The Nazgul Frisbee

Today, I had lunch with my dad, and we were waiting for our food at our table. At this restaurant, they give you those annoying buzzing frisbees that screech like the Nazgul when they go off and have been medically proven to trigger heart attacks (depending on who you ask). And, as usual, I literally screamed, much to my dad’s amusement. A while later, an older couple sat across from us, and they too were waiting for their ticking time bomb to go off and receive their meal. It didn’t take long for their buzzer to begin buzzing (and I’ll admit, I jumped a little), but what they did was probably one of the most surreal and mind-boggling things I have ever witnessed.

They. Just. Sat. There. No, jumping, no screaming, not even a gasp. They just sat there, neither of them noticed that it had even gone off.

For at least thirty seconds.

Finally, the man happened to glance down at the buzzer, to which he raised his eyebrows nonchalantly like he had just spotted a freaking lucky penny on the ground (meanwhile, the buzzer is still moving across the table).

Now, I will say that I startle way more easily than most people (a trait I must endure), and I’m not saying that their reaction was somehow invalid because that’s not how I would have experienced it. It was simply another subtle reminder that the way that I experience the world is vastly different from how other people experience it. And that’s okay. That’s why I think that empathy is so important. Some people can’t seem to see and perceive anything beyond their own experiences; they just assume that if they’re like this, then everyone is like this (whatever ‘this’ may be).

But admit it, sometimes, it can be hard to step into someone else’s shoes and understand how they live on a day to day basis. We can empathize, sure, and don’t get me wrong, that is incredibly important (especially when dealing with mental illness), but we’ll never really know what it’s like unless we share their experiences.

Because I don’t live with an anxiety disorder, I don’t know what it’s like to live that that, and I don’t know what it’s like to have a panic attack. All I can do is try and understand, and hopefully help those who have to deal with it.

Not everything on this website is necessarily going to apply to everyone who visits it. One person may find an image of a tree swaying in the wind soothing and tranquil, while someone else might not be affected by it at all. Like with everything, you can’t please everyone. This website isn’t going to be a definitive solution for everyone’s problems, whether it be your mental health or your current mood. This is definitely something I need to keep in mind as I begin collecting content for the site.

So far, searching for content is actually pretty fun. I guess researching this sort of stuff does that. The subtle things when I'm designing the site, too, like color and shape...you’d be surprised what such little, seemingly insignificant things can do to you subconsciously.

I’ve also designed a logo (I’m pretty happy with it ^_^). It’s rasterized, unfortunately, but it’ll be vectorized on the website... *nervous laugh*: