Diary of an Occultist

May 3rd, 2022

Dear all who may read this including me,

My name is Douglas Black. I am writing this because my therapist, Dr. Ealy, told me to. Apparently, keeping a diary can help reduce stress. I don't have much to lose, so I am giving this a shot.

Today is Tuesday. It is a dreary day outside in my small Rhode Island town of Morsport. I am writing this from my parent's house, a quaint two-story colonial revival home fifteen minutes away from the city square. I just finished my first year at Amherst College and am now here for the summer. I do a double major in philosophy and religion. I suppose I want to become a professor of sorts in the future but I don't know yet. I guess a fun fact about me is I enjoy caving, writing, and exploring new places both real and literary.

Anyways, onto my day. A few hours before writing this I met with my therapist. We were discussing coping techniques for anxiety attacks. Oddly, a good coping technique that I can use for my anxiety attacks is to literally put my head in freezing water. I am not sure this will work but it is worth a try when the next one comes.

Just the other day he diagnosed me with anxiety. It's definitely not fun, especially when you're in a pretty tough school and you don't have many friends. Sometimes I struggle to even keep up with my schoolwork. I just get too worried or scared to continue so I distract myself with pointless things. At the very least, it's finally summer. Hopefully, these sessions get me somewhere before I start classes again, lest I will fall down a hole of despair again.

My mom is currently making dinner downstairs. I think she's making goulash, at least that's what she said. I haven't tried it before so I can't really give an opinion on it, but I can bet it's far better than the one-week-old turkey and mash leftovers from Aunt Gracy's neighborhood banquet.

I'll end it here and provide an update if the goulash is good or not.

Sincerely,

Douglas.