Confessions of a blogger… Part 2

While Part 1 has a mystery blogger quoted, with the kind of stuff that is never roses and unicorns…  part 2 of this series is more of a guest post… “If you liked this article, please share it!” and so I am!

Note that the title below links to the original source where you are more than welcome to interact with the author himself. Some awesome confessional worthy sharing in this one and further inspiration for part 3 coming soon!

(I was going to quote just a section of this post, like part 1, however I couldn’t seem to pick out just one chunk on it’s own… )

Social Media Saved My Life and Helped Me Achieve a New Career

Sometimes in tragedy we find our life’s purpose – the eye sheds a tear to find its focus.  ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

3 years ago all was good in my world. My career was going places, I was living the American Dream in Southern California, and I was in a good place with friends and family.

In September 2008 it all changed. The first blow came when I learned that I was caught up in a significant layoff that was happening throughout the division that I worked in.  The second blow came when I lost a second job 1 year later, and the final blow came when a series of chronic health problems caused me to lose yet another career opportunity. Deep depression set in and I found myself questioning the purpose of my life and seriously considering an exit plan from this world.

For over 6 months after the illness set in and I quit the final job, I literally did nothing but get up in the morning, watch TV or listen to talk radio and go to bed at night.

I completely cut myself from all friends and family, not wanting to talk to anyone and was so embarrassed about my situation. I was filled with so much self-hate that I just could not bring myself to connect with others. I had nothing to offer the world, did not want to drag anyone down into my despair, and did not want pity from anyone (there was a piece of me that was crying for attention, though). I had no goals, no strategy for getting back in the game, nothing left to live for: or so I thought.

I hit bottom and was at the point where my life could go in two directions. When I decided to go forward in a positive direction and chose life over the alternative it was because I felt I still had something within me that I could offer the world and was obliged to at least give it a shot.

I knew it was best for me and any potential employers to work from home. The chronic pain I was experiencing requires me to lay down or take a half hour break after several hours. Social media has always been fun, intriguing, and for me held lots of potential for a serious career. I figured if I was going to be at home anyway, there must be a way I could make connections, learn several social media platforms and go forward from there.

I had no idea of what lie ahead, nor if I would actually be able to do anything productive. However, I always had fun engaging with others on Twitter so I started there. Not yet ready to reconnect with friends and family, I set up a new Twitter account and began to tweet. Twitter chats seemed to be all the rage and a great way to meet people from diverse backgrounds so I began to participate in several that I really enjoyed. I also decided that I wanted to begin blogging so I set up an account on WordPress.com.

Quickly picking up on the nuances of the chats and having come up with some great ideas for leading one myself I soon started one of my own. I made some really great connections with “Thought Leaders,” movers and shakers on Twitter. I participated in a Twitter Chat where Guy Kawasaki was a guest. I had no clue who he was at the time, but he and I actually had a pleasant one on one discussion for a few minutes after the chat and he started to follow me on Twitter. I was on a mini high when I later found out he was actually an A-lister.

Then came Google Plus and my whole world began to turn upside down in a great way. I knew from the moment I heard about it that I had the opportunity of a lifetime to get in on a platform at the very beginning. I made it my mission to learn everything I could about Google Plus and gain as much expertise as I could with the ultimate goal being to help businesses use it as a tool to engage and gain additional customers.  I would spend at least half the day, if not longer, on the site posting, engaging, and meeting some very cool people.

Google Plus opened up a lot of doors for me. I began to connect with people on many levels.  I learned many of the technical aspects of the site as well as how easy it was to meet others on the site. By applying professional skills I have gained throughout my career to the opportunities that I encountered on the site I now had the new career opportunity I was seeking before. I had goals, a plan to reach those goals, and many great new friends that I would have never met were it not for Google Plus.

The engagement with others is certainly what brought me out of my despair and gave me hope that I did have plenty to offer others and a venue to do so (from home). The final piece for me that confirms that I have overcome depression was I have now joyfully re-connected with almost everyone from my past.

When I tell people about my story and the problems I have encountered in the last several years I get nothing but support and encouragement. My close friends and family know exactly what I was going through and are helping me to achieve success both on a personal and a professional level.

I am still in a lot of pain and due to the nature of the illness it is likely something I will always have to endure. But I now have a support group that is more than happy to prop me up and are there for me in spades when I am feeling a bit down.

