#for instance: exercising

[m4sc4r4]

Why is it considered more embarrassing to read something that challenges you and that you have to go through slowly and think about for days than it is to only ever read fluffy easy books that don’t test you and change you?

[swampthingking]

andrew’s definitely gotten in trouble with his pr manager for tweeting things along the lines of:

“no mania inducing medication will compare to the euphoria i will feel the day donald trump drops dead”

[uncanny-tranny]

Hey, you're being lied to about what fitness constitutes. If you can't work in an hour-long crossfit slog, but you can work in a five-minute walk, then that is still fitness. If you can't use your legs but you can do arm circles every now and again, that is still fitness. If you're moving around at work, that's still fitness. It can be intentional or incidental, but here's the best part: your body doesn't care if you're dedicating specific work-out times. It doesn't care if the "only" fitness it gets is your nine to five on your feet. It doesn't care, fitness is fitness is fitness. Some of us do it differently, but the end result is more or less similar.

If you can do any type of fitness safely, your body isn't going to care if you're doing it like an Olympic athlete or if you're just a casual.

[stroyent]

Okay first priority for this week is sleep

[imunbreakabledude]

maevelena marriage counseling, #1

hello; one of many scenarios that plagues my mind with these characters is imagining them in couple's therapy together. i have this snippets going in my head often, but they are very talk-y and don't necessarily have the cohesion or narrative drive to comprise a proper Fanfiction story, at least the way I like to write them. but after at least one (1) person expressing interest, I've decided to share some of them here on tumblr, in a very informal format. also as an exercise in sharing things and not overthinking or being a perfectionist. thus, these snippets are solely in dialogue form, and not too deep. technically, these are set in the aftermath of my long post-s3-maeve fic, so there may be slight spoilers for that story. anyways, here you go!

Maeve (hereafter “M”) and Elena (hereafer “E”) sit next to one another on their couch, queueing up a video appointment with Elena’s longtime therapist, Constance Alvarez (better known as “Connie,” herefter “C”).

E: Hi, Connie. Thank you so much for being open to this.

C: It’s my pleasure. I must say, it’s a bit exciting to finally meet your partner…

E: (a little giddy) my wife.

M: Hi there. Maeve, but you knew that. I’ve heard plenty about you too.

C: Oh? Good things I hope…

E: of course. … I’m so excited. This is so great. I’ve wanted to do this for years… and Maeve finallllly agreed… as a wedding gift.

M: Right. So, let’s get this done.

C: You seem a bit uncomfortable.

M: I’m not.

E: she’s a little nervous, because it’s her first time doing therapy.

M: well, I’m not, and also, it’s not. Let’s just get to whatever we’re supposed to talk about.

C: Well, is there anything you’d like to talk about?

(Maeve looks to Elena, expectantly.)

E: Go ahead.

M: what do you mean, go ahead? This was your idea, what did you want to do therapy about? Whatever it is I did that upset you, just get it out there so we can go over it and be done.

E: That’s not what this is about. It’s not a punishment.

M: It’s not?

C: Maeve, it sounds like you’ve had some negative experiences with therapy in the past.

M: not exactly positive, no.

C: would you mind telling me what happened?

E: Yeah, when did you even go to therapy?

M: Every few years, Vought had mandated “wellness checks” with the Seven. Which were basically just a show of how much they cared about the mental health of all their ‘assets’, started after that poor bastard Jetpack offed himself by flying into the stratosphere… Plus, every time I was in rehab, mandatory sessions. Each time some different quack. First guy who promised he was soooo good at keeping secrets from all the celebrity patients he had, proved it by giving examples…

E: you don’t have to worry about that, now. You can trust Connie. She’s been keeping your secrets for almost a decade now.

M: Of course. I appreciate that. You seem nice, and highly qualified, and I appreciate that you’ve helped Elena a lot. I just don’t really see the point.

E: it’s to—

C: Elena, if you wouldn’t mind. … Maeve, I’m curious as to why you came here, if you don’t see any point to it.

M: Elena asked me to.

C: Is that all?

M: I know it’s supposed to be helpful, or something. But I don’t get the point of paying you $150 an hour just to sit here and talk to us or make us talk to each other.

E: maeve!

M: I’m sorry. That sounded rude, and I didn’t mean it that way. The money isn’t an issue and I’m sure you’re worth it… I’ve certainly been paid more money to do stupider things. I mean, stupid things. What you do isn’t...(Connie bemused, unaffected) What I mean is, I don’t get why now, after we’ve already got so good at the honesty thing, why we need some paid referee.

E: she’s not here to be a referee. And this isn’t a band-aid.

