#he was talking with a hiking buddy who is trans

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

wough weird sad feelings about my dad who could have expected that

[gean-grey-blog]

I was doing trail magic on the AT yesterday, and two thru hikers stopped to chat for a while. My visibly trans ass is sitting there painting a rainbow glitter galaxy next to a pile of free food in the woods on a drop cloth I use for a banner when I run protest med tents, spray painted with the Starfleet medical insignia on one side, and this on the other

I could not be more visibly leftist if I had been trying to make a point of it. But none of it was directly negative against conservatives and the Starfleet side of the banner was facing up.

We got through I'd say a full 30 minutes of conversation basically agreeing on everything while they chowed down on chips and chugged Gatorade.

The woods? We all like the woods!

Giving people free food? We're only here talking because trail magic is part of the culture of the AT

That cute dog someone is day hiking past us with? Fucking adorable

All the politicians involved in the executive branch right now are corrupt and shitty and old? YEP

As they were leaving one of them said something like "so glad to talk with someone who understands things, not like those leftists."

I'm like "I am a leftist, actually. It was nice to be able to talk to someone who disagrees with me in some ways, about the things we can agree on"

The fact I was a leftist choosing to listen and chill with people different than me politically, blew their minds. To the point the one guy was eventually dragged off by his buddy because he couldn't handle it and was like "but you're nice, why would you be like Them?"

The power of the two party non-choice is in dividing people. Even joking engagement with that normalizes that division

ironic right wing shit will erode your mind without fail. I don't touch that shit

[pyro-doll]

hi can i get a match :) platonic or romantic and any gender is fair game

you know everything about me because i never shut up but! i’m triple cancer and infp (maybe?? probably???). hobbies include daydreaming, art, PUZZLES, podcasts, getting bullied (affectionate) and being funny

my primary love language is physical touch, i need it i love hugs and cuddling and also little gestures like shoulder touching <333 words of affirmation too

love linguistics and academia aesthetics :) my fav animals atm are manatees and cows

don’t give me diluc don’t do it. don’t do it to me i won’t get him for a fourth time i can’t i’ll do anything /lh

all hail binnie ty prayer hands high five emoji

Let's go bestie sent in an ask. I'm giving you a romantic AND a plutonic matchup because I love you and uhh mutuals/irls privilige. Let's go 😍

I will have you know lynx I don't tolerate diluc slander. And yet you slander my boy everyday.

Your Vision Is...

Anemo is the element of the winds and freedom. Freedom means something different to every Anemo weilder but like them your ideal future leaves you free of a great weight currently present in your life.

Your plutonic match is...

Bennett!

Ok I just thought this would be really cute,,

Bennett does not have a lot of friends so people who won't leave or blame him for his bad luck are like, his greatest treasures.

He values having somebody who will listen to him because you are the king of letting people ramble about their interests. And also he would ask you about yours! Any small thing he would find on an adventure he would risk tooth and nail to get to you if he thought you would like it.

He thinks your art is so cool. He sits there with stars in his eyes just about whenever you pull out a pencil and notebook. Absolutely floored this kid.

Because he can't find the world's greatest treasures and you simply enjoy nature mushroom hunting, foraging, or simply hiking is a common shared activity. He tells you all about his explosive adventures while you stroll around mondstadt.

He loves your sense of humor. You can make a good joke out of a less then ideal situation and he has a lot of those. Everytime he's down you can say something that makes him laugh. Even when it's just on a walk and he's had a tough day he can always count on you to be consistent.

Trans rolemodel. Teach him binder safety.

That's another thing!! Bad days!! Sometimes he just needs a quiet cuddle buddy. :)

Your romantic match is...

Xiao!

Ok so I was trying to make a non biased pick since I know you so well but the more I thought about this the more in love with this pairing I am. Xiaolynx real.

The first meeting happens ages after you two take notice of each other. You hear about him from the inn keeper and he kind of is this little joke in your head. Hah scary guy who only eats almond tofu? That's kind of hilarious!

Wangshu in has some wonderful views and you visit the surrounding area to enjoy the flora and just some nice quiet areas to draw and so you've stayed at the inn occasionally. Of course the area is also not devoid of monsters, but ofc you have a vision.

Xiao sees you do some fun Anemo stuff, but you use it in some wacky way he's never seen before that you came up with yourself and he's absolutely dumbfounded, both intrigued and slightly insulted to see it used in such a way. Anyways he tends to watch you a little closer when he sees you around after that, also because oh god this poor artist is going to get murdered maybe.

Ok. Artist see pretty boy artist draw pretty boy. Your sketch book may or may not have some sketches inspired by the adeptus xiao. You leave this sketchbook up on the inn balcony and he noticed so he doesn't see you coming back to grab it. This is your real first meeting.

After that you talk a little bit more, you keep having odd run ins in the ancient ruins of Liyue which for you are art inspiration and for him are memories.

He likes how low key you are compared to others who meet him. You're not overbearing, and you keep making an effort to be kind to him even after he shakes you for being a mortal. There's this unspoken connection where you both know each other, and you both recognize each other but can't decide if the other does.

It's not until you fight off some monsters from the inn together that you really talk. You're treated to a complimentary meal by the inn keeper and share some almond tofu.

Ok lantern rite is where YOU take him for a first date but HE takes you somewhere he has good memories from. He is not the happiest of souls but he wants to share that some how.

You: *rants about something cool*

Xiao: *wow foolish mortals.*

You:

Xiao: *why did you stop??*

You have this freedom and detachment of the strict commerce he has seen Liyue fall into and it makes him nostalgic.

The first time you call upon him for protection he's grateful for an excuse to hang out with you. You pick up on it and start using it just to spend time with him.

Ok he will check on you all the time so if you leave little notes and qixing for him around and come back and notice they are gone. It's like Santa clause and cookies but xiao and almond tofu.

He will mimic little things you Do. If you do a snapping stim he just kinda unconsciously snaps a couple times too.

The kings of shared emotional quiet moments.

Ok part of the reason people are scared of him is because he says really out of pocket garbage. The thing about the snow? Random.

YOU JUST. AGREE! YOUR LIKE YEAH HELL YEAH IF YOU WANNA EAT THE SNOW OK,

Both of you are too scared to order food it's an endless cycle. Xiao does it anyways because PROTECT LYNX MODE and it scared the restaurant workers.

Bullies you affectionate. Also easily embarassed so you have some lovely banter.

What you take as inside jokes between the two of you he thinks are human culture. Has lead to awkward encounters where he leaves like why the hell are the laughing. That's like a thing why- WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING.

And you gotta give him an I'm sorry smooch while he tries not to cry.

Shit talk Liyue business men together.

ALSO. YOU WOULD?? HE WOULD LOVE PUZZLES I don't know why he would just get so much satisfaction over "conquering" the puzzle. You'll be sitting there quietly and he'll slam a piece in.

Not a words of affirmation guy but the random wisdom he provides is unmatched and close to down right romantic which is not his intent.

I'm a physical touch xiao truther. I think he's just embarassed about any affection but shielding you, holding you, just keeping a hand on you is how he says he's there and you're safe.

Anyways waiting your genshinsona doodles so I can draw you two.

[dxmagedrose]

@hammurabicomplex​​ asked:

3, 11, 24!

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode || OPEN

3. WHAT IS/WAS ROSA HAULEY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HER FATHER THOMAS HAULEY (@MONSTRUMVENANDI) LIKE? 

                Thomas & Rosa’s complicated father-daughter relationship is actually the primary driving force behind the Hauley’s family storyline underneath the ghosts & ghouls, the magic & bloodshed; it’s the underlying path through the subway map of family arcs and plotlines.

Rosa is the youngest daughter of the  h o n o r a b l e  &  religious patriot of a homegrown police officer, and her own personal brand of daddy issues all seem to stem from that.  Rosa was sort of expected to be the family’s suburban sweetheart, and  G O D ,  for a while, she was. She wasn’t planned, they already had their two kids, and so she was seen as the unexpected princess of the cul-de-sac. Sit here, cross your T’s, dot your I’s. Strawberry Smacker’s & cheap clip-on earrings, she didn’t have the effortless charm of her brother James (@the-soldicr) or older sib Eli (@intheirhearts), but she was pretty and mild and sweet, well liked in her neighborhood. She was a good girl who did what she was told, and maybe that was why things had gone well enough for so long. She didn’t upset the status quo, but she felt it grow stagnant.

Rosa had always felt a disconnect from within her family, as if she somehow didn’t belong anywhere, but her dad made her feel the most seen out of any of them. If the inseparable siblings Eli & James were always off trying to one-up each other with physical feats of handstands and cartwheels, Dad would spend a little extra time showing Rosa some much needed attention listening to her wild stories. They did plenty of family activities, most bittersweet to remember being their family trips in the Rockies. Long hiking trails in the woods, stories around the campfire, family inside jokes and time at the woodland range learning how to shoot (as an officer in Denver for about 20 years, Thomas had made sure his kids had a decent enough aim early on). They were good times.