I am telling my story to the world through this article, because if I can make it, given all that I have been through, others struggling with their issues can make it too. I cannot guarantee what tomorrow will bring for me, nor am I certified to make a clinical diagnosis, but I believe my depression is in complete remission. The proof to me is I now enjoy doing all the things I used to do except for the exercise (because it is too painful). I watch DVD’s all the time, I have re-connected with friends, I have friends and family visiting for an extended period of time this spring and the dark cloud is lifted. Social media played a significant role in my path to healing. Although I am probably more vulnerable to depression in the future as that is the nature of the disease, I don’t have time to worry about it now. I’m too busy living again.

Note: if you, or someone you know (or suspect) is suffering from depression it is vital to get help. The disease is still not well understood and I can tell you from my own personal experience, when you are in its clutches you do not think rationally. It is very easy to go into a dark place with thoughts that you would never entertain otherwise. For men it is especially difficult to reach out and the suicide rate is much higher for men versus women who suffer from the same. There are many professionals who are trained to deal with depression and its effects. If nothing else reach out to a trusted friend and share with them what is going on. 

If you liked this article, please share it!

Jim Fierce

I live in sunny Southern California with my partner and our 4 Pomeranian Pooches. I am an avid fan of social media and my favorite platforms are Twitter and Google +. My background is Quality Engineering in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device but I have decided to take a complete U-turn and test the entrepreneurial waters and develop a niche market in the social media environs.
Follow me on twitter @Fierce_Living and @Fierce_Chat or on Google Plus at + James Fierce
My personal blog
Fierce_chat blog

Is there one segment you would pull as the essence of this blogger post?

Is there a piece of this story that resonates with you? Something you can relate to?

 

Confessions of a blogger… part 1

As I have mini walks the past little while I still ponder the focus, theme or niche if you will, of “Wednesday Walk”… where will this web walk lead I wonder… and todays ponderings have led to 2 other inspirational posts that I want to share with you today… or at least part of them, before delving into my own confessions…

(and seriously, is “todays” and “ponderings” actually worthy of the squiggly red line of incorrectly spelled? Neither is a contraction with the word is, of that I am sure! anyways..)

First and foremost – name that blogger if you dare! Reflecting on 2011 he writes:

Personal Challenges Abound

My personal life underwent a lot of transformations. I parted ways with my wife. Saying this is also not saying three thousand or more sentences of what that all entails, but that’s personal. I wish her well, and my children are now able to enjoy two loving homes. That kind of transitional stuff is never roses and unicorns, but we’re all doing the work it takes to make it successful. I’m grateful that my children and I have spent so much more time together this past year. All this work and travel most certainly impacted my home life, and along the way, I never lost sight of the importance of my children, but I definitely didn’t schedule the time for them the way I do now. My relationship with my children is the best it’s ever been in my entire life, and I’m grateful for that.

Beyond that, I did a lot of work on myself. Through work with a shrink, through some helpful medication, through my fledgling practice of Buddhism, through a lot of my own hard efforts, and through finding love with a wonderful new woman in my world, I’ve done more to repair several things that were “wrong” with me over the last several decades than ever before. This was tremendously difficult. None of it has been easy. But knowing that I couldn’t live my life the way I had been living it has most certainly helped a great deal. I made a lot of mistakes in living with all my demons and I certainly messed up a lot along the way. I can only work in one direction, so moving forward is a strong effort of staying very clear and open and doing the hard work, over and over again.

Have you read these words before? Or maybe written a few?…

bonus points for the first one to name that blogger!

 

Vegans Vs Meat Eaters: Who’s healthier?

That was the tagline that caught me today and I just couldn’t help but wonder how this would play out on “The Doctors” television show…

Glad to see the presence of Dr. Neal Barnard (President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) to ensure there is at least one vegan supporter in on the debate. He appeared to be knowledgeable and shared some good points – like dairy products reducing the absorption of iron and contributing to anemia.

