Hi I'm the New (But Actually Old Because 19 Feels Really Old) Blogger

What's up everyone!!

I just spent like an hour complaining to Kayla about how I have no idea what I'm doing or how to blog, so bear with me. I guess the first thing to do is to introduce myself. I'm Violet. I'm 19 years old and I march to the beat of my own drum, like these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=fRscYVvEFt8&list=PL2J6kLWeTPwVXB5u9SEOAtNjDHyvoc25q

                                               The spandex. The neon. Just everything. 

This wasn't a conscious choice I made, but it's hard to fit in if you don't come from the same cultural background as the people around you. I didn't grow up watching Hannah Montana or High School Musical or Camp Rock, or listening to Britney and Miley and Demi and whoever else. I watched I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver. My first crush was Cary Grant.

I said that like it's embarrassing but honestly, have you seen the man??

                                       Tall, dark and handsome. And so so stylish.

My favorite musicians were Louis Armstrong (thanks, Dad), Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland. If you haven't heard of them, a) who are you and b) who raised you? I'm totally kidding. Also I'm sorry for rambling. My point is, I don't know how to be a cool kid. If I tried, I'd make an idiot of myself. Been there, done that in 8th grade and let me tell you it was not a pretty sight.

Partly by choice, and partly by necessity, I spent a lot of time alone in my high school years, reading books or writing stories and poetry. Needless to say, my poetry was, is and always will be absolute trash. But that's not the point. It was fun.

That's how I met Kayla. We kind of gravitated toward each other, I think because we both felt a little (or a lot) out of place. I don't remember becoming friends. We always just were. Throughout high school we got closer and closer and now I love her so much that I'll need two hearts to hold all the love I have for her. We're in college this year so it's been different, but she's still the first person I think of when I need to talk about something.

I'm like her in a lot of ways. We're both Christian, although I'm Catholic and she's Methodist. We both love Doctor Who and Harry Potter probably quite too much. We like to read and write and make ridiculous jokes. We're similar in a lot of ways that aren't so fun as well. Kayla asked me to join this blog because, like her, I have some firsthand experience in the delightful and thoroughly enjoyable field of mental illness, namely depression and anxiety. It took me a while to decide to accept her invitation, partly because I didn't know if that was something I wanted to talk about publicly and partly because I was afraid it would become a temptation to wallow in self-pity, always thinking and talking about my feelings and my problems. That's something I do all too often.

                                             Actual photo of me on a daily basis.

But I thought about it a lot, and I think I've made the right decision in accepting. Kayla has done a wonderful job of not making this one of those blogs, where people go when they're miserable, hoping it'll make them feel more miserable and therefore feel better somehow. It's not a blog about mental illness, it's a blog about life and everything that comes with it- joy, fear, suffering, happiness, all the ups and downs that everyone has to go through. I probably won't keep within the strict themes of the blog every day, and I hope Kayla doesn't kill me for that, but I can promise you on the grave of my ancestors there will be nothing political. I will try to tie everything I write into the blog themes but some days I might just want to have a good laugh or talk about something exciting I've learned. I've found that those things can help the most.

So, thanks for having me! I hope you'll come back and read more of our stuff and I'm sorry in advance for all the trash I'm about to write. God Bless you all!!

-Violet

Jeremiah 1:5