Spoiler Alert: If you want to get to the gist of this post, just read the bold/italicized bits.
It's been awhile since I've posted one of these personal threads, but I feel like I'm gonna need a bit of support.
You see, about a month ago, my family "adopted" a boy. He was in a bad situation and with no familial support, we felt it was best that we bring him into our home. So far, it's been going pretty well. He's respectful, he's a bit kooky, but he's easily tolerated and only occasionally needs reprimanding for being insensitive (something he's become much more receptive of and is correcting himself).
However, I gotta say, I'm having trouble. I think he's a good kid. He's nice and he's got a great personality. But I just wasn't ready for him to enter my inner sanctum.
As an introvert, I have a hard time opening up to people like him (read: extrovert). My family has been a pretty good mix of the two (often ranging closer toward introversion than extroversion), so I mostly live in an atmosphere of balance. And when I'm not getting enough space or quiet time, I would go to my room and relax.
Now I can't. Not really. His room is next to mine where he's talking with my sister and they are joking around and I can hear them laughing and being obnoxiously loud and all I can think is that I'd rather live in my chicken coop than inside the house.
I'm pretty used to adjusting to these kinds of social situations. A lot of my extended family members are extroverts who love to socialize and make small talk. I'm used to doing that for a bit and then politely excusing myself from the room so I can cool off before calamity strikes. Heck, I went to college (for graphic design) and endured two years of extroverts throwing everything from ideas to aggressiveness at me and I endured with a couple milligrams of prescribed anti-anxiety meds and meditation.
At this point, I really wish I could afford to move out. Jobs just aren't really available lately (and I had to quit my last job due to some extreme moral differences between myself and my employer), so I'm working a freelance job that pays just well enough for me to keep making payments toward my student loans so I don't stay in debt.
Hence the garage transformation. I need a little moral assistance with that. I need space desperately and I wouldn't dare to tell my mother that she did the wrong thing by bringing this boy into our family. He's practically a brother now, a super loud and annoying brother, but a brother nonetheless. And so I'm going to do my best to clean out the garage and set up shop there. I'm an artist and re-upholsterer and graphic designer (I run a freelance jack-of-all-trades sort of business from the house), so I could probably convert it into a temporary bedroom and workspace. It is insulated and has a half-bath and a large window in there, so it'd be comfortable. Might need a window unit to get through the summer (temps range anywhere from 80 F at night to 110 F during the day), but I know I could manage it.
It goes without saying, "If only I can manage to get through all this crap!"
What I'd love is to throw some ideas around on how to fix this garage up to be a comfortable living space for myself (and most likely my younger sister for a time). I'm going to get over my fear of heights and go into the attic tomorrow to see how much stuff I can fit up in there (it is likely that I can fit loads of stuff in there, actually, but my family has a phobia of rodents/heights/dark spaces/attics collectively and we haven't really tried very hard to set it up) and I'll see if I need to have a garage sale to get rid of some junk.
I have until May 7th to get most of this work done. My little brother is coming home from a semester at school and all our rooms are being used up. Either we move the new brother into the garage (and I still have to share my room with my sister) or I fix the garage and move us into the garage where we'll have more space between the two of us and I can actually start working more efficiently. I feel that the answer is clear.
I would really appreciate any ideas/help/guidance!
P.S. I can easily have a garage sale in a week and get some cash in my pocket. I work from home (mostly at night) so I can easily spend the day in the garage pulling things out and moving stuff around. I just need a little guidance and maybe some ideas (cheap room partitions, inexpensive shelving, best way to sell stuff, etc). I'll be giving up my current bedroom (the one I painstakingly cleaned and decorated), so I'll be adjusting a bit but I can make this place feel like home again. I just need some moral support. And sometimes a moral push to morally get over myself and stop pouting over what I'm losing. A little tough love wouldn't hurt, honestly.
It's been awhile since I've posted one of these personal threads, but I feel like I'm gonna need a bit of support.
You see, about a month ago, my family "adopted" a boy. He was in a bad situation and with no familial support, we felt it was best that we bring him into our home. So far, it's been going pretty well. He's respectful, he's a bit kooky, but he's easily tolerated and only occasionally needs reprimanding for being insensitive (something he's become much more receptive of and is correcting himself).
However, I gotta say, I'm having trouble. I think he's a good kid. He's nice and he's got a great personality. But I just wasn't ready for him to enter my inner sanctum.
As an introvert, I have a hard time opening up to people like him (read: extrovert). My family has been a pretty good mix of the two (often ranging closer toward introversion than extroversion), so I mostly live in an atmosphere of balance. And when I'm not getting enough space or quiet time, I would go to my room and relax.
Now I can't. Not really. His room is next to mine where he's talking with my sister and they are joking around and I can hear them laughing and being obnoxiously loud and all I can think is that I'd rather live in my chicken coop than inside the house.
I'm pretty used to adjusting to these kinds of social situations. A lot of my extended family members are extroverts who love to socialize and make small talk. I'm used to doing that for a bit and then politely excusing myself from the room so I can cool off before calamity strikes. Heck, I went to college (for graphic design) and endured two years of extroverts throwing everything from ideas to aggressiveness at me and I endured with a couple milligrams of prescribed anti-anxiety meds and meditation.
At this point, I really wish I could afford to move out. Jobs just aren't really available lately (and I had to quit my last job due to some extreme moral differences between myself and my employer), so I'm working a freelance job that pays just well enough for me to keep making payments toward my student loans so I don't stay in debt.
Hence the garage transformation. I need a little moral assistance with that. I need space desperately and I wouldn't dare to tell my mother that she did the wrong thing by bringing this boy into our family. He's practically a brother now, a super loud and annoying brother, but a brother nonetheless. And so I'm going to do my best to clean out the garage and set up shop there. I'm an artist and re-upholsterer and graphic designer (I run a freelance jack-of-all-trades sort of business from the house), so I could probably convert it into a temporary bedroom and workspace. It is insulated and has a half-bath and a large window in there, so it'd be comfortable. Might need a window unit to get through the summer (temps range anywhere from 80 F at night to 110 F during the day), but I know I could manage it.
It goes without saying, "If only I can manage to get through all this crap!"
What I'd love is to throw some ideas around on how to fix this garage up to be a comfortable living space for myself (and most likely my younger sister for a time). I'm going to get over my fear of heights and go into the attic tomorrow to see how much stuff I can fit up in there (it is likely that I can fit loads of stuff in there, actually, but my family has a phobia of rodents/heights/dark spaces/attics collectively and we haven't really tried very hard to set it up) and I'll see if I need to have a garage sale to get rid of some junk.
I have until May 7th to get most of this work done. My little brother is coming home from a semester at school and all our rooms are being used up. Either we move the new brother into the garage (and I still have to share my room with my sister) or I fix the garage and move us into the garage where we'll have more space between the two of us and I can actually start working more efficiently. I feel that the answer is clear.
I would really appreciate any ideas/help/guidance!
P.S. I can easily have a garage sale in a week and get some cash in my pocket. I work from home (mostly at night) so I can easily spend the day in the garage pulling things out and moving stuff around. I just need a little guidance and maybe some ideas (cheap room partitions, inexpensive shelving, best way to sell stuff, etc). I'll be giving up my current bedroom (the one I painstakingly cleaned and decorated), so I'll be adjusting a bit but I can make this place feel like home again. I just need some moral support. And sometimes a moral push to morally get over myself and stop pouting over what I'm losing. A little tough love wouldn't hurt, honestly.