However, I was generally disappointed with the responses, and lack of intellectual debate among the panel… This debate can become quite involved – as touched on in a previous post on different diet preferences… not today though… Todays show seemed to have more personal anecdotes from the docs than intellectual debate…

(If you want to check out the show synopsis for yourself, you can find it here or the video preview here)

In terms of the show actually answering the question of Vegan or Standard American Diet – FAIL.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is familiar, comfortable, convenient… but…. as thekitchenskinny.com notices…

• “The United States has the highest obesity rate in the world.” – Business Insider, Dec 10, 2010
• “The American environment is conducive to this epidemic, presenting temptation to the populace in the form of tasty, energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods and beverages.” – USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
• “This could be the first generation since the Civil War to have a shortened life expectancy.” – CBS News Jan 2010

    the solution…

• “Improve nutrition literacy and cooking skills, including safe food handling skills, and empower and motivate the population, especially families with children, to prepare and consume healthy foods at home.” – USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

The above quotes demonstrate how there are very real risks and side effects of the SAD ways… and the need for the solution… so… with that in mind I feel that the vegan crowd tends to be more nutrition literate, with expanded cooking skills beyond meat and potatoes… and when done in an informed and motivated way, the vegan way is healthier than the SAD ways. Also, everyone seems to be in agreement that more fruits and vegetables on north american meal plates would be a good thing 😉

But…. why was this topic initiated for the show in the first place?

Home video clips demonstrate a young woman – Kaitlin – complaining about her vegan sister – Kelly – essentially pushing vegan food choices on her… Meanwhile, Kelly complains that Kaitlin is not accepting that veganism is healthier than the current household diet…

Ultimately when reviewing the video clip, the main issue for these feuding sisters appears to be the  proselytizing vegan… Kelly chose to deviate from the household norm and feels that she has benefited from it…  she quite obviously wants to share this with those she loves… whether they are accepting or not… Kelly may not be validating her sisters way of life or opinions. Arguing and pushing your polar opposite opinion, whether it truly is better or not, does not lead to acceptance…. resistance and defensiveness are expected reactions.

Maybe that is what Dr. Travis’ closing comment truly refers to… 😉  “In the end, what is best for you may not always be what’s best for someone else, Figure out a healthy diet that works best for you.”

It’s up to you to decide where you are most comfortable on this spectrum… And it’s okay if that decision changes from one day to the next… shift happens… Kelly and Kaitlin both have shifts they could make on this spectrum… the important thing from today’s reflections: there are different variations in healthy and ultimately we can only make the best choices in each moment for ourselves…

What shifts have you made recently? Are you planning on making any this week?

 

Social Media Madness

Walking today there was a distinct quietness… alone-ness… calm… As the squirrels run, chase and jump between trees, bushes, snow and one another, it got me thinking about all our connection points and our own evolving forms of communication with one another…

“Are getting it? Really getting it? Come on give it to me! Get signed up on linkedin! Give me all of your tweets! Come on baby be friends! Never want it to stop! Oh! Are you getting it? Social media! Really getting it? Social Media! Come on Joey! Uh!”

Maybe not the next American Idols, but a nice short intro to the myriad of social media. I think that diagram at the end of the song says a lot!

Just tipping the iceberg of social media sites with this full diagram, it can be a stormy sea of social media. Since emails came along in 1966 (did you know they have actually existed that long?!) the communication scene continues evolving. Ed Kang says it well with: “anybody tells you that they’ve figured it all out is lying, selling you something, or a combination of both.”

Facebook touts 800million users so that’s where it’s at right?

One user noted that their video store disconnected their phone line as they take facebook DVD reservations… (watch out they probably won’t even be around with more ubiquitous sites such as netflix) Other users commonly note: “Got really irritated by all the posts that were meaningless chatter.” So maybe those millions of users aren’t too sure how to appropriately use each channel of communication… “would you get in your car and go around to someone’s house to tell them that?” Can be a good reality check question for users… I like to think of it as an online billboard, notorious for privacy breaches… so would you be okay posting your message on a busy highway billboard? Or downtown? If not, then why would you post your message on your computer screen that could potentially reach out globally?… Retweets, reposts and copy/paste are some pretty basic tools for average social media users…

Twitter may be nearing 1/4th the number of users as facebook, although it can be just as addicting for tweeters. Focused on short 140 character messages it can be fun to chirp away like Demi Moore or Lady Gaga.

With more people carrying smartphones and data plans there seems to be a push of personal messaging boundaries… with a facebook user noting exasperation at “Having people post messages to me at any time, expecting an instant response”. (I agree! When did we become pavlovs dogs?)

My fave facebook user comment on the platform I just had to share:

” I absolutely hate how intrusive it is. I hate the stupid little ditties that people put on thinking they are so interesting when they really are not. I hate that I feel a need to even read the stupid little ditties!!!! I do, however, love getting to see my nieces pregnancy belly growing as she is too far for me to see it in real life. I love that the girl who was my best friend, when I lived in a different city, traced me on it and we are now back in regular communication. I love that I can keep up with those family members in other continents, and at the other end of this country, and not just talk at funerals!!! Very undecided!!!!”

