Howdy Everyone!
I'll introduce myself to those that don't know me, I'm Ben Labarre one part of a dynamic duo that owns Alien Visions E-Juice, Inc. Porphy is my long-standing but recently unused ECF account name. The name carries over from before we ever started the business and has some sentimental value to me so I keep it going. The other part of this duo is my wife Christy, she's the person that keeps the employees happy and takes care of the day-to-day issues that require that outside-of-the-box thinking.
Now for those that know me I have to answer, "where have you been?"
If you know me you may remember a heart issue I had 3 years ago. It was a whopper and almost fully caused by stress. It was a reality check and let me know I had to get my weight, anxiety, and mind right. The mid-thirties is too young in my opinion to have to think about these things. As much as it worried me I could see it worried my wife even more, so when she asked me to take a backseat for awhile and concentrate on myself I took it to heart. In doing so I stopped corresponding, which wasn't a cause of my stress but it was 'work related' and therefore banned by Christy for some time.
Add in a montage of me meditating, studying philosophy, theology, and science and you can fast forward to today. I lived with a companion in the pit of my stomach for my entire life. I can't remember an age that I didn't feel a 'strong pull' just bellow my stomach. I never knew this feeling was anxiety. I know how weird that sounds, especially to people who are familiar on a daily basis with anxiety. I had lots of anxiety but never related the acid pit bellow my stomach and my anxiety together. Living with constant anxiety my emotional selection for stress was to jump to panic or anger, two emotions that don't treat a heart well. This plus a seriously stupid diet choice was what led me to the hospital with a heart attack.
Luckily, I was prescribed a drug called Buspirione (sp?) that I took only a couple of times, it's all I needed. One dose was enough to untangle and release that tension in my gut. It gave me the epiphany that THAT feeling was my anxiety being let go. It let me realize I could identify and address my stress. It was so effective it changed a long-held belief that I had about mental health; I used to believe that therapy alone was enough for most everyone. Now I believe that medication with therapy can be much more effective (however, I will always believe that medication alone is never enough. You need to know why you do what you do in order to make yourself healthy in the mind. Medication alone doesn't cut it in that regard.)
Now I'm back. There isn't much left to say other than I feel I'm long overdue to be back but I don't regret taking the hiatus, it was needed. That epiphany over my anxiety has turned me into a zen master and my heart is acting like a champ. I won't bore you with any more personal and long auto-biographies. I know most come here for information on the business and products and that's what this website is designed to do. I just felt like I owed some sort of explanation for my rather long absence and now you have it. I'll try to get back to business posting from here on out.
.... but first I have to tell you: I'm going to be a daddy!
Okay that's it... it's all business from here!
Ben L. (a.k.a. Porphy)
P.S. - A daddy, woot woot!
I'll introduce myself to those that don't know me, I'm Ben Labarre one part of a dynamic duo that owns Alien Visions E-Juice, Inc. Porphy is my long-standing but recently unused ECF account name. The name carries over from before we ever started the business and has some sentimental value to me so I keep it going. The other part of this duo is my wife Christy, she's the person that keeps the employees happy and takes care of the day-to-day issues that require that outside-of-the-box thinking.
Now for those that know me I have to answer, "where have you been?"
If you know me you may remember a heart issue I had 3 years ago. It was a whopper and almost fully caused by stress. It was a reality check and let me know I had to get my weight, anxiety, and mind right. The mid-thirties is too young in my opinion to have to think about these things. As much as it worried me I could see it worried my wife even more, so when she asked me to take a backseat for awhile and concentrate on myself I took it to heart. In doing so I stopped corresponding, which wasn't a cause of my stress but it was 'work related' and therefore banned by Christy for some time.
Add in a montage of me meditating, studying philosophy, theology, and science and you can fast forward to today. I lived with a companion in the pit of my stomach for my entire life. I can't remember an age that I didn't feel a 'strong pull' just bellow my stomach. I never knew this feeling was anxiety. I know how weird that sounds, especially to people who are familiar on a daily basis with anxiety. I had lots of anxiety but never related the acid pit bellow my stomach and my anxiety together. Living with constant anxiety my emotional selection for stress was to jump to panic or anger, two emotions that don't treat a heart well. This plus a seriously stupid diet choice was what led me to the hospital with a heart attack.
Luckily, I was prescribed a drug called Buspirione (sp?) that I took only a couple of times, it's all I needed. One dose was enough to untangle and release that tension in my gut. It gave me the epiphany that THAT feeling was my anxiety being let go. It let me realize I could identify and address my stress. It was so effective it changed a long-held belief that I had about mental health; I used to believe that therapy alone was enough for most everyone. Now I believe that medication with therapy can be much more effective (however, I will always believe that medication alone is never enough. You need to know why you do what you do in order to make yourself healthy in the mind. Medication alone doesn't cut it in that regard.)
Now I'm back. There isn't much left to say other than I feel I'm long overdue to be back but I don't regret taking the hiatus, it was needed. That epiphany over my anxiety has turned me into a zen master and my heart is acting like a champ. I won't bore you with any more personal and long auto-biographies. I know most come here for information on the business and products and that's what this website is designed to do. I just felt like I owed some sort of explanation for my rather long absence and now you have it. I'll try to get back to business posting from here on out.
.... but first I have to tell you: I'm going to be a daddy!
Okay that's it... it's all business from here!
Ben L. (a.k.a. Porphy)
P.S. - A daddy, woot woot!
