I work in the mental health field and come in contact with people from all walks of life. When people come to me, they’ve been through a lot. Things can get heavy and it’s the type of job where you need to practice detachment and not take things too personally. It’s hard.

I recently had a client ask me for a little extra help, but he has a lot of views I disagree with. He’s super Christian and he’s made it clear that he doesn’t support the LGBTQ+ community. I even heard him dead name a trans woman who lives in the same building as him. He claims to be one of those “live and let live” Christians – if you don’t bother me I won’t bother you – but then I hear some pretty vile, judgemental things coming out of his mouth. 

I’m scared of a lot of the Christians at work – both staff and clients – because they can be pretty intense. I’m uncomfortable in many different situations and feel I have to hide who I really am. You would think in this day and age religion wouldn’t come up as much, but it does – a lot. It hasn’t been quite as bad at other jobs I’ve had. I should mention that I work for a nonprofit that is not a religious organization. 

So back to this client who needs help, it’s difficult to advocate for someone you don’t like, but I do it because it’s my job. I’m just curious if any of you have been in a similar situation. Do you have any advice? How do you keep your personal feelings out of your professional life? All the religion at work may be a different issue, but I wish it didn’t bother me as much. 

As a teenager in rural Henry County, Ohio, I couldn’t wait to go to college and get the hell out of that stinkin’ place. 

I even became an exchange student my junior year of high school and spent one amazing year in Denmark. I returned to my hillbilly town a raging socialist. Yeah. That went over well. Senioritis and reverse culture shock made my last year of high school excruciating. 

Needless to say, after graduation I left for college and never looked back.

I  moved around a little spending some time in the Cleveland area and then Los Angeles, but an undiagnosed mental illness brought my life crashing down. I needed treatment and my family’s help, so I moved back to the area. That was twenty years ago.

Today, I live near where I grew up, but in Toledo. I have grown accustomed to all the conveniences of city life, and I love raising my daughter where there’s plenty of diversity and opportunity. 

The strange thing is, I have become more fond of where I grew up as I’ve gotten older. Sure, I wanted to leave, but I can look back at a lot of good memories. Being a country kid was a lot of fun. Fireworks and bonfires. Swimming in the river. Spending hours playing in the woods. Seeing a million stars in the night sky.

My daughter is such a city girl. She will never know what it’s like to live without pizza delivery or not having restaurants and stores within walking distance. Hell, there are four Target stores within twenty minutes of our house. She doesn’t know what it’s like to live somewhere where everyone looks like you.

But then again, my daughter has never seen thousands of lightning bugs blinking and hovering over the alfalfa field behind my childhood home. 

I wouldn’t want to move back to where I grew up, and I certainly wouldn’t want to raise my daughter there, but I’m at a point now where I can look back and say it wasn’t all bad. 

Can you relate? What was it like where you grew up compared to where you live now? Maybe you stayed in the same place or maybe you made some changes like me. Do you look back at your hometown with fond memories…or at least realize that it wasn’t as backward as you thought it was?

We got paid today and on payday, we always go out to eat. Tonight we went to a popular restaurant in Toledo that is supposedly haunted. My daughter didn’t want to go fearing a ghostly encounter, but once we got there and she realized it was just a normal busy restaurant with nothing wrong with it, she was fine.

I used to fear supposedly haunted places, too, and I’ll admit it, I’m still a little afraid of the dark.

But why do kids fear monsters under the bed or in the closet? Why do they have fears that adults know aren’t true?

When I was little I was afraid of tractors and semi-trucks because I thought they had mean faces– especially the green Oliver in my grandpa’s barn. I about shit my pants every time he started the thing. 

Also, growing up out in the middle of nowhere I was certain I was going to get abducted by aliens. I was sure one night I would see their big eyes peering through my bedroom window. It never happened, but it was certainly a big fear of mine– enough to keep me up at night. 

I also assumed every storm would produce a tornado and my big sister thought it was hilarious to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz every time it stormed to make me cry. 

I’m still afraid of tornados but as an adult that just makes me ultra-prepared. I’ve got my bug-out bag ready to go when it gets bad. My husband is the type that likes to go outside and look when the siren goes off but I’m the one yelling at everyone to get their asses in the basement. 

Obviously, most people grow out of their childhood fears, but what makes children have so many unfounded fears in the first place? Are there just too many unknowns at that age?

What did you fear as a child? Are there any fears you didn’t grow out of?

We are an animal-loving family with five kitties and two guinea pigs. We have a full house and our pets are family. I know people judge us for the amount of pets we have because we don’t have a lot of money. The truth is, they’re a huge monthly expense but we couldn’t imagine life without our animals so we make it work. One thing that has really helped us is we found a nonprofit community vet where the cost of services is a lot lower. I am so grateful that they are making pet ownership more affordable for people in our city. They really saved our butts when one of our kitties needed her leg amputated.

I grew up out in the country with a dog and a million cats. My sister even had a horse for a while. I’ve always been around animals and I can’t imagine life without them.

It’s surprising how expensive guinea pigs are. They eat so goddamn much! In addition to hay and pellet food, they require fresh fruits and veggies daily. Our piggies are particularly fond of carrots with the greens still on them, basil, and yellow bell peppers. Recently we discovered that they also like dandelion and cilantro. Thankfully, we have found a local fruits and veggies store that sells produce really cheap. We can buy a mountain of food there for twenty bucks! Happy piggies!

This is Nugget. He’s the more outgoing one of our two piggies. He has two different colored eyes — one blue and one brown.

I really like talking to our piggies. They make the most interesting sounds. I talk and they squeak back. They stare at me and I really feel a connection with them. It’s so cute!

 

I want to hear about your pets! Are you like us and can’t imagine life without animals around?

If you are in the Northwest Ohio area, my flower finger paintings and drawings are now for sale at The Gilded Exchange in Perrysburg, a local furniture and home decor store and consignment shop. These are the pieces I dropped off yesterday. Fingers crossed I sell some!

It’s really hard to put yourself out there as an artist and so many of you have been really supportive. Thank you for that; I really appreciate it. You’ve given me the strength to keep going! With my current health struggles, sometimes all I can do is hide and paint. My artwork is a way I can still stay connected to the world and that has been really motivating to me. It’s how I’m turning a negative experience into a positive one and I’m so happy you’ve supported my journey.