Google+ appears to be the latest fad in social media. With only 40 million users thus far, it is definitely a quieter, less frequented communication space. Which may very well be a good thing! Personally I enjoy the circles and “follow” method rather than “friending” as on facebook… Just be sure to sort your people into your appropriate circles up front! Think of your purpose and what kinds of segments of society you want to interact with… Not only do you have friends, family, acquaintances, coworkers, you may have your own blogging friends circle, or book club. Super great being able to easily post to your profile (equivalent of your own facebook wall) and easily specify who sees it… Not to mention if you want to close your profile, you can download all your google+ related info to your own computer prior to closing your account. Use-ability, generally love it, still learning the appropriateness, and kudos for google demonstrating better boundaries!

If you are interested in spreading your online presence with a google+ profile, or business page, what better time to get in and figure things out before all 800million facebook users jump on board? 😉 Today I discovered a succinct online article on google+ pages that may be worth a perusal…

As my first official blog kicked off somewhat recently (as you may well have noticed), I often pondered why Blog? With google+, facebook walls and notes, windows live, myspace, personal emails, texting, blackberry messenger, etc, and even phone calls, who would have time for a blog and why would you invest in creating one? Well, don’t knock it till you try it “they” say… so here I am pulling back a little from some other inundated forms of communication to give this medium a try… According to a recent online article, blogging is here to stay! Are you?

What is your preferred form of communication lately? Do you maintain a blog? How do you maintain your sanity in the sea of social media? Where do you get your info on current events?

 

Vegan, Raw foodie, ovo-lacto somethinatarian, primal, fruitarian, low carb, high fat – What?!

You may be familiar with the terms above, or you may not even know they relate to dietary preferences. Maybe it was those leg warmers in the 80’s, or Joanne and Hal on those bodybreak commercials in the 90’s, either way people have begun to find issues with “modern” living and the demand for health conscious info and products took a steep rise towards the end of the twentieth century. Is this a medical fact? It is to me! I am among those who slowly started saying “Hey, something could be better here… maybe I ought to start educating myself, or just doing something different!”

A wee bit of the Wednesday Walkers related personal background just for kicks

Born prior to the spawn of anything resembling a personal computer, I was raised quite SAD.
(For the nonfoodies: SAD refers to the Standard American Diet. Some may also call it the brown diet – take “brown” chicken/beef/pork product, cook, add “white” rice/pasta/potato product, and rotate in the odd canned or frozen vegetable dish such as corn/peas that frequently gets microwaved – and promptly forgotten about until after the meal)

Generally a pretty good kid that made it through alright… although probably sometime in junior high I guess, I started noticing that I either had less energy than the other kids, or they pretended better than I did… “meh, oh well”… High school came along and I started exploring school sports teams (generally the ones that didn’t require a lot of coordination). With sports came a desire to improve performance, and the beginning of my foodie adventures… “Oh, tomorrow’s game day! Spaghetti for dinner please mom! Gotta carbo-load!”

Post-secondary school and I’m still dealing with those pesky low energy gremlins… and started to actively try and do something about it… took as many courses as I could find related to possible “cures” to fill those option spots within my Bachelors degree and experimenting with prescribed iron pills…

After school was all “done like dinner” I began working full time with a handsome paycheck and really began to explore healthful changes to my diet… okay so I bought some random recipe books that looked like they knew more than I did! After a bit I was goin a lil nutso, conscious of this energy deficit for at least a decade and actually considered it might be stress or as some would say “all in my head”…

The next chapter pays tribute to the world wide web having evolved to be my late night best friend and know it all for everything! Even if things were “all in my head” or something all together different, search after search kept nudging me towards the idea that we are what we eat! If I choose to fuel my body on suboptimal fuel, it stands to reason that I will get suboptimal performance… With that I threw out my SAD ways and jumped head first into the raw vegan way of eating!

Less than a week later I discovered that even if these raw vegans were posting true testimonials of bounding energy and less chronic diseases, detox is a Beee-yotch that kicks like a mofo! And I was eating a LOT less than was optimal (partly because I just didn’t know what the heck to eat besides my usual brown and whites!) and there are animal by products in nearly everything! Even most supermarket forms of vanilla extract! VANILLA!!! That dark liquid you put a wee bit of into baked goodies!