M: then why are we here? People do marriage therapy when their marriage is failing.

E: that’s not true. Lots of couples do it on a regular basis, just to keep things smooth and ease any potential sore spots before they get too bad.

M: name one.

E: Isa and Antonio.

M: fuck, they DO have an incredible marriage…

E: It’s not that I wanted therapy because our relationship is doing badly, it’s that… we’re strong lately, and I want to stay that way. So I think it’s good if we talk…

M: but we talk all the time.

E: but having someone else here to offer new perspectives… it’s… you just have to give it a chance and see. I remember I was just as reluctant as you at the start…

C: that’s true.

E: but working with Connie has helped so much. And it’s a huge factor in me being able to be in this strong relationship with you… and has made me feel so much better as an individual… and I want that for you too. I know you think this is your wedding present to me, but it’s my wedding present to you, too.

M: So? … I’m here, aren’t I?

C: Yes, you are. … And one thing Elena didn’t mention, about my role here, is that if you aren’t feeling anything in particular you want to bring up, I’m here to get the ball rolling. So let’s start with something nice. How does it feel to be married?

M: Good.

E: Definitely.

(They grab hands, smiling. A bit too long…)

C: Does anything feel different now, than it did before you officially tied the knot?

E: I suppose, technically, no. But the commitment. Even if it’s symbolic, it feels good. Don’t have to worry that she’s gonna end things again. (Laughs)

M: (sarcastic) Okay.

C: What was that?

M: Hm? Nothing, just, I agree. It’s good to be committed.

E: No… You, like, scoffed. (She gives Maeve a look. The look that says, don’t bother saying you didn’t! … and Maeve relents.)

M: I just think it’s funny, you talking about me like I’m gonna ditch out on you, when I wasn’t the one who broke off our engagement…

E: It wasn’t serious, it was just a joke… And that was a mistake, yes. But if you want to get technical, you are far more prone to ending things between us than I am.

M: ‘Far more’? Last I checked, we’re tied!

C: If I might jump in here…

M: Ah, see, now the referee comes in to take your side… I see the point of therapy, now, someone else to say you’re right, when Isa is busy, huh?

C: I’m not here to take sides. In fact, what I was going to suggest is… I think it may help if I meet with Maeve one-on-one.

M: uh, what?

C: It’s true that we’re in a bit of a lopsided scenario, here. Elena and I have been meeting for many years, and we have a mutual trust, while you hardly know me at all, nor I you. I think it would help the couples sessions greatly if we were able to gain some understanding together first.

(Maeve looks to Elena, hoping she’ll veto it…)

E: I think that’s a really good idea.

(Maeve realizes the mess she’s gotten herself into.)

(Continued in part 2)

[spectrum-core]

at least out of experience, when it comes to diet stuff the issue never is an isolated "you are getting too many calories", it often is more "you are taking it a bit too much of this mineral and that's gonna fuck up your liver in the long run, stop", "your calorie intake is good for someone your age/size/other conditions but your body (including brain) doesn't use up enough of it, exercise more or think more or do something", "you are eating too little of this nutrient you need, go add more eggs to your diet", "see, the issue is that your body has an issue processing this particular kind of food due to this specific metabolic disorder that you have, have you considered trying to replace it with xyz?"

[vapidlemon]

trying to figure out how to draw the Normality and Monsters girls

[asurrogateblog]

Is Izzy Syd's telecaster reborn?

if you genuinely managed to trace one of my oc's character designs back to the messy paper drawing I did a year ago of my humansona of syd's guitar, that implies a knowledge of my lore and understanding of my thought process that both deeply impresses and frightens me

[mornyavie]

I don't think that this post about our society lacking "exercise as play" is wrong per se so I'm making my own, but if you have a public park nearby there is a very strong chance that you can go to one on a weekend afternoon and find a lot of people playing sports for fun and exercise, so I encourage you to look for that kind of opportunity if this resonates with you!

My city has free adult recreation leagues for soccer, cricket, kickball, ultimate frisbee, tag football... etc, and low-cost (like 15$ for a season) leagues for teams that need developed spaces like basketball and tennis.

And that's just the officially organized leagues, not counting people who just do it on their own.

Of course availability and level of formality will vary based on your location, and on how much you enjoy the particular sports on offer, but for some people "exercise as play" is already the norm, it's worth looking into!

[sifutoph]

need us to stop being a silly little guy for one second and acknowledge that t0ph is rude and it isn't some funny trait. it's a flaw. its a reaction, sure, because her whole life she'd needed to play the part of being the obedient little girl and her rudeness is a result of wanting to affirm her independence and probs as a legitimate way to exercise her confidence and/or to go about her establishing boundaries or things she didn't like, but it's still a huge flaw.

[autumnalwalker]

Pride Month Drabble Challenge: Day 30, Belong

Reblog of the challenge rules with links to my posts is here.

“I love you.”

“Obviously.”

“Seriously.  It’s occurred to me that I don’t say it much, and I should.”

“But you do.  A dozen times a day in a hundred different ways.  Every time you bring me coffee on a late night without my needing to ask even though you hate the smell.  Every time you ask a question when I’m on a rant about orbital mechanics instead of trying to change the topic.  Every time you make a callback in-joke that would be utterly incomprehensible to anyone else or laugh at one of mine.  Every time you accidentally lose track of what you were doing because you got caught up in watching me take care of the plants.  Every time you say I make you feel safe.”

“I… Oh… Wow…  I don’t know what to say to that.  Thanks?”

“You’re welcome.  That said, I love you too.”

“Obviously.  You just said it twice.”

“Caught that, huh?”

“Of course.  I know you.  Just like you know me.”

“Better than anyone?”

“Better than anyone.”

[aliceindykeland]

it is another day of not fucking understanding what kind of body i want

[photomatt]

You gonna do anything or make any statement about the rampant transmisogyny on this hellsite, especially in cases like predstrogen recently? Or yall gonna stay silent and keep letting/making us get pushed off of it.

I have a number of asks about this, so this is to address all of them, I won't do each individually.

We generally do not comment on individual cases, but because there seems to be mass misinformation around this, I will make an exception and comment on predstrogen.

First, Tumblr has a number of LGBT+ including trans people on staff, and they see things from the inside fully, and they're not protesting this case.

Why do we wrongly have a transphobe reputation? We did have an external contract moderator last year that was making transphobic moderation (and also selling moderation, criminally). As soon as we were aware that person was fired, and we later terminated the entire relationship with that contracting firm and have brought almost everything in-house (at great cost). I have previously commented on this publicly, several times.

I am not aware of any Automattician (people who work at Automattic and Tumblr) who has made any transphobic moderation actions. If it's reported it is investigated immediately, if anything were found that person would be terminated for cause immediately.

Predstrogen's account was suspended for:

Repeated mis-tagging of adult content against Tumblr's community guidelines. This has nothing to do with clothed transition photos, she had 20+ other blogs and multiple accounts with names so explicit I can't post them here without a mature tag.

Multiple cases of harassment of other Tumblr users, not just me.

Multiple threats of violence, not just the one I share below.

These represent a breach of our Terms of Service, and we've exercised our right to refuse service.

Threats of violence are never okay. Threats of violence are not protected speech. We will work with police and FBI where appropriate, though to be clear prestrogen's case hasn't warranted that so far. I'm referring to what we may potentially do for other threats. I just got a death threat yesterday from someone mad about predstrogen, and that account was immediately terminated.

So regardless of whether you still think Tumblr staff is somehow a bunch of transphobes, know that threats of violence or death are still not acceptable and will result in immediate and serious action. Know that when you rile people up, they can do dumb things with possibly permanent consequences.

(2 hours later update: I have changed instances of the pronoun "they" or "their" to "the account" because I am unaware of pronoun preference in this instance and don't want to misgender anyone. Thank you for the people who reported this as an issue. Update 2: "She" is apparently better, the post now says that. Sorry for the mistake.)

Here's one (of many!) examples of the harassment violations, this one targets me but there are others targeting other users on the site.

The second part seems to indicate she wanted to be suspended, I'm unaware of why, perhaps to create this sort of uproar. I agree the hammers feel silly, but the start, "i hope photomatt dies forever a painful death" is a violation of Tumblr's community guidelines and terms of service.

The car part did hit close to home as I have almost died twice in car accidents.

Update 2: Added this text to the adult content part: This has nothing to do with clothed transition photos, she had 20+ other blogs and multiple accounts with names so explicit I can't post them here without a mature tag.

[gibbearish]

@excessive-vampires hey of course<3 i know it fuckin sucks to deal with so anything i can do to help others with it ill do my best

with that i saw your reblog earlier and was working through forming a response so i just wanted to say firstly im really sorry youre stuck in that situation and that your doctors treated you like that, secondly im not sure if you wanted advice on working around that so if not feel free to disregard all of this but if yes:

firstly dilators - if the issue is:

> not knowing what to get - i got the intimate rose dilator set off amazon and my physical therapist made happy noises when i showed her so they get two thumbs up, id estimate the smallest one is abt the size of a pencil

> they would open your mail and get angry - see if you have any friends nearby who would be willing to let you ship it to their house and then pick it up in person

> if they found it in your room they would get angry - try to think as far outside the box as you can on hiding spots. like say an old pair of boots buried in your closet or something, what are the chances of them checking somewhere like that yknow?

