August 28, 2019

The Christianville Spirit: Anxiety and Voices Overlapping



The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Knows Love
August 28th, 2019- TCS # 652

Hoi, My Readers! I present to You, a New Greeting! This Greeting is from the Netherlands, Holland, or Both. Hoi, which I am told is pronounced like It looks, Hoy. Hoi, by the way, is Dutch for “Hi” commonly said among People that You know. Alternatively, Hallo (like the German and Swiss German Hallo) is used to say “Hello”. In Trying to come up with One of My Common Greetings, I thought of This One. I heard actually that The Famous All-About-Special-Needs “Welcome to Holland” Poem has an Extension called “Welcome to Holland-Part 2”. If You don’t know about it, be sure to check it out after Reading My Newsletter. Priorities, People! 
So, My Mom and I had Another Great Discussion last week that I forgot to mention about. So, She was looking at Meme’s for a Second on a Facebook Page called “Empaths, Old Souls, and Introverts” and She came across a Meme that She shared that said, “An Empath’s Nerves can get frayed by Noise, Smells, or Excessive Talking”. She nodded at Me and said “That’s You Guys with PTLS!”. I came over to her and read the Meme and I said “Amen to that!”. Then, I went into an Explanation that I thought that I told her before but, I’m not sure if I had or not. An “Only In My Mind” kind of Thing. First of All, Yes, PTLSers are actually both Empaths and Old Souls. “You are Wise Beyond Your Years, Christian”, a lot of People, both PTLS Family Members and Friends tell me. As for The Introvert Thing, In a Way, We are. We tend to be Homebodies. and, in a Way, We are Not. We are Out going when We want to be. I tell her that it is Not Always for Me to go to a Party or Places where People are talking loudly and Music is playing Loudly. Like When I am at Party, I wanted to talk to a Group of People about a Subject that either happening in My Life or in Cases where I can, Politics. But, Then, There comes a Time when The People I am around start Talking about something boring, or The People in Another Group are talking about Sometimes, I want to. It makes me Anxious, do I join in or not. I think that is a Common Problem with A lot of People though. the Give and Take of Conversations and Of Course, What I call “Voices Overlapping” is what makes me Anxious The Most. What is “Voices Overlapping”, that is basically when Two or More People are talking at The Same Time about Roughly The Same Thing. An Example that I can think of is when I was at Grandma Honey’s House. My Mom and Grandma Honey wanted me to do something, but Voiced at The Same Time, I said “Hold On! Voices Overlapping! One person at a Time!” Then, I asked one-by-one, what each of them wanted. The Give and Take Thing is The Hardest! Let’s Say that Myself, PTLS Brother, Tyler, A PTLSer that I will refer to as “MP Twinee ” and My Lil’ PTLS Sis’, McKenna all are talking about A Subject. Me and “MP Twinee” are talking about Something, then McKenna jumps saying, “But, Like” about The Subject at Hand, but Tyler mentions something Funny and We start laughing about it. Several Topics later, McKenna (or I, in Many Cases than I care to admit) talk about The Subject that We talked a Couple subjects ago. The Thing is that, We think of an Idea to The Conversation and Want to talk about It, but by the Time We get The chance to mention it, The Subject that Our Idea was in, has already passed. 2 or 3 Subject Matters ago. Now, Baring in Mind, It is not always McKenna that will do that, It could also be Me or “MP Twinee” or even, Tyler. It is All of Us PTLSers that could do it. Somehow, In Social Convention, It can be seen as being Rude or not being Very Sociable. We are Very Sociable but, Just in a Different Way. Here is A Rerun about “Voices Overlapping” in More Ways than One. 

