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Share With Us Your Sordid and Recent Past
Vivixenne
Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine.Registered User regular
Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine.Registered User regular
SE++, tell us a story. Specifically, tell us a story of where you were 5 years ago, at around this time in 2007, and how things have gone for you since.
How old were you? What were you doing? Where were you? What were your goals back then?
What's changed since then?
Some stories will be happy. Others will be sad. Some will have happies and sads that cancel each other out and are just stories. But let us all take a moment to reflect on where just the last 5 years have taken us, and appreciate how much has happened and changed in that period of time. Herein we shall examine where we were, how far we've come, and how far we've yet to go. Assuming an environment of mutual respect and support, of course.
(Yes, this thread was inspired by a discussion in the AusPAX thread. We do most of our best worst thinking where we think most people aren't watching.)
How old were you? What were you doing? Where were you? What were your goals back then?
What's changed since then?
Some stories will be happy. Others will be sad. Some will have happies and sads that cancel each other out and are just stories. But let us all take a moment to reflect on where just the last 5 years have taken us, and appreciate how much has happened and changed in that period of time. Herein we shall examine where we were, how far we've come, and how far we've yet to go. Assuming an environment of mutual respect and support, of course.
(Yes, this thread was inspired by a discussion in the AusPAX thread. We do most of our best worst thinking where we think most people aren't watching.)
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I felt that my fledgling career was over before it started, because I was miserable and I was staring down the barrel of a future in an industry I didn't even like
I was afraid to leave my boyfriend because I was certain I would never find another relationship again and that having anyone in my life, even if he was the worst possible thing for my mental and social health, was better than not having anyone at all
now I live in Australia and am working a job I love and living with a dude who is pretty spectacular
I am sure the axe is gonna fall at some point, but for now I am enjoying life
my cousin and grandad were still alive
i was living with my grandparents, going to college in cornwall
working in a video rental shop
I did a buttload of drugs and dropped out a year later
Wish I'd done it sooner
summer 5 years ago was when i started coming here
just pounding out a load???
wtf
so, in a way, it's topical
I was probably already awake, and had been at Starbucks working my shift for about 45 minutes. I had already been to and left college all in the past 5 months. I was weighed down by a still-fresh breakup, and was suffering the initial symptoms of chronic depression, though I didn't realize it at the time.
I would not consider joining the military for another two weeks. I had given no thought at all to the Marine Corps yet, favoring the possibility of enlisting in the Air Force instead. I was lazy, unmotivated, and semi-enjoying the perks of living at home, though, so I was not in a hurry to make any moves.
today I am not fat
-me, reading an imaginary journal i kept five years ago
Laterthat year I finished, went to Europe with my longterm bf, came back, ... split up with him? It was around that time.
Started looking for jobs. Realized I had no idea what to do with my life. Got depressed.
Five years later and I'm not sure much has changed, except I'm five years closer to the end of an unfulfilling and disappointing existence with nobody to share it with.
But I'm in a mopey mood tonight. Ignore all that. Um, I moved countries, learnt a new language, made some fantastic friends, accomplished ... well, some stuff professionally, worked hard on my art, joined two internationally renowned choirs, fell in love, had my heart broken. So, ... Learning experiences.
"GOD DAMMIT"
*scrambles to pick up all the pages*
"fuck, shit"
*starts punching the journal, which sits on hard cement ground*
"fuck, my hands fuck uuuuhuhadubg"
but I'm too busy right now
I'll be back for this tomorrow
hi hello this is me
didn't even know penny arcade was a thing until like '08
Here I am.
One the other hand I've got an awesome girlfriend and moved country.
It was a pretty good five years on the whole, but I made a mistake with the PhD and I'm afraid it's one that is going to continue to bite me in the arse for a while yet.
Obviously that's nothing compared to some of the debt American students have but damn did I make some poor choices.
Still those poor choices led to me meeting some of you people and then they turned out to be not so poor!
five years ago I was growing my hair to a disgusting length to spite all my friends, and my parents were very supportive which undermined the whole thing a fair bit
On the whole things have gotten only better since then but it's not been without it's hiccups.
and the rest, they say, is history
Ahaa, naw, but I was much happier and oblivious to how terrible people are.
So for a few years I was all depressed and such. Last year I tried real hard to change my ways, started takin' the anti depressants, made an effort to go out, hang with friends, even got laid. And. Man. New Years? Biggest relapse ever, fuck everything etc.
I dunno how 2012 is gonna go, but I am drifting along my nursing course, I don't think I'll fail. Applying for a part time job right now, less time spent moping around the house, right?
Things aren't great now, but I've a lot more confidence than I used to have and I know who I am and what I want from life.
It was a lot of Tequila
Even then it'd take me another year or two to move out, and that would turn out to be pretty brief because after all of a year I'd come straight back because the stupid agency crashed and burned and the money ran dry.
But hey, I'm sorta-almost-kinda finding contractual work again and I'm getting on with my family better than I used to! And my friends have gone on to do bigger and better things, which I should stress is a really good thing because I remember being a shoulder to cry on when they were going through far worse times than me... thinking that they won't be in that kind of place again counteracts the times when I feel stranded and bored because I'm the only one of us still living in the arse end of nowhere.
And then a year later I lost all the extra weight, I started going to the gym thanks to my personal trainer, I got invited to parties, I became more social, and I slowly became happier. My love life was still non-existant, my grades had only picked up a little in my worst subjects, but I felt like I had enough worth to pull myself up and keep trying. Now I'm fit, I'm healthy, I left the shitty degree I had wasted too much time and money on and now am going to a highly regarded art school, I'm working on my passion, I've got a job, I've learnt the resposiblities that come with money, family, friends and people in general, I treasure all the opportunities and luxuries I used to take for granted and I've been with the most wonderful woman I could've ever had the good fortune to meet let alone love.
I'm grateful for those past five years, for what they taught me, for all the good and shit I went through during them. I'm a better person because of everything that happened between that time. And for the first time in my life I can truly, honestly close my eyes and smile.