An intro...

Good morning friends!

The name's Andrea, but you can call me Panda! By day, I'm a merchandiser and Farmer's Market employee, but by night I'm a video game playin', fire dancin', pseudo home cook, with a penchant for taking in animals and raising them as my own. Altogether, we have 20 animals in our little home!
My boyfriend and I have been together for over 4 years, and we are still going strong. There were times where, due to my overindulgence, I thought we may not make it out the other side, but we have, and we're still going!
The animals, my amazing man, our little house, and a drive to be something more, fuels my desire to learn. I am a student first - of life and academics. I will probably be in school during all of my golden years because I love learning. I soak up information and store it for later use and probably have more useless knowledge banked up than I can remember!

I come from a great family, but like any family we have our own problems. Ours is mental health related... Both of my parents grew up in highly abusive homes. My paternal grandfather was a violent alcoholic and my maternal grandparents weren't impartial to raising a fist either. This is an instance of epigenetics, where trauma that has happened in their lifetime caused an evolution of the mind; depression settled in and carried over into their offspring, so my siblings and I got the short end of that stick.

I'm an addict, perpetually in recovery. I have a co-occurring mood disorder which limits my ability to recognize my own thoughts. Writing has always been an outlet of mine during trying times, and this will be no different.
I find myself thinking, "How much of myself do I reveal in this intro?"; too much could be abrasive, yet I would like to share my story, in hopes that my words may reach out to someone else who has or is currently struggling. Big ups to @sykochica, @giftedgaia, and @winstonwolfe for showing me a creative outlet in which I am able to do just that.

Happy posting! See you all again soon <3