About Me — Maria FS
“Let’s just stay here all night and sing every song. “ — Peter Allen
Thank you for dropping in! My name is Maria and I’m 36 years old. I’ve been writing on Medium since March 2021 but have been a reader for a couple of years.
When I’m not writing on Medium or home with my family, I’m either working with adults with intellectual disabilities, swimming, listening to The Tim Ferriss Show, playing the piano or ukulele, or singing along to songs in my 2007 Corolla like I’m auditioning for The Voice.
Some Background
My early childhood was in Queens, NY and I grew up in Connecticut, the child of second-generation Irish (dad) and Italian (mom) immigrants. If I have one claim to fame, it’s that I was born in the same hospital where Madeliene Albright gave birth to her two daughters.
I was a quirky little kid who fully embraced early 90’s fashion for all its hairband glory.
As a teen, my favorite subject was American History and my favorite TV show was the West Wing. I majored in political science and expected to have a career in NYC or Washington DC, but found my calling in the midwest with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A decade after undergrad, I decided to go back and get my master’s in social work. I got my MSW in 2018 and was the proud recipient of the “Outstanding Student Award” at graduation.
I got married during the pandemic and also became a new mom that day. I hope I also get the chance to be a “bio mom” (I learned that term recently) one day.
How I Got Started On Medium
I have a love/hate relationship with creating. I want to make things, and then when I’m 75% finished with a project, I start to get critical of what I’ve made and give up. Six months later, I start a new project and the cycle continues.
As far as creating content on the internet (as opposed to blankets or baby hats), I have to admit: I got inspired by a 9-year-old YouTuber named Ryan. My son thoroughly enjoys the videos he (and his parents) make and they have become multimillionaires. The videos aren’t bad, either. They’re positive and often inspire my son to shut the laptop and try his own creative “experiments.” (Ryan’s mom was a high school chemistry teacher and a lot of the videos are fun science projects with household ingredients.)
This got me thinking about how (1) the money pie of the internet is just getting bigger and bigger —surely there was a crust somewhere for me and (2) the internet has so much bad stuff on it, maybe I also could contribute in a way that would uplift and inspire.
My original idea was for a blog for aging adults. I recently read Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal” and realized that, because of my job, I actually know a lot about universal aging issues. However, a blog is a big investment of time, so I decided to just focus on useful content for aging individuals and their caregivers. I wrote a few articles and self-published them here to see what it was like. My first article was simply a training I created for all of our staff. We do the training every 6 months because it is so simple and so important: fall prevention. I wrote a couple of articles on vaccination, simply because it was on my mind. I also wrote about safety precautions when taking multiple medications. Not exactly viral content, but helpful and potentially life-saving to a certain demographic.
From there, I started having ideas about all kinds of topics — mental health, weight loss, childhood memories, pandemic stories I needed to unload, and random opinions on unimportant things that I wanted to tell somebody.
To my surprise, writing makes me really happy. I feel better every time I write. I’ve become a little addicted to it but it’s a joy to have found a new hobby. Small successes with earning a little income has been fun, too. I’ve decided to take the spare change I get from Medium at the end of the month and buy cryptocurrency.
My Publication
Wise Blood
I’ve only been on Medium a month but I decided to go ahead and start my own publication. “Wise Blood” features “uplifting stories about the encounters that change us.” It’s my little corner of the internet where I hope others will join me to share their own stories about the good we do in one another’s lives. If you’d like to join me as a writer, just email me (maria.fs.medium at gmail) or leave a comment on this post.
My Writings By Topic
updated 5/11/21
Memoir & Commentary
- If You Want to Piss Off My Mom, Bring Your Son to Take Our Daughters to Work Day: “Do not let him dominate the conversation, girls.”
- In Life, She Taught Me How to Climb Trees. In Death, How to Live: Every life is an unrepeatable gift.
- We’re Not Older Millenials — We’re the Columbine Generation. And No, We’re Not Okay: Not that anybody asked.
Mental Health & Personal Growth
- 5 New Mental Health Maneuvers: When meds and mindfulness won’t cut it
- For My 2021 Resolutions, I Focused On Words Instead of Goals: Here’s why and how it’s gone so far
- Misophonia Means Pretending I Don’t Want To Punch You in the Face: What it’s like living with “sound rage”
- My Self-Care Is the Opposite of Self-Improvement: My bad habits are a middle finger to a world that says I’m not enough
Pandemic Stories
- Every Day During Lockdown, She Put on Her Jewelry: This is not a story about stretchy pants.
- Every Time the Weather Changes, I Get New Pandemic Flashbacks: The feelings I sat on for 12 months won’t wait any longer
- I Chose a Downsized Pandemic Wedding — I Have No Regrets: Starting with doing my own hair and make-up.
- I, Too, Miss the Bodies of Strangers: All I want is an enclosed, poorly-ventilated public space.
- The Sacred and Awkward Intimacy of Public Thermometers: Is there more to these still, small moments than meets the eye?
- What I Learned When I Helped a Stranger Get Vaccinated: I wanted to say no.
Potpourri Fun
- Teams Worth Watching on Netflix’s “Floor Is Lava”: Friendship, athleticism, team spirit, silliness, and fun.
- The Best Beach Boys Songs You’ve Never Heard Of: Wouldn’t it be nice? It will be.
Wellness
- Falls are killing more older Americans than ever. A few habits and routines can change that. Deaths and injuries from preventable falls are a silent, growing public health crisis.
- How to Safely Take Multiple Medications: A guide for you and your loved ones
- “I’ll Be the Fat Girl On a Weird Diet.”: I was. And it worked.
- Is our obsession with vaccine efficacy making us sicker?: Sometimes perfection is the enemy of the good.
- Should You Be Taking Vitamin D?: A case for universal supplementation, at least during the pandemic.
- Sorry, Noom, You Couldn’t Fix Me: Can I still be healthy if I haven’t figured out my food issues?
- What does “fully vaccinated” mean, anyway? Here’s a list to check: Might as well.
Writing & Medium
- 10 Writing Prompts to Help You Start Journaling Today: Jumpstart your creativity
- Am I Extra Special Or Is It Just $500?: I got the bonus, too. What does it mean?!?!?
- My First Month on Medium Was Pure Joy: It’s not just about the money anymore.
Special thank you to Quy Ma for starting this publication. I used his About Me page to help me figure out what to put on this one!