This Newsletter was written on September 28th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 513)

Happy Autumn, My Readers! Sorry Guys, I forgot to wish you a Happy Autumn last week. So, Happy Autumn anyway. I like that word, Autumn, it actually sounds better than Fall. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter. So, when I scroll through My Facebook News Feed, Interesting Stories pop up (I call them “Push Backs” because I send them to Safari and I read them after I get done with Facebook) that I find to Read. Most are about Travel or Romance. But, This One got to Me. It was an Article from a Special Needs Advocate Blog called “The Mighty”. This Article was about What It is like with High-Functioning Anxiety. That basically means that I can do a lot by Myself but, We have Anxieties to go with it. I am thinking that Anxiety is a common trait of People with Special Needs and that includes PTLS. Don’t get me Wrong, I Love PTLS, I Love having PTLS, I would never trade it for The World. Do I wish that There were Certain Attachments (or Clauses) that I would edit or get rid of? Sure I would. The Biggest Attachment I would want to get rid of, is You guessed it, Anxiety. Anyway, This Blog post on “The Mighty” explained in My Head, Perfectly what it is like with Anxiety being a High-Functioning Person with Special Needs. It mentioned also to Blog about It to Help You, as well as Others Understand, and That is what I am doing. So, When I am Anxious, according to My Mom, You can usually tell. If I am Anxious about a Certain Event, I get different ranges of symptoms, like a little Gagging (when I was little or in extreme situations), Throwing Up (in real extreme situations), Sweating, or Digestive Issues. Usually, My Mom can tell I am Anxious because I have a “Look” on My Face that says it all. We call it the “Something is bothering me/Face of Fear/I’m going to be Sick” Face. But, What about Anxiety Stress, I believe that The Article was referring to? Well, when I am stressed I tend to act different than What I normally do. I am more Quiet when I am normally Talkative, I ask a lot of questions, I get Headaches more often, Most of This Stuff I have written about before, and then Something that I have never mentioned is Something I like to called “My Curiosity thoughts”. Basically, They are, as My Mom says, “Intrusive Thoughts” that Everyone has normally, that usually goes in and then Pass Through, like how new parents worry about dropping a baby while they are holding them. They know they will not do it, but the thought “Pops” in their head. But, For Me, It “Pops in” and then I obsess about it, and Then I have to let it Out somehow. It really bothers me when these Thoughts Pop in. I know they will not happen, but They sure are Bothersome. The Best Way I have found to let them out is either Blurting it Quickly, Say “Sorry Mom”(even though my mom did not even hear what I said), Hug, and Move on or I say it in a Joke form. Other Times, I would tell it to “Shut Up” and hope it goes away, and Get it to Pass Through. It can range anywhere from “Should I say or do this?”, and Not-So-Nice Words. Now, I would never actually do or say any of those things because I have No Mean Bone in My Body and I hate when They come in. It really Annoys Me when I have a “Curiosity Thought”! I have realized that When I am Anxious about Something that is going to happen that I am Not sure about, They start to show up more than I would like them to. I am wondering also if I am Imitating things that I see or hear about. Considering that I watch The News everyday to hear about What is going on in The World, which I use to Teach me things about How The World works, it is not good. I am struggling to even write this because It is hard to explain What is in My Head. My Mom looked it up one time about The Thoughts and Told me that It is common for those that have Autism to have those “Curiosity Thoughts”, but I read that Those with Autism tend to follow through with The Thoughts, where I would not. It makes me wonder though, It is a Little-Known but, Common Theory for those PTLS as well. The Article mentioned that You tend to have Self-Damning (If You will) Thoughts like Your not good enough, Your a Bad Friend, Your a Loser, Your Pathetic and It is basically Energy that needs to get out somehow. They say to Exercise, Walk, Run, or Just talk it out. But, Not to go all Psychology on You, but, Those Kinds of Thoughts are Common for Everyone. It is how “The Enemy” (as I explained in a Previous Newsletter) tries to Get you, to Upset You, and Pull You away from Your Destiny, that is his (It sounds better) job. I am thinking “It” should get a New Job. I often worry that I will have those Thoughts even in My Future, with My Future Wife around. I am sure that She will change that, at least I would think. I will always have some kind of Anxiety but, I would rather get rid of that one. All in all, I hope that You understand that It is Hard to get what is in My Head out for You can Understand.



Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. We all have ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) in Our Head, Get a Hug and Let them go.

August 21, 2019

The Christianville Spirit: The Day of My Birth



The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Knows Love
August 21st, 2019-TCS # 651

 Welcome Back, My Readers! I am Back and Ready to Roll! I was just Partying Hard-y for My Birthday. Okay, Maybe not Partying Hard-y but, Certainly Partying in My Own Way. I am 32 Years Old Now, by the way! Wow! It feels Weird to be saying that! 32 Years Old. Yes, Folks! Thirty-Two Years Old! So, Two Questions that I am sure that You are Wondering, One that I place in Your Head, One that is Already in Your Head. First, is the One that will be in Your Head. It is always a Question that goes in My Head pretty much Every Birthday Year I have had. What do I know about The Number XYZ? In other words, What do I know that The Number 32? Well, in Numerology, 32 with The Numbers 3 and 2 equal 5. Now, Baring in Mind, that There are Two Meanings to Numbers. One that I call Number in Single and One that I call, Number in Sequence. Personally, I prefer Number in Sequence like 111, 222, 333, 555, 666, 888, 999, You get The Idea! 555 means that a Series of Your Life, Career, Professional, or Relationship is going to End. Likely, Making Room for New Professional or Relationship Phases to come. Then, Of Course, Comes a Bigger Question about References in TV, Movies, or Music or just in Pop Culture. In the Case of 32, I know that 32 is a Football Call...actually like a Yell that says, “Blue 32!” that was All I knew by Heart, My Lovely Smart Neighbour, Mr. Marshall told me that It is also a Computer Code. As in, The Size of a Computer’s Memory back in The Day, called 32-bit, as in 32-bit Memory. So, My Age is Football Call (Yell) and a Computer Code of Memory. That is Interesting! Something to Think about with Your Age in Reference. So, The Second Question is What did I do for My Birthday? Well, For My Birthday, I was not really sure what to do! For My 29th Year, My Lovely Neighbours Surprised Me for a Dinner and I went up to Denver to see My Brother; My 30th Year, My Brother came down here to Surprise Me! and Of Course, My 31st Year was spent in a Different Country, in Sweden! So, In My Head, I struggled with, How do You top that?! My Mom chimed in saying, “You don’t” So, We decided it would be Nice to Make Appointments with Those that I Love that have Quality Time with Them because It is much Easier to do that and Socialize versus having a Party and not having enough Time to talk to Everyone. So, I went to Dinner with My Mom and I’s Friend, Max; Went on a Drive with My Mom for a 3 Hour Drive near Downtown Dallas; FaceTimed with My Lil’ PTLS Sis and Another PTLS Pal of Mine, baring in Mind that both of them are on Opposite Sides of The Country! Oy! Times Zones, Let me tell ya! But, I call that a Birthday Miracle! and, We managed to talk for an Hour! again, A Miracle! Of Course, I also had a Great Dinner while Camming (FaceTime) with My Grandma Honey. and, I had Dinner the Other Night with My Neighbour across The Street. In All, It was a Great Birthday! So, I wanted to share an Awesome that I wrote about My Birthday in a Different Way, I present to You, My Day of Birth Newsletter!


This Newsletter was Originally Written on August 9th of 2017 (Refer to Newsletter 556)

