Meet Angel Part 2: Not your typical Education Specialist or Masters Student at AUP

“Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.” -Thomas Edison

    Ready for our first detour? :) So, I believe in complete honesty in all circumstances, with all people, no matter what, because without trust and mutual respect we have nothing. As you may have noticed in my first post, “Meet Angel!”, I am anything but ordinary or boring. Many of you have probably heard that genius is often served with a side of crazy...and it is the truth! There are 2 sides to every coin, 2 versions to every story, 2 possibilities for every outcome, and I am no different. My hope is that this post enlightens you to the fact that not everyone is what they seem, you cannot judge a book by it’s cover, and human beings are unique individuals to the very core of their nature and cannot be labeled or categorized into neat compartments.    

    You will notice pretty quickly that my brain does not work quite like most people’s and that my writing style is a bit different as well. Well, that is because on top of being born with a Mensa IQ, I am also ADHD, and extremely bipolar with anxiety attacks. I was blessed with a wonderful, loving, supportive family and the best private school money can buy but nothing changes the fact that I have been bipolar since I was 12 years old. Way back in 1996, when I was first diagnosed, no one had any idea what bipolar was so I went through years and years of therapy and counseling to no avail. 

    Greenhill School in Addison, Texas was the best place I could have been. Greenhill raised me as much as my parents did if not more so. Greenhill School is one of the top co-ed, private, liberal, nondenominational, college prep schools in Dallas. I was lucky enough to attend from 1988-2002, PreK through senior graduation. Greenhill let me strive, succeed and grow into anything I wanted to be, whoever I wanted to be. They were the most loving, supportive atmosphere a girl like me could have asked for. 

    There is so much to love about Greenhill from the classrooms to the field trips, teachers to administrators, yearly class trips to overnight lock-ins, and of course my classmates were the best! I still talk to my best friend since 8th grade, Arielle, and still go back to visit my old teachers and coaches who are still there and welcome me back with a warm smile and a hug. What a place to be when my world got turned upside down and inside out overnight at the most vulnerable age possible! 

    At first I felt so alone and angry at the world that did not understand me, but slowly over the past 2 decades I have come to be reasonable with myself about my condition and it’s sometimes exhausting symptoms. The summer of 1996 changed the course of my life forever but I wouldn’t be the fascinating, wonderful human being I am without it.