Christina Epperly
Bio
Hello There ! I'm a blogger, writer and bucket lister! My bucket list has over 300 items on it. I am big believer in enjoying the little things in life. I also love collecting toys.
John 3:16
Stories (62/0)
How an advertisement changed my life
I will never forget the day that my mom told me about an advertisement she had seen online. I remember that we were in the driveway at nighttime. As my mom parked the car, she mentioned that she saw an online advertisement for an OCD study. Throughout my whole life I had always struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder commonly known as OCD for as long as I could remember. OCD greatly impacted almost every aspect of my life. Every day OCD controlled what I wore, what songs I could listen too and how I interacted with others. Even though I was on a medication and that helped to improve my overall mood and made it easier to function in everyday life. OCD still had still had a lot of control over my life and I struggled with it every day. After looking into the advertisement that my mom had told me about, I learned that it was for an OCD study located at the Rodriguez Lab at Stanford. I decided to contact them, and it was not long before I found myself being screened for the different studies that were currently taking place. After a few visits it was decided that I would be participating in a study focusing on Transcranial magnetic stimulation also known as TMS. TMS is a treatment that has been used for depression where a magnetic pulse is delivered to a certain part of the brain. This study was to see if TMS would have a positive impact on OCD patients in a short amount of time. The treatment would be done over a five-day period. I would arrive in the morning and receive TMS treatment at different times during the day. Before I could begin my treatment, I would need to get an MRI.I was a little nervous, but the MRI was not bad at all I was relaxed and felt liked I could fall asleep. I was excited and ready to begin treatment, however I was nervous because I would have to stay closer to the lab. I do not drive, and both my parents work so it would not be possible for me to make the trip that is about thirty minutes each way over a five-day period. Hotels in the area were not in the budget so I ended up staying in an Air B&B that was a short Uber ride from the lab. It was hard to not be able to come home after a long day of treatment, but I was so tired of living with OCD’s daily demands that I willing to be away from home for a while. A typical day of treatment went like this. Wake up super early, get ready get an uber to the lab, settle into my own room for the day then walk to the treatment room several times during the day. I had a good amount of time in between my TMS sessions but I kept myself busy by listing to audio books, blogging and doing word searches. Being apart of this study meant taking a break from my everyday life however I felt comfortable coming to the lab each day. The staff there were all supportive and friendly and they helped me to feel confident. I was cautiously optimistic when I become a part of this study. I wanted this treatment to work but you never know what is going to work or not until you try it. Even if this treatment did not work the way I hoped it would, I knew that this research would be used to help others that were having their daily lives interrupted by OCD. Fortunately, this treatment had an incredibly positive impact on me. One thing that my OCD controlled was what songs I could and could not listen to. One day during my week of treatment I was able to listen to one of my favorite songs. What would have been an everyday occurrence for a lot of people was an incredible breakthrough for me. My OCD had not let me listen to that song in a long time. It caused me to feel like something bad would happen if I listened to that song. However, that day I not only listened to the song I watched the music video as well. I was incredibly happy as I listened to that song. I felt so free as enjoyed a song that OCD had kept me from enjoying for so long. In addition to being able to listen to that song, TMS brought me many positive changes. I now had the freedom to control my everyday choices. I got to chose what I wanted to wear, listen to, and how I interacted with others. OCD no longer had the same authority over my life that it used to. My life had changed for the better in a huge way. The treatment reduced my OCD symptoms by about eighty percent. I still have OCD, but I am the one who is in charge of the choices now. I am so thankful that my mom saw that advertisement my life is much better now because of it.
By Christina Epperly3 years ago in Psyche
Clutter brings me joy
I am going to start this off by saying that I love stuff. Now, that is not a big secret. You could easily come to that conclusion yourself if you were to see my room. There are many items and collections that take up all the space on the shelves, the tops of two dressers, a small chest of draws and a desk. My idea of wall décor is to cover the walls in as many pictures, postcards, drawings, ticket stubs, greeting cards, souvenirs and various other items as possible. When I first heard about minimalism, I knew that obviously it was not for me and that people who practiced minimalism would be overwhelmed by the way my bedroom looked. However, recently I learned that my room follows an aesthetic that is opposite to minimalism called clutter core. I was surprised to learn just how many other people enjoyed living in beautifully cluttered rooms. When I first looked at pictures of other’s clutter core environments, I felt like I was looking at pictures of my own bedroom. As I scrolled through the images, I saw many familiar things such as walls that were completely covered in various decorations, stacks of books on the floor, items lined up on windowsills, and overstuffed shelves. After looking at these pictures it got me thinking, the people who practice minimalism often talk about the mental health benefits that it brings them. However, speaking from personal experience, the truth for me and others is that having a cluttered room can have the same positive mental health benefits as minimalism does. As cluttered as my room is, it is calming to my brain. My room is my sanctuary filled with all the things that I love. When I enter my room, I am immediately surrounded by positive feelings and good memories. All the things that are in my bedroom collectively bring me joy. When I look around my room everything there helps me to relax and focus on positive memories. The various unique items that I have collected over the years are instant reminders of some of the happiest times in my life. When I am having a bad day or even if I am having a good one, it is beneficial for me to have a place where I am surrounded in positive memories and many of my life’s highlights including vacations, concerts, my childhood, and the good times I have had with my favorite people. My room is a consent reminder that good days do happen and will happen again. All my items work together to help remind me that there is a lot of good in this world even when it many not feel like it. There is no arguing that life is a stressful thing. All of us need a place to go where we can feel at peace and escape the everyday stress that life brings us. What that place looks like is different for every person. Creating your own personal sanctuary is not one size fits all. Minimalism works wonderfully for some people and for others clutter core creates those same peaceful feelings. The most important thing to think about when designing your own space Is to decide what will truly work for you instead of following what happens to be a popular trend at the time. Having a room packed full of items is not bad or wrong. Having a room with little or no decoration and only necessary items is not bad or wrong. This is truly a case of individuality and for a lot of people their perfect aesthetic is somewhere in between minimalism and clutter core.
By Christina Epperly3 years ago in Motivation