How and why is your bed absorbing moisture during the day? I get if you’re saying sweat from sleeping in it, but otherwise I’m confused.

Personally, I use a very thin, non-fitted sheet as my blanket, so I don’t think any of the bed is really more or less impacted than others on having stuff piled on top of it.

I do get what you’re saying, but most people nowadays just type rather than write.

When I write, I mostly write in print, but I actually seem to have a bid of hybrid cursive going on in there.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do in my life and this is tentatively on my bucket list. Problem is it’s crazy expensive and I don’t have use for it afterwards!

How did the process of getting the cert go for you?

I seem to be more vulnerable to mental struggles than a lot of people I know irl. When I went through what was the worst time in my life (so far lol…I’m a vulnerable person ig), I had to go to work every day to a place that traumatized me. I was on FMLA temporarily, but I couldn’t get on with that forever. Gotta make money to live lol. My career is not also one where you can hop around that easy.

Anyway, I decided I wanted a tattoo to remind me to be strong and keep going. I wanted it in a visible place so I could look at it. Every day for many weeks on the shuttle bus into work, I cried. Every day for many months on the shuttle bus into work, I would do breathing exercises and then look at the tattoo to remind myself to be strong. I have motivational wristbands that I also wear daily, but the tattoo I think was first.

I tried to look at the world around me. The trees, the people, the buildings, etc. Everything. I would observe them truly and wholly, and I would become amazed by them. Amazed at the “miracle” (I’m an atheist, so it’s maybe not the right word exactly) of living creatures around me and the vast and complex devices and structures we’ve made.

Very slowly…painfully slowly…life became easier. It’s still fucking hard, but stuff like that helps.

tl;dr - 1. Have a trinket to remind you of your own strength. 2. Try to take a step back for a moment and really and truly intently try observe your surroundings with a sense of wonder.

Best of luck to you all! You fucking got this!

Yeah it’s mostly fine for the most part. Just occasionally it gets to me. People describe it as such an immense pleasure that I wish I could experience something like that at least once in my life. Oh well.

Desire? I would say not really. Very occasionally yes and fleeting.

But more it’s like missing a sense. Image all of your friends and family talk about how amazing chocolate tastes. But you were born without a sense of taste. Because people talking about the taste of chocolate are everywhere around you and you’ll never get to know what it tastes like, it bothers you on occasion. You never crave chocolate because you can’t taste anyway, but you’d just like to know what everyone tastes sometimes.

Except replace chocolate with sex/relationships. It’s a bit more significant than chocolate because essentially all forms of media prominently feature sex/relationship. It’s ubiquitous. And many people’s sense of life purpose comes from the outcome of that (children). And man the way people describe what an orgasm is like, it sounds like freaking heroin or something. I’d like to just once be able to experience something that powerful and pleasurable. Most of the time I live with it and am unbothered, but occasionally it leaves me feeling really left out and at some times not even the same species.

I feel this. Getting there myself. Part of the problem is that I can’t experience sexual pleasure and I have a hard time experiencing sexual attraction. But I really wish I could experience what those endorphins feel like even once! But even doing it myself, it doesn’t work that way.

To my knowledge, I don’t seem to have any physical abnormalities. I’ve been to the doc for a checkup before there. Nerves just must not be hooked up right or something.

One thing that my brain is bothered by for whatever reason is that he uses the same character for both voiced and unvoiced forms of “th”. That may very well be the proper usage, but for some reason my brain doesn’t like it! Dunno why!

Well low-dose antipsychotics are a thing, too. I’m on them and I don’t feel “bad” or anything. I can never tell if they are helping me or not tho, same as any other psych med I’ve tried. Only difference is that I have not had any behavioral dyscontrol at work since taking them. May or may not be related. I never know. At least I’m no longer being threatened to be terminated.

Fairly indifferent, like the other user. I have no negative or positive expectations. We’ll see what life brings this week.

Wishing the best for you all. :)

Why in the world are you calling me a child? Do you not see that as rude?

I am not sexually compatible with other people and hormonal testing I had done at the doctor’s office indicates that I am unfortunately close to early menopause. Those things would make it very difficult for me to have that sort of a relationship and children out of it.

I clicked the OP a few times thinking I didn’t reach the joke yet lol

Idk…I’ve found throughout the years that there are increasingly greater and greater amounts of long-form content available on YouTube to watch. Of late, I’ve watched some Louis Theroux documentaries, some documentaries on abandoned facilities, and some real A&E and ambulance emergency shows. There is a ton of interesting content on there if you look for it. I guess I just find the number of streaming services to be too staggering to bother with. So I go with free alternatives like YouTube with an ad blocker and things like PlutoTV and tubi.

Do any of you ever wonder where this guy is today?

Interesting. I have heard vaguely of the concept, but I have no idea what it entails. I can’t say I’m personally too interested in trying it myself, but I’m interested to hear how it went for you. Care to give a brief overview of your experience?

That’s such an amazing journey! Thank you so much for sharing!

One of my online friends decided she was done with regular life and managed to go off grid herself. I’m a bit of a wuss in need of more modern conveniences lolol.

For the period of time I was on FMLA, I did contemplate quitting my job and trying to get one full time at the food pantry, honestly. Working for the community like that has its own sense of fulfillment, so I’m glad you found yours at the animal shelter.

friend who’s always invited but never shows up to events

I would say that was a fairly accurate description of me growing up lol. But as an adult, I don’t tend to have people inviting me places much anymore.

Then those few who existed in person were involved in my traumatic experience last year, so there was a bit of a rupture and it’s hard to feel safe around said people again.

I tried to turn some of my online friends into in person friends instead, but logistically, it ended up too complicated for me. The closest I found on a particular sort of website for meeting up was nearly 3 hours away. We made it work some of the time, but God, it was just too exhausting for the both of us to continue to make it work, so we stopped seeing each other.

Really, I need to find a more local community of people I get on with is what it might be. But I’m having trouble with that too. I started taking dance classes as well and have been enjoying them, but the classes themselves are not particularly social, despite having a bunch of us physically together.

Sorry for my pointless ramble lol. I am wordy online. I appreciate all of the comments here!

This is a support thread. I was giving some of my thoughts on it. It didn’t seem to be a space where a back and forth debate made sense.

I posted the comment you replied to when you started attacking me and started accusing me of things that I did not do. I did not do it before you attacked me.

Please understand that you are speaking to another human when you are doing this. I am a living, breathing being with my own thoughts and feelings. And you are being hurtful.

Being hurtful is not only unfair to me, but you are hurting yourself in the process. I found a lot of help discovering DBT, and I just rambled on about it as something that felt relevant to the scenario.

Fair enough. I will say at least many people at this stage seem like they’ve chosen to have children as their purpose. Fortunately or unfortunately (depends on your view), it’s not something that’s ever going to be in the cards for me. So I’ve taken to thinking of other things I suppose.

When I was going through it really bad, I was on FMLA from work for several weeks and tried to volunteer at the food pantry nearly every day. It was a nice change of pace for a bit that helped me from being consumed with my thoughts. I would have loved to continue with them specifically, but it seems like this and a lot of volunteer gigs are more during business hours. It makes sense, but it’s also when I work now lol.

Please don’t see the above as me “making an excuse”. I’m just almost kind of reminiscing about the time I guess.

I worked hard to get where I’m at. I’ve moved across the country several times and put blood, sweat, and tears through grad school to finally get the reward of my career and lucky to have my family somewhat nearby again. So that’s why I’m satisfied with that particular part.

I’m curious as to your own life experience if you don’t mind sharing.