> worried theyll catch you doing it / no lock on door - i usually wait until my housemates are entirely gone or 100% certainly asleep before dilating, its not a noisy activity on its own you go really slow. and even if that means you can only do it once a month, thats ok, like i said any progress is good progress. when i first started out working on it p young i literally couldnt fit much of anything at all and would just occasionally toe the line like every few months, and even that slowly got me to the point where i think shortly after graduating highschool when i ordered the dilators i was able to do the first size after like a week

if none of those solve it and dilatings not a possibility thats def unfortunate but not the end of the road. as for the rest of the exercises none of them involve material stuff so they should be pretty easy to do discreetly if you want (except the massage thing but theyd have no reason to suspect its pelvis involved as the tools used are used for regular massages too lol, and failing that you can still do it with your hands its just not as ideal). so with that here's a rough breakdown of the exercises im supposed to do, and again this is just the general stuff so i cant tell you how many days a week you would do these. and also disclaimer that i very much am not a medical professional, just regurgitating what i remember of the instructions from my doctor. anyways!

kegels:

breathe in through nose 2 seconds, out through pursed lips 2 seconds while squeezing, release and repeat 5 times

then

take slow steady breaths drawing them down into your stomach rather than your chest, do these continuously independent of kegels. pattern is squeeze for 5 seconds, release 10 seconds, and repeat that 5 times

do one set of each of these standing, sitting, and laying down flat on your back with pillows under your knees to elevate your pelvis. originally i was supposed to do all of that eight to ten times a day but that rapidly evolved to "whenever i can remember to in whatever position i happen to be in right now" lol

the abdominal/inner thigh massages are primarily intended as a cupping exercise but you can also use a Gua Sha tool if the cups hurt (like me, they pull my stomach hair so i got one also off amazon, its the shiny metal rock shaped like a paint pallette. for the cups this one looks closest to what she had and you just squeeze it then place on your skin so it creates a seal, release the bulb to create suction, and then slide it around as described below), or she told me the thigh part can also be done with a massage gun. but essentially you just make sweeping motions around your abdominal region, if you start at the bottom on one side you sweep up around your bellybutton on that side to the top and vice versa, if you imagine your stomach in quadrants you wanna spend abt 3 mins going over each corner. then you also wanna do the cardinal directions and just sweep from the outside towards your bellybutton, also 3 mins each (i do not do these in any particular order truth be told im truly just rubbing a slimy rock around on my stomach lol). inner thighs are similar, you just sweep up towards your pelvis. and use massage oil/lotion/something otherwise itll get uncomfortable and chafey, ESPECIALLY the silicon cups my skin hurts just thinking abt that lol

for stretches she told me -

1 minute daily: priformis figure 4 stretch, deep squat stretch, half kneeling hip flexor side bending stretch, supine hamstring stretch with strap, happy baby pose, and adductor butterfly stretch

10x pushup-y things daily: prone on elbows stretch

i googled all of those real quick to make sure those keywords lead to diagrams or guides that looked mostly right so those should be a p good rough guide

the breathing exercises are just more of the stomach breathing thing, you lay down with one hand on your stomach and one on your chest and just concentrate on taking deep breaths without the chest hand moving for a couple minutes

if you had to pick just one of these though i would primarily go for the kegels, for the first month that was the only thing i remembered to do every now and then and id still made a fuckload of progress by the second appointment, theyre entirely undetectable by anyone around you so you can do them whenever and wherever you want, and as far as i know theres not really any way to do them wrong or like. overdo them? worst thatll happen is youll get too tired to keep doing them and the result will be ... you relaxing, so thats also a win lol

another tip is if you cant get dilators but still want to go that route and can fit your pinky: put it in until it starts to hurt and no further, even if thats only a single centimeter and just chill there until it relaxes, focusing on deep breaths and releasing tension in the area (also make sure youve gone to the bathroom prior so you wont get scared of relaxing too much and tense up bc that can hurt a lot w something in you if youre not prepared). itll feel like it never will but i promise eventually it will chill, even if that time is another day youll still have made progress. if you do get it relaxed though then you can try for a little deeper, again stopping as soon as it hurts and waiting for it to adjust. one thing that can help is directing sustained pressure down towards the bottom of your pelvic floor, it will hurt some but in a different way like a really intense backbreaking massage does, and as such will also steadily drive the tension out. vaginismus is lowkey your pelvic floor being one big muscle knot anyways so yknow lol. also if its not going well dont force yourself to continue forever, like give yourself a 15 minute timer as a goal but allow yourself to tap out whenever you need. and conversely if you make it to 15 mins and find youre still feeling fine you can choose to bump that up, the world is your oyster

