When You Feel The Sting Of Being Left Out

I need to go back into my mental health bag for this blog post, and I want to talk about a feeling that I had been occasionally having that gives me great grief on some nights. I would normally talk about this with my therapist, but because I do not want to pay the $160 for an hour long session, and no one else would want to hear about my problems for free, I am going to talk about it here on this blog post. Strap yourself in, because this is going to be a bumpy one.

My Greatest Act Of Self-Care (So Far)

Last year, I performed one of my greatest acts of self-care in my life. I touched on this briefly on a couple of my blog posts last year, but I want to use this post to talk about this in detail and discuss why it is important for me to continue doing this.

Pay Me In Work Experience, Please!

While I was working in one of my old jobs years ago, I remembered having a conversation with one of my coworkers. This was during the time at my old job when I was taking on more and more responsibilities at the company but not getting the financial compensation to match the increased responsibility (and this company was notorious for paying their employees as little as possible). I do not remember the specifics of the conversation, but I asked him why he does not try to earn more money working somewhere else, or fight for a raise in this company. He is a smart and hard worker, and certainly deserves the financial reward for his contributions. I distinctly remember his answer to this day.

Sometimes, It Is Good To Be A Stranger

Socially, I feel like I am back to square one.

Before the tail-end of the COVID-19 lockdowns (around 2021), I have always had a friend-group that I could hang out with, but as of now, I do not think that is the case anymore. I have since moved jobs on a couple of occasions, and it is great for me professionally, as I can now work from home and I am making a better living financially. The problem with my new working arrangements is that I do not get to meet people face-to-face very often. The extent of my physical interactions with people at my work is the occasional office visit once every three months. 

The Impermanence of Permanence

The one thing that I always end up telling myself is that the only constant in life is change. There is no such thing as going back to the way it was; there is only moving forward. However, I always find my mind wandering back to times in my past; so much to the point that I want to go back and relive some of those times, either to relive some happy memories or to see if I could have done things differently. Reminiscing is a dopamine hit, but it can also reopen some hidden wounds.

What Is My Next Step? How Can I Evolve?

I occasionally write posts like this where I can check in on my mental health, and the purpose of this post is to talk about the thoughts going on in my head. Last November, I went to the CONCACAF Nations League match between Canada and Jamaica and I already talked about the match and everything surrounding it. While I was watching the match from the homely and familiar surroundings of section 114, there were other things on my mind while watching the match. I want to use this post to talk about these other things.

Everything Can Change In An Instant

So far, I can sum up my summer of 2023 in one word: weird. The reason why this summer felt so weird for me can be traced back to a singular moment on a fateful May morning.

My Old Company Cannot Afford My Services

I want to share something with you. I would not call this a dream, or a fantastical thought I had, but it is a blend of the two. This is a blend of something that actually happened to me, with a mix of a fantasy scenario, and it combines two things that I have spoken about in length about this blog. These two things are my value and the time I worked at an old company. Let me briefly go over these things and then lay out this scenario that had been buzzing through my head for the last little while.

What Is Success? What is Failure?

I occasionally hear discussions on the topics of success and failure and I have always wanted to talk about what I thought about success and failure (more specifically, what I believe is a successful person). There were two events that made me want to write a post on this. One such event happened recently, and the other happened a while ago during a family function.

The Lakeshore Terrace

I lived in three places - at work, at home, and at the stadium - but my real life was at the stadium.

Forgive my bastardized quote adapted from the short story The Hockey Sweater but I wanted to write an ode to my home away from home. I am from Toronto and a massive footy fan, so of course I am talking about BMO Field, and even more specifically, section 114.

The Cultured Individual

I had a thought, or maybe it was something closer to a fantasy. I imagine somewhere in the future, maybe 50 years from now, and assuming the internet still existed in a similar way to now. I think about someone important, by some random chance, stumbling onto my blog and seeing the posts I have made about 50-60 years ago. I feel like that person in the future will label me as 'one of the great thinkers of our time'. How could that possibly be? I am just one person with one blog in the sea of millions of blogs on the internet. I do not consider myself important, nor would I ever anyone else consider me as important, or even go so far as to call me 'one of the great thinkers of our time'.

When Life Leaves You Behind

This is going to be one of those posts where I talk about what is on my mind. I want to talk about some issues. I have not been feeling the best mentally, and I feel that could be due to a number of things.

Changing Jobs And Suppressing Lingering Feelings

I initially did not want to create a third blog post about changing my job, but there were unaddressed feelings that I could not stop thinking about. I talked about my old company's lack of action of making me feeling important, as well as keeping in contact with my friends in the midst of a pandemic. However, I did not talk about what leaving my old company meant for my co-workers, especially in my old department. I realized that in order for me to move forward in my life and in my career, I might have to hurt the people I care for.

Changing Jobs And Keeping In Touch

As I have recently switched employers in my career, I have wrote about the negative aspects of working at my old company as it pertains to my life and at the current stage of my career. Switching employers is currently looking like a good move for me, but that is not to say that I miss certain things about my old company. I want to talk about the biggest challenge that I am going to face about leaving my old company.

Changing Jobs And Trying To Realize My Value

If anyone has seen some of my posts from late last year and early this year, I talk about my struggles in working at the company I was working for at that time. Around that time, I was working evenings and weekends without any financial compensation and I was suffering from job burnout. Well, I have some good news! At the time of writing this post, I have accepted a new position at a new company and the previous week was my last week at my old company. There is no doubt that I am excited for this new challenge and opportunity. This post is going to sound like I am complaining about my previous job, but honestly; I do not care if this is how the post sounds. During my job search and my subsequent job offer, I have been thinking about why I wanted to leave my current job, as well as what I have learned about myself and what I want to do in my career path.

COVID-19 Update: Amplifying The Stagnation

COVID-19 is unfortunately still a thing. Although businesses and other services are slowly starting to open up to the public, there is the risk that opening up things too early will create a second wave of the virus. As the weather is getting warmer for the summer, many people feel anxious and want to enjoy the good weather, even if it means circumventing general social distancing guidelines.

COVID-19 and Self-Isolation

As the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus (also known as the 'coronavirus') continues to spread across the world, health professionals are continuing to urge people to take certain precautions, such as washing your hands, and only going outside your residence for essentials. In addition to these efforts, health professionals are recommending a practice of social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. In basic terms, do not hang around other people if you do not have to.

Feminist Art Fest 2020

Right off the bat, I want to say that I have never been to an event quite like this before. One of my goals for the blog this year is to go to more events in Toronto and the surrounding area. The Feminist Art Festival came up in conversation to go check it out was because a friend of mine was displaying an art piece at the festival. I thought it would be a good idea to go support her and the organizers of this festival by attending, as well as to better understand women's/trans/indigenous issues in the larger society.

The Symptoms of Job Burnout

I have touched upon my mental health issues due to my current exhaustion from my work in one of my previous posts. I want to explore these issues in this post.

The Dangers Of An Imbalanced Work-Life Balance

I have been working at the same position for some time now. While my boss is a big proponent of having a life outside of work, it feels like lately, I have been having to work after-hours and on the weekends on a semi-normal basis. I want my work-life balance back.