Empath Vortex

There are so many different things that make me, me. Here I hope to share those different aspects of my life along with my life experiences, and maybe – just maybe – I might help someone by sharing those things. Otherwise, it’s a good way to put everything that I’ve gone through and the experiences that make me who I am in one place.

Key Insights

• Growing in my pivotal years ages 0-5 during a nasty separation and custody battle between my mother and father
• Being raised by my Father and my Grandparents in the same house
• My mother being nearly-estranged from me and my brother
• Having a rough love/hate relationship with my father
• Being made fun of, bullied, and picked on about my looks throughout school
• Not really fitting in, or having “friends” throughout my growing ages
• Being in a vehicle accident at the age of 9 (almost 10) and being traumatized to even get back in a vehicle, let alone drive when old enough
• Getting Type 1 Diabetes at the young age of 10 years old
  • Being diagnosed with and going through other health issues due to Type 1
• My high school years and forging my own path with my education choices and path
• Attending Community College and them changing my 2-year degree course requirements 3 times, turning my 2 year degree into a 4+ year degree
• Having 2 internships within my college years that really jump-started my career goals and gave me real-world abilities
• Dating some “frogs” before finding the love of my life where I got stood up, cussed out, and ghosted
• Then I found the love of my life
• We both moved out of our family homes to move in together after 2.5 years of dating, got engaged after 5 years of dating, and then got married 1.5 years after getting engaged
• During our years dating, we went through A LOT
  • Job changes
  • Losing people – lost my grandpa a month after moving out
  • Sickness (covid, flu, etc.)
  • Family drama
  • and Relationship issues
  • But through everything, we came out the other end stronger than before
• Then started the “Series of Unfortunate Events” as I like to call it after we got married in August of 23
• In October of 23, my grandmother (who was like a mother to me) suffered a stroke and lost all use of the left side of her body
• In November of 23, my dad became her full-time caregiver and that was a rollercoaster of events
• In December of 23, I didn’t know it, but is was the last Christmas I would spend with my Dad and Grandma as well as only having 2-3 weeks to find a new apartment as we weren’t given proper time before the old complex told us they were trying to raise our rent an exorbitant amount
• In January of 24, things were getting rough between me, my dad, and my grandma; she wasn’t being the most cooperative, my dad was having a short temper and being stubborn, and I was the middle man, as per usual… Not to mention we had to move while we both had the flu
• In February of 24, my grandma got sick, my dad took her to the ER and they were admitting her, but the day after he went home and he passed away that evening
• After my grandmother got out of the hospital, she went into a rehabilitation center, and then she got really sick about a week and a half after being there
  • After going to the ER, turns out it was her gallbladder that was infected – but that’s a whole other story for another time
• Long story short – she got really sick in the hospital and even went into the ICU two different times during her hospital stay and the last time, her organs ended up failing and we had to make the very tough decision to let her pass and let her suffering end
• Then in April was trying to get back to a “normal” after basically losing both of my parents within the span of 3 weeks
• In May, I had to experience my first birthday without them
• In June I started having really bad health issues, my blood sugars were going crazy, and I started having unbearable pain when I would sit longer than 0 minutes
• In July, I figured out why I was having those bad health issues and ended up having to go see a specialist doctor to figure it out – low and behold it was an infection giving me all these issues
• In August, the specialist put me on two different antibiotics to try and get rid of the infection and that didn’t work so I would have to have surgery to remove it – my first surgery
• In September, my car got totaled and that put us down to one vehicle, as well as having my first surgery
• In October, I returned to work after 4-weeks post surgery and I returned to a brand new team – new learning curve & new responsibilities
• In November, started my first holiday season without my dad and grandma – and that was rough – my first time not cooking for my family
• In December, it was a continuation of the holiday season without my dad and grandma, as well as catching the flu on Christmas eve and not being able to attend any of the family Christmas celebrations
• In January 25, I swore it would be a new year – a different year, but the first month of the year was rough for me health wise
• In February 25, there were some struggles at work with some different projects, even some struggles with a co-worker, and then the outside world started to impact my mental health
• In March 25, I was still struggling with work still – projects & co-worker – and still dealing with the outside world struggles and my mental health started impacting my physical health
• In April 25, my mental and physical health was still struggling with all of the work and real world struggles going on and with my already bad immune system, I ended up catching something viral (or bacterial? -seems like antibiotics got rid of it) and then after I went back to work after being sick, I ended up being let go, due to my decrease in productivity and attendance over the past year and a half….
• And here we are in May of 2025, and I am starting this blog and website to keep myself accountable for a type of “journal” as well as possibly helping people going through any of the situations that I have been through….

How All of These Key Insights Connect to My Journey

“To get through the hardest journey, we need to take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.” ~ Chinese Proverbs

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” ~ Albert Einstein

“I can be changed by what happens to me; but I refuse to be reduced by it.” ~ Maya Angelou

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.” ~ Dolly Parton

“One day, your life will flash before your eyes; Make sure it’s worth watching.” ~Gerard Way

I am still learning about life, and still am in the middle of my journey of healing and dealing with everything I have been through, but in the almost 30 years I’ve been here, I have experienced quite a bit, and have gotten to the point where I can write about it and share it with you. I am using this blog and website as one way to heal and get through some of the experiences I have been through as well give you all the chance to possibly work through some of the experiences you have been through or are going through as well.

Looking back on the pivotal moments of your life, what lessons have shaped you the most? Every challenge you’ve faced has prepared you for what’s ahead—what part of your story do you want to embrace and carry forward?