Hey, y'all.

Let's just check in with each other for a minute.

First off, I want to apologize for not posting for several months. This was a completely unintentional hiatus. For most of this summer I was working six days a week between my job and my internship and was frankly exhausted. I had no idea where to start with a blog post and kept putting it off. “I’ll post whenever I finish my internship,” was what I kept telling myself. Until then I was just trying to keep my head above water. In late August I finished my internship. This would have been a good time to write about finishing a journey that was started back in October 2023.

After I finished my internship at Above and Beyond, I was offered a full-time position there.

Hooray!

That probably would have been a great time to post, but I was really just caught up in the excitement and worry of a new position and the bittersweet feels of leaving my job at Envision Unlimited. I had only worked there for a year and four months, but it was the job that got me into the mental health/human services field, and I learned a great deal from it. I’m sorry that I did not write at that time because I was genuinely happy to start a new chapter and I wish that I had recorded that.

In early September I went home for a weekend to Texas to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday. It was nice to see Texas for the first time in a couple of years and to catch up with family and friends, especially Maa. This would have been a good time to write as well, because my heart was so full of happiness and satisfaction at being able to tell my friends and family about my new career.

Then I got sick. I started having dizzy spells out of nowhere. Feeling like I was about to faint. Mostly while standing, but occasionally while sitting or lying down. My doctor wrote me a letter for work saying that I should not drive while these spells were happening. I had a few of these episodes at work and ended up going to the emergency room to see what was the matter. A couple of days at the hospital and many tests later I was released with no real answers. Could be a heart issue, could be a combination of medications, could be literally in my head. No answers. This probably would have been a good time to write a post to express this frustration and sort through my thoughts and feelings, but I did not. I regret not striking while the iron was hot.

Being unable to drive for the near future, I had to resign my position with Above and Beyond in late September. It probably would have been a good time to write a post about how I was feeling about having an unknown health condition and losing the job that made me so excited. But I was just too sad to write anything.

I fell into a depression quickly. I spent my days trying to keep busy and applying for work. I even had an interview that was promising until they told me that I would have to have a personal car for the job. That is the case for many CRSS jobs, but this was nowhere on the job description. I thought that I had a line on a car earlier in the year, but it didn’t work out and I cannot imagine how I am to acquire one while unemployed. This frustration was probably something that I should have written a newletter about.

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom. On October 8th, Jennifer and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary with surprisingly good all-you-can-eat sushi and petting bunnies at a delightful bunny rescue called Cuddle Bunny. My sister Juliana came to town in the middle of last month to run the Chicago Marathon and it was great watching her accomplish something that I could not even dream of doing. Not too long after the marathon my dizzy spells stopped as suddenly as they stopped. On November 1st, I attended the annual fundraising gala for Above and Beyond which was a really wonderful time. Bittersweet, but beautiful. I dressed up in formal wear for the first time since my cousin Chase’s wedding in 2011. Here I am in the tuxedo that Men’s Wearhouse rented to me for free:

I think I cleaned up pretty well. I even got to wear my cowboy boots.

Any of these events could have made a good blog post, but instead of writing I spent my days doomscrolling about the upcoming election. We all know how that went.

I have no ink (or pixels) to spill about the election other than it was a travesty and we will probably never recover from it. If you’re happy that he won, please keep this to yourself.

Forever.

So, what is next?

I think that now more than ever I need to write, create, play music, make art of all varieties, and engage with others, and to strive to be the healthiest and best citizen that I can become. I need this newsletter in my life and I just need to write whatever comes to my mind while I still can.

I solemnly swear that I will write a new post at least weekly. Even if it’s just to say, “Hey, I’m really struggling” or “I just don’t have a post in me, please enjoy a couple of pictures of my cats.”

Please hold me to this.

I can be reached at any of the places listed below. I did finally deactivate my Twitter/X account. Death to Apartheid Clyde and all he stands for.

Also, if you have a used car or a pile of money you feel like parting with, let me know.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

Drop me a line: jeremydnichols@tooearlyoldtoolatesmart.com

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