Has anything made you uncomfortable recently? Maybe comment on this blog, get that feeling out. It’s quiet over here no many people listening but, you and me.

2020

Posted on by Warren Dalton

2020 was interesting. It wasn’t my best year and I had to put a bunch of all the things I wanted on the backburner. I know my book hasn’t come out but, writing was really difficult this year. So I’m just gonna put down some of the good things that have happened to me.

  • I wrote more on here.
  • Got back in touch with a good friend.
  • Made a few decisions that were good to me.
  • Got closer to some people I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years.
  • I found new strength in my own mental health. Deciding if I can work being an essential worker during a pandemic then I can probably make it through some other less impactful things.
  • I went on some dramatic self-emprovement outside and inside.

While it’s not a lot of wins. I think I’ve become a better person and that’s all I think I could have asked for this year. Thank you for following me this far and I hope I can keep giving you reasons to check out my site. I’ve got a few more posts coming out the rest of this week and I want to start 2021 with a bang.

Passenger

Posted on by Warren Dalton

The car waits at the intersection way too long

The rhythm of the blinker keeps tick tick ticking

I come to a stop on yellow

And drive just a little too slow

But, it’s all to make the drive go smoothe

Check the mirrors a bit more than is expressly necessary

Don’t honk when that red truck cuts me off

Terrified by the swerving semi

White knuckles on big black hands

But it’s all to make the drive go smoothe

Glancing at you out of the corner of my eye

While streetlights paint your sleeping face

Not even singing when my song comes on

Filling my heart as each mile passes

Whispered “I love you”s under my breath

But it’s all I can do to make the drive go smoothe smoothe.

1:37

Posted on by Warren Dalton

It starts.

At 1:37 am it starts,

A tightness in my chest that starts like a bulb.

It spreads crawling, winding all over me until

Chest, shoulders, upper arms, neck.

I can’t draw breath.

But, I know what I must do!

I stagger bleary-eyed to my computer

Why didn’t I just go to bed!

My mind screams at me

Tight, Tighter, Tighten

It’s over my clothes now,

Into my seams

The only way to rid my self of this poison…

I bleed it out,

The cold knife slips into to a well-worn vein.

On the keyboard,

Splattered on the walls,

The light from the screen is tainted.

Showing lifeless blue through scarlet life

I am free.

Bloodlet from creativity

Maybe now I can turn over

Maybe now I can get some sleep.

Your Truth

Posted on by Warren Dalton

They starved you at a feast.

Tied to a chair and watched those around you

Stuffing faces and

Having over full bellies,

Rubbed.

While you cried,

 

Died,

Wasting away until you couldn’t even be tied with ropes.

 

Hopes,

Put on someone who could save you died

On dried and cracked lips

 

Hips

Only thing you thought you were good for was cock rocking and moaning

And groaning you did away with their pain

 

Rain

Came down torrential

Unintentional but, it’s all your fault,

Right?

 

Plight

Goes on unanswered everyday,

everyway you asked and pleaded

They stood up and retreated,

defeated you cried,

died felt the pain,

the rain,

and like a current you were dragged again and again.

They weren’t enough, much too rough.

They got cut,

And you were the one to bleed.

Their need the same refrain.

 

Remains,

You gathered them up in fragile arms.

A magpie in the wild,

A raccoon in the woods,

Collecting and erecting the skeleton of a life you could love

 

Shoved

Down, drowned in rivers of your own fears

Gasping for air

 

Hair,

You cut just to divest from the stress of a world closing in,

Hoping that a change on the outside

Will rearrange you inside

 

Ride it out,

Breathe it in,

Quell the storm that rages within,

 

Kin

Never loved you,

When you needed them they abandoned you too.

Shamed and Blamed you too

 

Withdrew,

Into yourself,

Into your art,

Into your head,

To your core.

 

Ore.

You found a prize behind the pain.

Didn’t get better,

You got even!

Decided to soar higher than anyone’s expectations

You believed in you,

Got through.

Thrived.

Striving to be more,

And greater.

You smashed the ceiling

 

Unfeeling,

As the glass cut you

Because you learned long ago,

That success didn’t happen without a little discomfort.

Your life started out tough,

But you know that terrain.

Here’s your refrain.

It’s all uphill from here.

You’ve kissed the sky.

And Helios touched you!

 

Used to be a victim of your own mind,

Reflect, directed it back and

Now…

You know your own truth

 

Permanence

Posted on by Warren Dalton

I have a weird thing about writing in notebooks. It’s weird I can put pixel to pixel but, pen to paper seems too permanent. I have tens of unfinished notebooks and none of them are filled. I don’t know what about it screams like once you finish it you can’t get it back… I mean I can go out and buy a new notebook but, it always feels like my words aren’t good enough for the page. Like I’m taking this space up from someone else.

I was cleaning up some of my old stuff and I found a few notebooks I hadn’t gotten to more than halfway with. Honestly, that’s a whole lot for me I mean halfway? Me?! but, it was a shock to me that none of my old childhood notebooks were even full. Did I even know back then that imposter syndrome would hit me so hard?

It’s crazy looking back on the things that I thought were important. The things that I wrote down. What girls I liked back then, my idea for Black Widowman, (This was of course before I: Knew that Black Widow existed and B. Before I knew what a widow was. So please don’t judge me too harshly.) scrawn ideas that flit through my ADHD mind while I was definitely thinking of other things except for school work.

I think besides just the imposter syndrome I have trouble taking up space. I have trouble just existing in my fullness. I have become unapologetic in the parts of my personality that’s not toxic but, I still feel like I don’t deserve the space I take up.

It’s a sobering kind of thought, really. I mean I don’t understand the people who can. Do they just decide one day that the space they take up is their own? Or is it a more gradual thing? Am I being polite or just subservient? I know it’s something I have to change about myself but, I don’t really know how so I’m just sitting here. Trying to fill this old notebook I got from an ex.