I realize that we, as a society, have all been going through unimaginable changes since the pandemic began. Over the last year, we have become more aware of things we may have not stopped to notice before. This process alone, has the potential to change how you see everything in the world….
Personally, I have been going through this pandemic (which inherently has changed most of us), while experiencing events that, in and of themselves, are big developmental spurts. For example, since the pandemic began, my oldest kiddo moved out, while my youngest learned to drive and became an independent person. Let’s face it, she was an independent person since she was born (I swear she has an old soul), but now she can be independent legally speaking…or socially acceptably speaking?…. I digress.
Empty nest syndrome? Mid-Life crisis? I will officially be 45 next weekend. However, since I did everything backwards, my career is just beginning. On that note, there are many things in the works that we have been moving towards in terms of the model development itself. I have a library of articles I seem to be writing simultaneously. It’s a little nerve wracking, because I’d like to be able to put out information and articles on a schedule. Unfortunately, my brain doesn’t work this way. Like most people on the spectrum, my brain loves to go in all directions at the same time. I can’t finish one article without working on others, almost like moving around a slide puzzle. It makes giving myself a deadline moot. My mentors in grad school really loved this about me (I say sarcastically) lol.
One of the things I have been working on is creating a more personal collection of websites all connected by one overarching domain. Origin.Observer is the main hub, where I’ll be talking about the stuff everyone is curious about – what I mean by elements. Really, it’s just a personal family hub of sites for each of us.
My personal site has been up for some time, but has yet to be fully populated. The way we’ve been setting it up is simply to be a website for each of our corners. My corner is clearly water; full of music, art, philosophy, and magic. Stane as fire – will be sharing stories from his life experience….and all things machine, metal, cars, trucks, motorcycles, and crazy stories from his days of truck driving and hitchhiking across the country when he was younger. I’m trying to get Elise to let me create a gallery for her to showcase her incredible artwork, stories, and comics (at least ones she’s willing to share). Aiden will most likely be all things gaming. He’s been researching a lot of history and knows way more than he gives himself credit for. He’s a late bloomer like me!
Our intention is to share our experience and be an example of how to navigate using the model. Our personal pages, however, will be separated from this page as a way to create a boundary between my professional world and my personal world. As someone who has had an internet presence (quietly) since 1997 and a personal blog since 2000, I’ve learned how to navigate people’s reactions to my sharing of myself; especially within a traditional New Mexican household who deeply believes that nobody should know what we’ve been through. Don’t get me wrong, I understand what happens when there’s too much sharing. Unfortunately, I know way more about what happens when there’s not enough….abundance and scarcity…. Like I say, extreme anything is not a good thing.
Finally, on that vein, our ultimate goal will be to have a more visual presence. I’ve had a lot of requests and suggestions around this and eventually plan on doing it… creating a YouTube channel. I may be used to being out in the open, I am not, however, used to being so seen, let alone getting requests to be seen even more. I’ve also been trying to get Aiden to help me set it up – he’s my YouTube guru. I’m practicing being in front of a camera so I can start creating videos on the model. Being forced into finishing internship, running the second half of my workshop, and defending my dissertation through zoom – I keep trying to tell myself it’ll be just like that – but my brain knows. I haven’t been able to trick it yet. I’m practicing with Instagram videos, while simultaneously invading Elise’s social media world. She says Facebook is for “Boomers”, as if that’s an insult to me. All I can think is, “at least she’s not saying Facebook is for you “Gen-Xer’s.” At least it isn’t Myspace. lol.
So there are many things to come in the near future. In the meantime, I would like to finish my residency and get licensed first. I’m kind of a Turtle – but hey, at least I walk to the beat of my own drum – albeit very slowly.
Enjoy my pics of my goofy family. We try to not take ourselves too serious. I do that enough for all of us (hah). Anyway, the pics below are from when we said goodbye to Elise. She’s been gone for a week so far. She’ll be home in 4 more. I’ve never been away from her this long. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad yet… bittersweet perhaps.
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Doctor of Clinical Psychology, PsyD., middle aged, mother of two young adults, Latina, neurodivergent, came from the dirt and clawed my way out through the US education system, digital and AI artist, web programmer, writer, pure water elemental, dark creature, and goddess of water (one of many)!
I am one, of infinite possibilities.
This is me, who are you?
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