The Obligatory First Post

27Nov07

Welcome to my new blog. Please excuse me while I try to acclimate myself with blogging.

This blog will be my attempt to inspire others–to teach others that they, too, can overcome adversity. It will not all be serious, but I cannot guarantee the ever-so-subjective element of humor.

Over the next couple weeks, I will write an introductory series to introduce you, my non-existent reader, to my life and the challenges I have had to face and subsequently overcome. But here, in this obligatory first post, I will attempt to introduce you to the very basics, while also learning how to blog–the mechanics of blogging, such as how much to write, and how detailed to get.

I am 23 years old. I live in a not-so-sprawling metropolis in Ohio. Currently, I work two jobs while attending college. In college, I have a 4.0 GPA–something I am proud of. At the same time, however, I need to learn to stop worrying so much about grades.

Now, none of that, in and of itself, is anything special. In fact, I can’t even guarantee what you’re about to learn will be anything special. But for me, it has been a challenge–one in which I am proud to have overcome.

For some, college comes naturally: you go to high school and then, obviously, you move on to college. The problem, however, is that I did not go to high school. In fact, I did not even go to middle school.

Instead, I dropped out of school in the 6th grade.

That’s not all.

Several years after dropping out of middle school, anxiety I had been experiencing for much of my life increased to a degree where it was nearly unbearable. A relatively active social life became a non-existent social life, as I pushed all of my friends away and, essentially, self-imprisoned myself in my house–not leaving, or leaving very rarely, for several years.

I have social anxiety. Social anxiety has perhaps been more of a detriment than the lack of education, as the social anxiety has been one of the main barriers in me pursuing a higher education.

But, with hard work, I have been able to take control of my anxiety, my education, and my life. I am now in a position where my goals no longer seem to be far-fetched delusions. Each day, I see my life become a little better, but that is not to say that challenges do not still exist.

As I said, I hope to write much more about these and other things over the coming weeks and months. My plans for this blog are neither fame nor fortune, but to inspire others, to “document” my life, and to provide myself with a therapeutic outlet to vent frustrations, ideas, and insights.

Filed under: Introduction, Personal   |  Leave a Comment