Happy Birthday Week to Me, My Readers! Yes, Folks! This Week is what I refer to as “My Birthday Week”. Why Celebrate Just a Day when You can celebrate the Entire Month and Entire Week of Your Birthday? Genius Right? I would believe so! It is much more Fun that way. I still can not believe that I am turning 30 Years Old This Week. It just baffles me! This, However is the Last Newsletter of My 29th Year! I had a Really Great 29th Newsletter. I went to Spain and Spoke in front of PTLS Family Members; I went on a Cruise with A PTLS Family Member without My Mom, The First Trip I have done without Family of Mine since, like 5th Grade (1998). I have grown up a lot in My 29th Year. So, Adios to My 29th Year! So, This Birthday Newsletter is going to be a Little Different. Less than Traditional. So, Something that Most People don’t think about, Your Birthday is not just Your Birthday, It is also for Your Mom. Your Mom?! You would say. “It’s MY Birthday, not Hers!”. But, Here is the Thing, We would not be here without Our Moms. Our Moms giving birth to us. My Mom and I were talking about it one Night and I asked her, “What would You call the day of My Birth?”. “Mother’s Day of Birthing” and Everyone has one. In Other Words, In a way, Your Birthday is mainly about You but, also about Your Mom. So, What about Your Mom? Well, in Honor of Her, My Mom is Awesome! The Thing is about Your Mom is that You don’t realize how much She does for You from Birth to Now. I Thank My Mom for that Every Day and not just in a “Thanks Mom for Dinner” kind of way. After all, She birthed me, She burped me, She cuddled me, She took care of me, and Sent me to School among Many, Many Things. She does a lot too! She does a lot of Work (that is often Unseen, as to How hard she works) and Representation of not only Myself but, My Special Needs of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (or PTLS for Short). That Alone deserves an Award! She does a lot of Work for Furthering PTLS and does not Get Paid (Which She should, just My Bias here!) and Eventually Will be! She tells me that She knew I had Something Special about Me and that I was Unique from The Minute that I was Born! From The Moment that She felt Everything giving Birth to Me, She knew She was going to be in for Quite a Ride! Not in the Very Least a Typical Up and Down Ride! How about an Up, Down, Upside Down, and Spinning Ride?! and, Quite a Ride that She has ridden up to Now and Will continue to Ride. Now, Imagine this Whole Ride of PTLS, Working Hard Unseen, and Raising Him Up. Comes to Her Oldest Son turing 30 Years Old on Friday! That is just Cray-Cray! I am not a Gift Receiving kind of Person (It is not My First Love Language), I would rather feel Love with Quality of Time. I would rather Celebrate The People that I know and Love as My Gift. So, that is My Gift to You. All in all, I Thank You to My Readers for Being in My Life. And, I thank My Mom for Birthing Me for You to be in My Life!



Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Thank You for Being My Lifetime Gift. 

August 7, 2019

The Christianville Spirit: My Thoughts on Bullying



The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Knows Love
August 7th, 2019-TCS # 650

Welcome Back to School, My Readers! Okay, actually, Your Children probably have already been told that or will be told that! Yes, It is Back to School Time! The Time when Everyone, young and old go back to School. Yes, Folks! I know It may seem Early to Some. I am sure that You are probably Thinking, Wait a Minute! Summer just started! Nope! Time went by Very Fast! Now, to be fair, There are Some School Districts in America (ahem..Here in The United States) where They have already started School and even I was thinking that It was starting too Early. I have always known here in Plano that School always started either A Day or Two before, On, or a Day after My Birthday of August 11th. This Year it happens to be The Day after My Birthday. Now, Something that worries Parents, speaking of School is the Dreaded Topic that Everyone eventually has to deal with at One Time or another. For The Record, Said Topic does not always stop in School, Sometimes You get them in Adulthood but, Much Less than in School. The “Them” that I am referring to, of course is Bullies or Bullying. In Other Words, People who feel that In order to Make Themselves feel better, They start Bullying You so that You are Equal their Level of Sadness and/or Anger-ness or both. So, The Thing is, I wrote a Newsletter about This, which I am going to rerun in a Second. But, I will tell you first that Yes, in My Childhood, I was Bullied in the 5th Grade. The Kids who did it have since apologized for Their “Immature” Behavior at The Time, which to be Fair, It comes with being in 5th Grade. But, I digress. Now, The Hard Part of This Topic of Bullying is that Bullying as certainly changed a lot since I was Kid. Most of The Time, Bullying occurred at School and Only at School, maybe After School too. Now, No I am not talking about Myself, I am talking about Bullying in General. Now, Since There is much more Access to The Internet and Technology, Bullying can spread a heck of a lot faster than Just at School. These Days as much as I hate to imagine this but Kids These Days have Social Media and of Course, Phones. By Social Media, usually it just means Snapchat or Instagram; “The Kids Version of Facebook”, as a Friend’s 13 Year Old told me a couple years ago. Of Course, Yes, There are Kids who sneak onto Facebook and Most often It is on YouTube. “Keyboard Warriors”, I have heard Youtubers referred to them as. As well as “Haters” or Most Commonly “Trolls”. Bullying can happen anywhere these Days. The Key to all this is to Report it. To an Adult or A Symbol of Authority. So, The Moral of The Story is not just to watch Your Kids but, Also Be Involved in Their Life, Talk to Them Every Night at Dinner and Chances anytime You get. and, Of Course, It goes without Saying to Spread Love! So, with that said, I am going to rerun a Newsletter about My Thoughts about Bullying! Enjoy!  