Fast forward to today: and I think I’ve figured out the main labels…. some days I still don’t know whats what in the foodie blogs! Much more educated and relaxed on what I “have to be”… some of these groups and forums can feel like the next upcoming cult with carrot/apple juice kool-aid… Personally I enjoy the approach of rawfoodsos.com with Denise Minger. Experiment with what works best for your own personal body, make informed decisions and if you want to, share that info with other people that want to be more informed. Granted she takes much more of a scholarly approach than I choose at this time, her posts are still a pretty friendly read. For instance – “Brand-Spankin’ New Study: Are Low-Carb Meat Eaters in Trouble?”is todays Wednesday Walkers fave…

Denise Minger (Not me)

As for all those titles and labels around dietary beliefs and prescriptions… well, honestly, who cares?… People eat different stuff… people are going to continue to eat different stuff… the ones that seem to care about the labels the most are those that seem to want to fight about protecting their cult like status “I’m right and you’re wrong”… or the scholarly literature that just needs proper labels to be coherent…

Let’s see, currently drinking some Bolthouse Farms Strawberry Banana fruit smoothy with apple juice from concentrate, so I guess I’m -oh, lemme double check the ingredients list- hum… “apple juice from concentrate (water, apple juice concentrate), strawberry puree, banana puree, fruit pectin, ascorbic acid, natural flavour. – flash pateurized and cold-filled for quality” well those italics items probably don’t cut it for the extremist raw vegan label.. just how did they get “concentrate”?… fruit pectin is from fruit, but cooked in order to become pectin so vegan, not raw… ascorbic acid is chemical speak for vitamin C… then comes the natural flavour…. ubiquitous ingredient term for “We’d rather not say”… So this morning I would say Wednesday Walker is vegan.

How long must one live off fruits and veggies, abstaining from all animal products, before one may claim the title of vegan? In my books, one meal! hahaha! This morning vegan, this evening, probably gonna end up looking more ovo-lacto (possibly containing eggs, fish or dairy) vegetarian, or maybe even primal/paleo if there so happens to be a social politeness in need of being extended to indulge in some flesh/meat. Tomorrow might even be the day to dig deeper with that 80/10/10 philosophy of the fruitarians… No cult like food status here, sorry! Current nutrition challenge – accidentally maintain 51%+ raw food intake to set a new personal best! (Never recorded prior stints so the next shall be the best, hehehe!)

If you see a label you like and think prescribing to it will lend you a better state of health, you may want to stick to the same label/way of eating for at least 3 weeks to really give it a semi decent shot at sustainability… and potential detox time. Note switching from SAD to RAW immediately aka the most extreme switch I ever tried, do it slowly! Cold turkey SAD to RAW can actually cause harm to your overall health and wellbeing, depending on your personal circumstances and physiological makeup. A recommended place to start browsing for healthier alternatives that are less daunting “with Looneyspoons authors”, the Podleski sisters, who have studied cooking (Greta) and nutrition (Janet). (You may have seen them on a TV food network hosting “Eat, Shrink and Be Merry”.)

Well that was an enjoyable first blog post on the topic of nutrition! Shall not be the last!

So what are your thoughts? Do you have a label you prefer? Did you learn something new? Wish you had? Requests for more specific topics to discuss? Whatchya eatin?

 

Hello world!

Welcome to my  WordPress.com exploratory study. After you read this, please explore the comments or write your own post. That’d be why I’m officially here – needed an account of my own to comment on a new blog find I enjoyed… and since the world of online presence people kept saying “First, get a blog!”…. Finally able to check that one off! We shall see how this is superior in all ways to anything internet, haha! ( – warning – those experiencing a sense of humour deficit may not enjoy this blog)

And yes, I know, a site that is my own and lacking the “.wordpress” in the url would rank higher on google search, and backlinks are great, tags seem cool – okay I might actually play with those ones… I think it’s important to explore your purpose of creating any nook or cranny of your own on the web before you do it… is my purpose to get the top google search ranking? Not today! Today’s purpose, which is subject to change at any point without notice, is exploration! Exploring what is just so amazing about having a blog – the precursor to the facebook wall, without the built in “friends list” audience it seems – and exploring public journaling.

What brings you to wordpress world these days?

Might try reading the Daily Post now…. apparently it has something of interest…

Have you found something of interest on the web lately?