To my lovely readers (if you’re out there),
Welcome to Musings from East Johnson Street; a place where I’ll discuss anything and everything, no filter. Before you read my smoking hot takes however, I should probably tell you a little about myself.
My name is Belle and I’m a 25 year old woman living in Madison, Wisconsin. I live in the *cutest* apartment you ever did see with an 8-month-old kitten named Luna.
I moved here a year and a half ago to work for Epic Systems, but ended up quitting a little over a year later because I was absolutely drained.
6 months after I started at Epic, I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder; a mood disorder very similar to bipolar I, or “traditional” bipolar disorder. Similar to bipolar I, bipolar II is characterized by mood “cycling,” highs and lows, happy and sad and happy again. Unlike bipolar I, people with bipolar II tend to have longer and more frequent lows, called depressive episodes, punctuated with bouts of hypomania, a high just shy of the kind of mania that most people think of when they think bipolar – the kind of high that leads to people thinking they can fly or blowing all their savings in a single weekend.
A lot to deal with on its own, the 80 hour work weeks and constant travel didn’t exactly help me to deal with my newly defined condition, to the point where I eventually decided quit for the sake of my own sanity – literally.
Today, I manage my bipolar through a combination of medication, therapy, yoga, diet, and running (ew).
Beyond taking care of my mental health, I spend my days of funemployment (courtesy of quitting your job at the start of a global pandemic) sewing an obnoxious amount of facemasks, baking a dangerously delicious variety of carbs, and developing my own sustainable dress line. I also decided to start my own similarly themed youtube channel like the mildly self-absorbed millennial I am – Hot Take Coffee Break – and apply to grad school. Woot.
On this blog I plan to take you on a journey of my entirely subjective and largely uneducated opinions and encourage you to come at me with your own in the comments – just don’t be gross.
Well, that’s enough for now, but don’t worry – you’ll learn plenty more later.
Stay sexy, stay safe, and don’t be an asshole.
xx Belle
Musings From East Johnson Street 