Introducing Myself

[Thistle]

Hello everyone, I'm Spencer, and I am a fifteen year old male. I will be breaking down each paragraph into different topics; the topics are as follows: long-time current hobbies, short-lived hobbies, my backstory; (which I'll break down into three paragraphs - [I apologize for any grammar issues, along with how long this post is.]),and finally; my general personality



I have a few hobbies that I've had for a long time now, and they are: playing guitar, drawing; (albeit casually & badly), playing video games, reading, and watching Netflix.


I tend to pick up and drop hobbies very quickly; I spend approximately two weeks per hobby. The ones that were short term are: whittling, painting, coding, studying bonsai trees, cooking/baking; although baking was one that I had done for quite a few years, but I lost interest in it approximately two years ago, playing scrabble; (among a few other board games), babysitting, teaching - (to the children of family friends), gemology, pottery, astronomy, and finally learning about criminology; although this is one i still have to this day, but I don't count it because I haven't had it for very long.


My backstory/history is as follows: I am a Canadian citizen and was enrolled into preschool when I was two. All throughout elementary school, I was not what you would call a 'social butterfly', but I still had a few friends. Once I went to high school (In grade 8 when I was still 12), Most of my former friends had either found new friends, gone to a different school, or both of them. In case you don't know, Canadians do not have middle school, so it was a difficult change to adjust from elementary school to high school so abruptly. It was my first year in high school when my mental and physical health took a blow. For most of grade eight, I was becoming violently ill in the mornings due to stress about school, which I later learned that it was connected to my social anxiety. - (I'll talk more about that later.)



My parents were (understandably) frustrated due to me being Ill seemingly every school day, and suspected that I was faking it. They started sending me to school even if I was still sick, and things got worse. While in school, in order for you to succeed in your classes, you need to be able to hear and absorb what the teacher is saying, but I was unable because I was too busy thinking about what everyone would be thinking about me due to how much school I had missed. It was a vicious cycle. Halfway through grade 9 (the year after), I was going to get my blood taken for the first time. Around a week after that, my parents got a call to inform them that I had a severe case of malnutrition, and It was so bad I was informed that I was not allowed to do any exercise for the time being, to withdraw me from school, and that My parents needed to do whatever they can to feed me any calories. This is because, unbeknownst to me and my parents at the time, I had an eating disorder. To be specific, I had 'Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder', which can be easily explained as 'a very picky eater', although it is more complicated than that.


I was taken to a local children's hospital where I would have weekly therapy appointments and checkups, along with a monthly blood test. After grade 9 ended, and grade 10 started, I began going back to school, but my daily Illness came back, and I was pulled from school again. Me and my parent's started looking into different schools that could be a better fit for me, and we eventually settled on one. I started doing a gradual re-entry program at the beginning of term two (there are three terms in total). Up until Covid-19, I had begun going full-time, barring Tuesdays, as that was the day I went to the hospital. Covid-19 had made school be cancelled, (as you likely knew), and now we are brought back to now. (My history/backstory is finally over, phew!)


My personality is what I would describe as being a slightly bookish/nerdy person, socially awkward, a perfectionist, and I can come off as robotic, so I apologize if i sound like that. In case anyone here knows about the Myers-Briggs personality test, or MBTI, my personality type is INTJ-T, although the description feels like a glorified version of myself, so if you decide to read it or already know it, take it with a grain of salt.


If you've read this far, I applaud you, because this post was way longer than I intended it to be, but if you have any more questions about me that you would be interested in knowing, please do not hesitate to ask.



- Spencer

Hi Spencer! Welcome to TeenHelp! Thank you for sharing with us a little bit about what you've been through. I hope you find TH to be a supportive place. If you need anything please feel free to PM me. Take care!

[Odyne]

Hey Spencer, welcome to TeenHelp
I'm Lucy, it's nice to meet you.

If you need anything, just send me a PM

[Arabesque- golfing girl.]

Hello Spencer and welcome to Teenhelp Thank you so much for telling us about yourself I hope you are doing well.

[Celyn]

Welcome to TeenHelp, Spencer! No need to apologise for the length of your introduction- in fact, I think it makes you sound like a really interesting person who has gone through some struggles in life. I hope you find what you are looking for here

[¯|_(ツ)_|¯]

Hey,

This is an awesome introduction!

I used to play Scrabble a lot because a former teacher of mine gave us extra credit for playing Scrabble. It was a lot better than doing textbook vocab, that's for sure. I'd definitely like to pick it up again.

School definitely seems like a tough time for you, but I am hoping this gradual reentry works for you and you have a better time at this place that you and your parents found. Here's hoping we are able to help you with either school issues, your eating disorder, or anything else for that matter! Or, you can just chill and hang out! We have a great Chat Room over a Discord server that you're more than welcome to check out. There are a few people who are normally pretty active in there who would be happy to have a chat.

I hope you enjoy your time here!
Dez

[Dawn.]

Hello there Spencer and welcome to Teenhelp!

If you ever need anything, my inbox is always open.

[Mallika]

Hello there Spencer!

Welcome to TeenHelp! It's great knowing you through your intro

Thanks for sharing about your hobbies and the issues you've had to face. We are a nice and caring community and we're always here to listen to your woes, share your joys and simply be supportive network for you.

Mallika

Hi Spencer!

Welcome to TeenHelp! No need to apologize for the length of your introduction - I'm quite notorious for my long posts myself.

Boy, I sure can relate to picking up and dropping hobbies very quickly! In a way it's good, though, because at least we get to experience all kinds of cool stuff and see what we enjoy most!

Thank you so much for sharing so openly about yourself. I was really moved reading about your struggles with school, as I myself went through a period of severe school avoidance when I was in elementary school. Like you, I was so anxious that I would often get sick before going in, and many people didn't understand what was going on with me. I am so sorry that you have had similar struggles, though I'm glad to hear that you and your parents are exploring different options. COVID-19 certainly has made things much more complicated!

As for being book/nerdy or socially awkward... nothing wrong with that! In fact, I am the same way. I don't think you sound robotic at all!

I hope you find what you're looking for here! I myself have been here since I was 16 (now in my mid-twenties), and I have found it to be an incredibly supportive environment! Please know that my inbox is always open if you ever need someone to talk to about anything.

Thank you again for your post! I hope to see you around the forums!

All the best,
Kylie