#dowhatyouwant | Ele and the Little

It has been months since I have sat down and wrote anything for myself. I haven’t written anything outside of school or cards. Writing is one of the best outlets for me. Honestly, I have not done any of the things I typically use as an outlet in months. I have been in such a weird place. I have been in this strange survival mode, and when I finally got out of that, I was in catch-up mode. Only to go right back into survival mode and to now find myself back in catch-up mode. It’s been a vicious cycle. I tell you what, survival mode really messes with your psyche. There were points over the past four months where I felt like a stranger to myself. I felt as if I were outside of myself looking in. I did not recognize myself. It had been a few years since I was in full-on survival mode, and I had honestly forgotten how dark that could get. It sometimes felt as if I was swimming against the current, and even though I was doing everything in my power to stay afloat and fight, there was no outward progress. When things get that dark, I tend to become overly critical of myself. Who knows why? Maybe my therapist could tell me, but I re-evaluate every little thing. I judge myself for everything. I overthink EVERYTHING. I have felt distant from everyone in my life since November. I felt like I was unable to really connect with anyone at all. I’ve been in my head over-analyzing.

Feeling like you can’t connect with anyone will mess with your head too. I have all of this stuff I want to say and want to discuss, but I’m distracted. I can’t engage properly, and then I felt as if everyone could see it. There were times where I would be talking to friends, and it just felt forced. Or awkward silences while sitting with my boyfriend where I thought he was thinking to himself, “what am I doing?” I know that I only felt these things. I was the one feeling disconnected. I was the one in a dark place and lost in the aftermath of survival mode. Recognizing this doesn’t make it any easier. The depression that creeps in isn’t talked about. There is no preparation for it, even if you know it’s coming. It’s serious. So severe that I stand in front of the mirror and cry over the changes in my body. When I know, I should be patient and give myself a break, but I legitimately have no control. Or when I am feeling disconnected and behave differently, all the while knowing I am acting differently. When you’re in survival mode, nothing matters but getting through the hurdle in your way. Everything hits you after the fact. The laying in bed worrying about complications in your surgery or that what if’s that could happen aren’t mentally dealt with until it’s all said and done.

I’ve sat awake at night recently trying to process all of this. I am trying to mentally claw my way out of this darkness that is in my head. The only positive that comes from this darkness and survival mode is that when you’re overthinking and criticizing yourself, you have these moments of clarity. Or what others may refer to as spiritual shifts, epiphanies, realizations, etc., whatever you want to call it. At least for me, I prioritize things. I get a chance to see what really means something to me. I can see how I need to shake off the fluff and focus on what matters. With my surgeries and 2020 being the mess it was, I’ve had points when I shook off the excess and tried to refocus. I’m currently in a position of refocusing and slowly getting out of my depressive state, and prioritizing.

Things I thought mattered now seem so ridiculous. All the things I thought I once wanted seem like a different life. The person coming out of this darkness is one I don’t entirely recognize. I’m now a much simpler person. The thought of, “what if I don’t wake up from this surgery” or “what if while my pacemaker is out or off I go into v-fib and that’s it?” All of those kinds of thoughts change things. Over the last 15 months, I’ve realized how much I want a simple life. I want comfort and meaningful moments. I don’t need to have the nicest and newest things. I don’t need a bunch of convenient friends. I’d rather have a few close ones. I don’t need the fluff, the excess, the materialistic crap. I want a quiet life somewhere where I can have all the dogs. Go on vacation when I want to so I can continue to broaden my horizons. I want a roof over my head, food on my table, and, honestly, dirt on my hands and the soles of my feet. I want more meaning that makes sense to me. I don’t care how it looks to others. All my tears in front of the mirror over new scars or a few extra pounds need to mean something more.

My body went through hell twice in ten weeks. My mind hasn’t come out of hell in the past four months. Making the changes to get me to the place I want to be mentally will be a process. I just want a simple life that when I lay in the bed before my 11th surgery, which will inevitably happen, and I think, “what happens if this is it?” I want to be content with my answer. I want to be able to say that my life has been all I ever wanted it to be. I don’t want to have doubt or wish I would’ve done things differently. I want to be able to walk away with my mind and heart strong enough to keep the darkness out. I don’t want to lose myself and avoid my outlets. I don’t want to feel disconnected. I want to look in the mirror and not have a meltdown because I’m bouncing back from surgery. I just want simple.

I always thought that airports would play a much larger role in my life than they have, much like I did when it came to the Bermuda Triangle. Was anyone else overly concerned about the Bermuda Triangle around the age of 7 or 8? I was terrified I’d fly over it or go on a cruise and BOOM disappear. Why aren’t we still concerned with that? I digress, my point is that when I was younger I thought that airports and airplanes would be a huge thing in my life.

Who can blame me though, right? We watch movies and television shows where in the airport there are pivotal moments. Tearful goodbyes, declarations of love, and huge over the top reunions. We read in books about how sitting on the plane there was this moment of clarity, some great life altering moment where everything clicks and all the fear or doubt fades away. Then there is this whole aspect of travel. How travel changes your being and your outlook and how it is immensely important that one travels in life.

The closest thing I’ve had to a life altering moment on a plane was when I was “that person”. I had recently ended my relationship and been working nonstop. I was flying late at night, after working a close then double and then open shift, and I was on my way to Tampa to be with my Aunt while she had an ICD placed. I was overly exhausted and experiencing emotional overload. Well fast forward to my point. There I was traveling alone and I decided to watch a movie on the plane. I watched Table 19. It’s a good romantic life lesson type of movie. It had its happy, funny, shocking and sad moments. Well there was a moment when the couple it was focused on had this emotional fight turned reunion. In that moment I realized that my weak hope of my ex ever “coming around” to being an adult was null and void. I wept. I balled my freaking eyes out. I cried for feeling like I had wasted the last 4 years of my life and for being naive enough to think that movie actually would be something that happened in real life. Y’all, the poor teenage girls sitting next to me thought I was a psycho. Other than sitting next to a screaming child or a Bonnie Raitt fan that “toured with her” and gave me a lifetime of meaningless knowledge about Bonnie Raitt, absolutely nothing profound has happened to me on an airplane. I’ve never been in a life saving experience, like Greys anatomy, or realized that I was deeply in love with some like Rachel in friends. I mean she got off the freaking plane for Ross. Instead my time on planes have been meh. I’m typically reading or busy watching my friend Jes sleep with her mouth open 🤣. Love you Jes!

I’ve never had a tearful heart wrenching goodbye or a beautiful run and jump into one another’s arms kind of reunion in an airport. Instead I’ve been that girl who didn’t have a napkin and licked chocolate off of her phone screen while waiting to board the plane. I really have no shame, that’s kind of endearing right? In September I purposely chose to fly home hours later than my friends. One it was cheaper and I’m a cheap ass. Two I thought a little quiet time after a bachelorette weekend would be nice. And three I hoped I would have some life altering moment. Instead I sat looking out the window at the runway contemplating my life. I sat there and cried silently over my medical saga and my current state of affairs. The only significant thing that happened that day was I realized airports, air planes and air travel had not lived up to the hype. I also didn’t throw up from my hangover so it was a semi successful day.

I haven’t traveled nearly as much as I’ve envisioned for myself. I had big plans to see the world and to keep my mind open to new experiences, different cultures, and all the things that I could learn from. I’ve traveled more than others, yes, but not near as much as one should. The world is a scary and beautiful place with the knowledge that can help everyone find what they’re searching for in life. I’ve been far too boring this past decade and have not explored enough. Maybe it’s because I am overly excited about my upcoming trip to Hawaii or because I recently watched Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, but that wanderlust that’s ingrained in my soul is yearning to be unleashed. Maybe my goal for my 30th year should be to just say, “Screw it, let’s do this” and cross off some of these places on my must-see list. Maybe then I will have one of those climactic moments on a plane or in an airport. Something to live up to the hype I developed in my childhood. Maybe I’ll be like Kate Hudson in Almost Famous. That realization on the plane that changes everything and sets in motion bigger things leading to that window seat to Morocco. (If you don’t understand the almost famous reference we can’t be friends, I’m sorry.) Anything has to be better than sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours learning about Bonnie Raitt…right?!

Lifestyle blogger