Intro and Daily Journal #1

Hey Hive-ians,

My name is Matthew.
I have been on Hive for a few years, ever since I first joined Splinterlands in 2020 (my username is my Splinterlands game name). But, I haven't made a post on here till now (only comments and reblogs).

A pic of me on my 25th birthday in 2017, having dinner with my family. Damn, I miss that Marvel shirt.

I love how everyone supports and builds each other up here, so it seems like a great place to start my blogging journey.

So a little about me: I was born in 1992 (yes, I am one of those angsty millennials) in the great state of Texas, in the wonder years before 9/11 changed everything. In 5th grade, I started having digestive problems which led to me being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis--a disease in which the immune system attacks the large intestinal tissue. The illness progressively worsened until 8th grade, when I had 3 surgeries to remove my large intestine (colon) and "redo" the internal plumbing. Thankfully, removing the colon is a cure for the illness.

In 9th grade, the stress of surviving all that seemed to trigger a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is sort of my superpower and kryptonite at the same time. You get trapped in rigid anxiety-fueled thought patterns. I call this "junk cognition" as it's all repetitive worrying about the same things over and over, trying to "resolve" things in your mind (this is impossible by the way, fears/worries cannot be resolved by thinking about them, you have to face the fear with real-world action). In the beginning, I would worry about what I would do if my mom and I were trapped on a desert Island and there was no food. Looking back, that one is a pretty silly thing to worry about.

This sounds all bad, but there is an upside. Spending all this energy on introspection and creating recursive mental constructs (i.e, obsessing about obsessing about a specific obsession) sort of enhances your ability to...well...think creatively and analytically..which can be helpful in certain pursuits like...I don't know...writing?

What also helps is having ADHD--if something distracts me, I can easily forget what it was I was obsessing about 🤣.

So over the years, I've been able to let go of many of my obsessions, and while new ones arise, I have slowly but surely improved over the years in being able to detach from the fears and junk cognition.

What I've been up to recently:

1. Here is a facebook post I made on December 14:

While revenge procrastinating at 3 am last night, something clicked in my brain. After years of sleep avoidance and other bad habits, it's time to make a change.
I am making a facebook group to keep me accountable and document my journey to better habits and health.
If you also want to or are considering optimizing your routines and lifestyle for better health and happiness, you might want to join.
We can encourage each other and keep ourselves on the right track by working together.
Please let me know below if you are interested in joining. I would like to have at least five people who want to participate before creating the group.
Godspeed 🚀🤘,
Matthew

P.S. If you want to join this group, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2256887757822860https://www.facebook.com/groups/2256887757822860

1. Working on some side hustles- for example I set up a pre-made affiliate marketing and email list-building funnel that recommends products like a search engine optimization training and software membership and email marketing software aWeber and getresponse. I got 10 new email subscribers in 10 days from posting six or seven "safelist" ads-would have had more if I posted one every day.
   

2. For fun:
   I was reading an articleabout outrageous Black and Jewish prankster and comedian Eric Andre. It was a great article which I connected to, being Jewish myself. I wanted to ask the author what her advice would be for how to get freelance writing jobs, so I clicked on her twitter profile link at the bottom of the page.

Unfortunately, I got a bit...um..distracted 🤣 by the first tweet I saw from her [WARNING:NSFW Themes]

(Image of Ariana Grande)

Nice to have someone appreciate my style.
So, safe to say I didn't get too much done after that.

What I'm listening to
I often listen to this in the morning or whenever I need an evil pump up. Basically, a pure adrenaline shot straight into the bloodstream. Perfect for when my nerd ass wants to feel like a gangster

Main Goal

My main goal right now is to work on my sleep schedule. I'm actually getting a good amount of sleep most nights but still going to bed and waking up at inconsistent times. I'm still figuring out my ideal sleep/wake times but I think going to bed around 10 and getting up at 6:30 or 7 might work well for me.

Great to meet you all!
Any thoughts? Let me know in the comments!