My name is Juliet, if you don't know me, I'm a full-time college student, working on an associate's degree in business administration. I spend my time studying, watching tv, studying, sleeping, studying, spending time with my husband...did I mention studying? Maybe next semester I shouldn't take 5 classes...oh well. I really enjoy my courses though, but if you'd told me in high school that I would fall in love with business, I would have probably called you a liar and set your pants on fire if they weren't already. Anyway, I have this semester and next semester to go, and I will FINALLY graduate. You see, I've been in college since fall 2004, changed majors at least 5 times, finally landing back at business (it was originally my 3rd major).Hmm...what next? Well, last November, I married my high school sweetheart. It's my second marriage, the first one was just a practice run, I guess. Anyway, Jay's the one I should have married in the first place, but we both had some growing up we needed to do. I love him very much, and I'm very proud of him. He was in the same boat as me, he was in college from fall 2002 until 2007(?) and had to drop out for a bit due to medical reasons, and is just now getting back to it. He decided recently that he wants to be a doctor, and started back to school this semester. First he's working on a bachelor's in biology, then I'm not really sure what's going to happen after that...either he'll get financial aid and we can stay where we are now, or we'll move about an hour away so he can go to the state university, and therefore have less debt when all is said and done. But he's really excited about it, and I am too.
I've had a couple issues come up in the last few years that radically changed my views on health and well-being. First was in 2006, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, which has been rough. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Without going into too much gory detail, basically spots of tissue grow in places they shouldn't be in a woman's pelvis. Some people can live their lives not even knowing they have it, and we "lucky" ones have chronic pain that is not easily tolerated or managed. I've had 3 surgeries since 2006, and last year I was able to have surgery with a specialist in Atlanta, Georgia (thanks to my wonderful parents), and have been relatively pain free ever since. Unfortunately, barring any sort of miracle or cure, I'll probably have to have surgery every few years to manage the symptoms. Either that or buy a pharmaceutical company that manufactures narcotics. I'm still undecided.
Second, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in April 2008...my how time flies. Endometriosis is not a major factor in my life right now, as I am symptom-free for the most part; bipolar disorder, however, is a major part of my everyday life. Even when I'm as close to stable as I can be, it's still something I have to keep tabs on. Have you ever seen the TV show Lost? On the island, there was an old ship that contained a cache of dynamite. It had been there for a long time, and was "sweating" nitroglycerin, making it very unstable. Two people managed to blow themselves up, just by waving it around too quickly, or setting it down on the ground too hard. Having bipolar disorder is almost like carrying around one of those sticks of dynamite with you all the time and hoping it doesn't blow up, leaving a wake of devastation and destruction. Luckily, thanks to the pharmaceutical companies, there are treatments available that can help manage the symptoms (maybe I should buy one of those companies after all...). Some people are even able to manage without meds...so far I'm not one of them. My most recent drug cocktail has me feeling pretty good, not too high, not too low...then again, it's only been about 2.5 weeks, so it could still blow up in my face. I've got my fingers crossed for positive results.
Mental health has gotten a bad rep over the years. I mean just look at all the movies that show some form of mental illness...they are way over-dramatized. Yes, there are people out there at the "completely lost touch with reality" spectrum, but then there are people who you could meet on the street and would never know there was anything "off". I have bipolar disorder, it does not have me. And just because I have bipolar disorder, it doesn't mean I'm crazy. I'm just "mentally interesting". I hid my condition for a long time, because I was worried what people thought of me, but recently I decided to open up about it, I was tired of hiding. Luckily, the people that I'm close to are very accepting of me, regardless of any diagnosis I may have.
Anyway, it's been kind of a long intro, but I wanted to touch on the things that you, my reader, may need to know about me, to give context to my later posts. Then again, knowing me, I start something with every intention of following through, then forget, so it may very well turn out that I don't have anymore posts :)
Like I said, here goes nothing!
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