This Newsletter was Originally Written on July 10th of 2013 (Refer to Newsletter 359)

So, This Week’s Newsletter is going to get a little Personal, about Something that concerns us all. It is known as Bullying. As hard as it is to say, You can’t go through Life without being Bullied and You have gone through without it, then You are very lucky. Now, I say that, “Concerns Us All” because it concerns not only PTLS Family Members but, also even the rest of us. For Those PTLS Family Members, I don’t mean to scare you in any way, I just want you to know what could be ahead (and, hopefully, it won’t be). As for Me, I was bullied in 5th Grade by a few kids in My Class. One Day, I was just sitting there and then, they started throwing Spitballs at Me. Considering that I had Texture Issues, I didn’t like the feel of the Spit Balls (I mean Who doesn’t). Anyway, It continued day after day while annoying me increasingly. After I told My Mom and My Brother about it, Our Childhood Meredith asked My Mom what would the risk be if she beat them up. My Mom told her what the consequence was and Meredith said, “Okay!” Talk about Support! I remember one day My Mom came to School to have lunch with me and they started throwing spitballs at me and eventually, I broke down and cried; My Mom on the other hand, She literally jumped out of the chair and flew over to those kids. Nearing 5th Grade Graduation, My Mom had a Genius Idea. She went to The Principal and they set up where The Kids that were nice to me (including Meredith) awards, to give the other kids a lesson in how to treat others. It would really help when Kids would ask My Mom about Me because I talked funny or acted less-than My Age (which is common in PTLSers anyway) and she would explain to them that I learned differently and Talked Differently but that was I was Unique, I had something called Dup.17p11.2 or A Duplication of Chromosome 17 (This was before Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was named). By The Way, I think I need to mention about the “Half-Age” thing. It generally said that us PTLSers in the way of age-appropriate behaviors, we are Half Our Age. However, there are times when we are more than our age, for me that is when it is about Geography and When I am Writing. I like to think of it more like this.. When I’m around Kids because there are No Adults to talk to or The Kids Stuff seems more fun, than I act less my age because I am imitating them. However, If I am around Adults (by Adults, I mean above 30), then I act more of My Age or sometimes even above it. So, I’m sure you are asking, “Was School Hard for You?(In The Way of Bullying)” It wasn’t that hard, the 5th Grade was the only time that I had bullies. As For My Advice about it, first thing to do would be to ignore it because they want a reaction out of you. If there are No Reactions, They will not Bully (do tell someone like Parents, Teacher, or Person of Authority); If it continues then, You tell them to Stop; if they don’t then You move toward The Principal (or Someone of Higher Authority). Of Course, On the rare occasion that the bully is an adult, then Kill Them with Kindness. A Big Way of Bullying to Me is Hurtful Words, They hurt me the most. It doesn't matter what Hurtful Word that they say, even if they are joking (which usually they are) it hurts me very deeply and it is something that I never forget. All in all, I conquered having a bully and I know that Other PTLSers can too.


Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Whether you have a Bully or You are a Bully, Stop Them!