for bowel health she recommended i get a magnesium supplement, the brand she recc'd is CALM specifically the raspberry lemon flavor, you just mix i think a teaspoon of it with however much warm water you want so if you dont like the taste you can just take it as a shot like i do, or she said adding it to tea and stuff is fine too, and you just drink that before bed every night. its not prescription or anything you can get it at costco or again amazon (all of these companies certainly have their own websites you can order direct from but i am broke as fuck so we do what we can lol)

that's all i can think of right now, make sure to use way more lube than you think you should, and i hope this helps and that your situation looks up soon💜

got a good grade in physical therapy because i ordered a sex toy life is fun

[ayin-me-yesh]

If anyone's looking for really gentle or disability friendly exercise...

Doctor Jo on YouTube is a physical therapist who offers lots of therapeutic stretching and exercise videos for specific conditions and pain relief. [x]

Leap Services is a Canadian physical therapy group that has a YouTube playlist of gentle exercise routines. All of these exercises are done in a chair (except for one which is done on the floor) and are intentionally adaptable to different bodies and needs. [x]

Yoga with Zelinda on YouTube has yoga that's adapted to a large number of conditions, for instance, providing a playlist of routines that don't require kneeling and another of chair yoga. She also offers yoga for specific health challenges, like fibromyalgia and mobility issues. There's a playlist of yoga routines for people with bigger bodies as well. [x]

Santosha Spirit on YouTube has yoga routines for people with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, POTS, and EDS. [x]

Yoga with Shaunneka on YouTube has a playlist of slow seated yoga, including chair yoga, as well as a playlist of gentle yoga. [x]

Qinergy on YouTube has tai chi sets broken down into easy tutorials. There is a seated version of her shibashi set. [x]

Perth Tai Chi Academy on YouTube is similar to Qinergy. It provides a seated version of daoyin yangshen qigong. [x]

[mycroftrh]

I could write a dissertation about this and instead only have time for a few paragraphs but. Looking back on Psych with more knowledge about neurodiversity and how people feel about actually being around folks with neurodiversity-related traits…

I have a LOT of feelings about how Gus has so many of the autistic (and some ADHD) traits that people find annoying and grating and get pissed off about (correcting people, infodumping, dropping special interests into unrelated conversations, rigidity in folllowing rules, etc) and Shawn has so many of the ADHD (and some autistic) traits that people find annoying etc (physical and verbal hyperactivity, jumping between tasks and jobs and so forth, habitual lying, interrupting in conversation, etc), BUT

With each other they sort of… build their relationship around those things, instead of treating them as Problems. Gus corrects incorrect things and Shawn forgets correct things (or habitually lies or etc) so they build an entire recurring bit around the situation where those traits intersect (“I’ve heard it both ways”) that turns it from a source of conflict into a shared in-joke ritual. When Shawn starts up one of his elaborate lies Gus immediately swings into commit to the bit back-up mode. Shawn treats Gus’s infodumping as a social strategy.

They balance each others’ extremes without genuinely resenting each other for needing that. Gus is overly rigid about rule-following, Shawn is overly impulsive about rule-breaking, and they pull each other towards a more sustainable middle ground. Gus is overly fond of routine and risks stagnation, Shawn is overly prone to starting and then abandoning things, between them they’re able to form a life that’s interesting and includes novelty but isn’t unlivably chaotic. (We see what happens with that one when they’re not together to balance each other out! During the time they were apart, Shawn had a jillion jobs and quit all of them, while Gus became a dead-eyed pharmaceutical salesman with zero, like, Upward Mobility.)

And then of course there are the traits they share! They both clearly have echolalia and a drive to stim, for instance, and instead of policing each other they just periodically break into random dances and vocal exercises and “singing” and general sensory-seeking nonsense together, matched to each other.

I just??? The fact that they visibly display all those autistic and ADHD traits that drive other people crazy but instead of being a wedge between them that’s exactly why they’re perfect for each other… and how it’s not that it doesn’t ever cause them annoyance because they’re just like naturally soulmates who never get annoyed by anything about each other, but that they’ve worked out rituals and strategies so that what maybe bothered them in the past now instead is a shared bonding activity, or acts to balance their weaknesses against each other…

Just. Got Dam, that’s the dream