Note# 2 : Welcome to the Danger Room – From Your Big Brother

June 30, 2024

Note # 2 : Welcome to the Danger Room

Intro

Hey friend! How are you doing today?

I just want to thank you so much for choosing to read this note. For one reason or another, you decided to open this, and I am so glad that you did.

I want to briefly recap my last note (which was also my first) as it ties into today’s note significantly. In my first note, I mentioned some of the struggles I have been having recently, including my ongoing battle with depression.

I won’t lie, posting that note was extremely hard, especially going into detail about my “dimly-lit areas.” However, I also introduced one of my positive and effective coping strategies: journaling.

In this note, I want to dive further into the idea of using a journal and share details of the circumstances I was in when I first got started. Also, as promised, I will be leaning into my “nerdiness” to further expand on the idea and give it the color it needs.

So if you are ready, here we go!

Who is Rich

A picture of my physical journal , won this at a friend’s baby shower lol.

When I initially started therapy in 2021, I had…very different intentions when it came to dating. At the time, I had just ended another “situationship”.

While breaking up from the other situations didn’t seem to affect me, this most recent one did. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to the woman from this situationship as “Houston”.

To make a long story short, Houston and I met in the summer of 2020, via a dating app, and spent a lot of time together. I can’t speak for both of us, but I definitely did not see anything serious developing between us and labeled our interactions as a “summertime fling”.

After a few months, I felt myself getting more and more distant until eventually… I stopped contacting Houston all together.

In 2021, I told my therapist about my time with Houston and that I wanted to investigate the reason for the distance I put between us. I was still very uncomfortable with therapy, so initially I was timid and very reluctant to share much.

It is then that my therapist encouraged me to start a journal to which I was very hesitant. In my mind I didn’t see a journal as a “manly” thing to do, but I guess I could say the same thing about therapy at the time.

July 10th, 2021 I wrote my first real journal entry about Houston. In that journal, I did something I wasn’t able to do before just with my thoughts. I laid everything out, said everything I wanted to say.

Any thoughts or statements that I was afraid to say aloud, effortlessly found its way to that journal and brought company.

By the time I was done and read what I wrote, I was shocked but also relieved. I kept thinking, where did this come from? But I knew all along, this journal allowed me to do something I did not think I was capable of.

For one of the first times in my life, I was able to speak my mind freely and truly explore my feelings. Growing up I never truly had that experience and had to resort to bottling everything up. But not this time, I let it all out. Unfiltered, unbothered, and unlimited.

Now as promised, let’s dip into my nerdy side and reference a callback to a term I used in my last note,

the Danger Room.

“I let it all out. Unfiltered, unbothered, and unlimited.”

Welcome to the Danger Room!

If you are a fan of comic books, cartoons from the early 90s, or Marvel in general, then the nerd in you is about to smile. And if you aren’t, then I ask you to bare with me as I geek out a bit. But I promise it will all make sense in the end..

For those who are familiar with comic books or have seen any superhero movies in the past 10 years, you may have heard of the X-Men. A group of heroes with special abilities granted to them by their mutated DNA whose objective is protecting man and mutantkind.

For those who are interested in learning more or wanting to nerd out, you can watch the recent installment of the X-Men animated series X-men 97. This is a very entertaining, action-packed, drama filled show with an incredible score of
99% on Rotten Tomatoes. My apologies, I digress, let me get back on topic lol.

Charles Xavier, leader and father figure of the X-men, built a mansion to home and school his “gifted youngsters”. In the mansion he also created a technologically advanced training facility for the X-Men known as the Danger Room.

This room is equipped with deadly traps, difficult obstacles, horrific weapons, and advanced holographic technology. These tools and contraptions work in unison to simulate any and everything that the X-Men may encounter in the “real world”.

Kind of like a gym created by an evil mastermind, the Danger Room is meant to push each individual to their brink mentally and physically. Forcing them to master their mutant powers as a team in order to keep the world safe.

Although, as the name implies, The Danger Room is full of hazardous peril, the mutants are encouraged to not hold back. Xavier wants his students to realize the height of their gifts, so they are capable of unleashing their full power.

With time and patience, each mutant is able to gain control and refine their techniques. When it comes to the Danger Room, its sole motivation is to push the X-Men to reach their full potential by simulating the Danger they will undoubtedly see on the field. Ultimately making each person fully prepared to handle whatever trouble may come.

I’m and X-Man Too

At this point you have probably started connecting the dots, and if not that’s okay. I’ll put it out there loud and clear… I’m an X-Man too lol.

Journaling is not easy… at all. Honestly, more often than not it makes me extremely anxious. Allowing myself to truly examine my thoughts, emotions, and convictions is very uncomfortable.

And I won’t even lie, sometimes it hurts too. However, I have realized that when I use my journal and do the hard work, I always feel more at peace and gain a deeper sense of self-awareness.

As a bonus, I have noticed that since journaling, I have only gotten better at dealing with my emotions and negative thoughts. Just like the X-men, when I write in my journal I am unbounded by any limitations.

I am free to unleash my full power of thought in order to refine myself into the person I want to be. My Journal is My Danger Room (mic drop 👊🏾🎤 )

” I am free to unleash my full power of thought in order to refine myself into the person I want to be.”

Even though it’s scary and unpredictable, I will keep journaling as long as I can in order to better myself. I encourage all those who may be curious to try it out and see for themselves how helpful it can be.

But if not, don’t sweat it. I do want to encourage you to find some means of a positive outlet. Which introduces us to our first homework assignment!

Self-Work: Find your Danger Room

It’s important that each of us find a way to truly dive into who we are and how we tick. For me that is journaling, but for you it may be different.

So this week, do some soul searching and find something that brings you peace. Find something you can lose yourself in and express yourself in a way that you haven’t felt before.

And if you don’t mind, I would love to hear about them 👉🏾👈🏾

Tell me about your danger room here

Talk To Me!

Things That Made Me Smile :

In this section I want to share things that I saw that made my day. This will usually include a song I’ve been listening too, memes, maybe a tiktok or two.

Where Does My Inspiration Comes From

While my goal is to be a metaphorical big brother to you, as I mentioned before, I am an actual big brother in real life lol. I have been for the past 30-some-odd years and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Everything I learned about what it means to be a protector, supporter, advocate, and occasional wrestling partner (lol) comes from these two.