But Rosa felt trapped, stuck in a mold she didn’t fit in. She was one anonymous face in an endless sea of them, mundane daily routines to drag your feet to, meaningless conversations about the weather and what they were doing next Saturday. Her words grew more venomous, her behavior more daring. She yearned for something more. As a child, it was a dream to be an actress someday. Someone big, that people stopped to stare at. The kind of women with fancy pearls and trans-Atlantic accents on her favorite Old Hollywood films. But as lost as she was becoming in her social circle, pushing people away, things were still okay. 

That was until Thomas had seen the things he’d seen; after completely uncharacteristically breaking an innocent man out of jail who would have fried for the unfathomable, he’d thought it best for his daughters to just disappear into thin air for their safety, for their lives to remain some semblance of a normal, but it only served to ruin his youngest, the most emotionally vulnerable and hollow of the kids going through her roughest years.

What was going on? Why wasn’t anyone telling her anything?                              Why didn’t Dad love her enough to stay?

She watched as her brother left for a war of his own, and her sister got some answers of the answers they were looking for. Thomas had left their family to protect others’ against the Darkness that he had seen, and his kids were safer without ever hearing from him, the now ex-cop that had broken a man out of jail and was on the run. It was his duty as an officer, as Catholic, to do what he could for those families. Whether or not any of his own family saw it that way was an entirely different matter.

Fond memories of their time became twisted from the strange and unexplained disappearance of her goody-two-shoes, uptight dad that had his cop buddies suddenly knocking on their door asking about it. What kind of a man refused to talk to his own daughters? Who chooses glory & religious psycho-babble over being a father for just four more years?

She felt like  n o t h i n g  to him, like she didn’t matter to anyone. James went off to fight his wars both overseas and back here at home with his father. Her mom was losing everything she loved and had picked up heavy drinking, while Rosa and her sister had a huge falling out on what happened to the books their big brother sent home detailling what had been going on. Eli left to chase after the answers the two siblings were so clearly owed, angry at the petulance of her sister. But to the youngest of the Hauleys, nothing mattered anymore. The people you loved, who said they loved you, could and would throw you away and never speak to you again the first second they got. Your own blood, with no answers to be had. The world was that unfair.

So, Rosa painted Thomas in her mind to be this evil, horrible entity in her life. She had nothing else telling her otherwise. He abandoned her. He left his perfect family with no explanation, ruined everything they ever had. 

Rosa couldn’t give a fuck about anyone else anymore. The world was so clearly every man for himself. No one was there for you. No one had your back. The world was made of absolute chaos, and nothing was sacred or safe.

Thomas became the villain in her story, all the way up until the moment that the real villain was who she had become after all she had done in her anger of losing him to something she didn’t understand and taking it out on everyone else she could worm herself into the lives of. 

Because of Thomas, Rosa doesn’t trust people who love her, and because she doesn’t trust people who love her, she’ll become anything you want until she’s done.

Once Thomas has gotten wind of everything she’s done, once he finds out that she’s become everything he’s fought against, he has to decide how far he’s willing to take his duty to keep Heaven & Hell aligned.

~ O V E R A L L , ~  the biggest conflicts between Rosa & Thomas can be summed up in the Trolley Problem - there’s a train speeding towards two tracks, and on one side are five innocent strangers, and on the other side are one of your loved ones. The muses only have three seconds to choose which side dies and which side survives, and Thomas will forever save the heartache of five innocent families he could protect, and Rosa will forever choose to never have to lose the person she cares about, no matter what.

[ In her crime / non-magic verses, things are only a little bit different; her dad Thomas & her mom Lauren split up because of an intense occult-crimes case that got Thomas offered up a job with the FBI & left Rosa with the same echoes of a relationship minus the demons and ghosts. ]

[thewebgate]

Coping with Depression

Tips for Overcoming Depression One Step at a Time

Depression drains your energy, hope, and drive, making it difficult to do what you need to feel better. But while overcoming depression isn’t quick or easy, it’s far from impossible. You can’t just will yourself to “snap out of it,” but you do have more control than you realize—even if your depression is severe and stubbornly persistent. The key is to start small and build from there. Feeling better takes time, but you can get there if you make positive choices for yourself each day.

What is the best way to cope with depression?

It’s the Catch-22 of depression: recovering from depression requires action, but taking action when you’re depressed is hard. Draw upon whatever resources you have. You may not have much energy, but you probably have enough to take a short walk around the block or pick up the phone to call a loved one. The tips that follow are based on a comprehensive approach that helps you get support while making lifestyle changes and reversing negative thinking. If you continue to take positive steps day by day, you’ll soon find yourself feeling better.

Tip 1: Reach out and stay connected

When you’re depressed, the tendency is to withdraw and isolate. Even reaching out to close family members and friends can be tough. Compound that with the feelings of shame and the guilt you may feel at neglecting your relationships.

But social support is absolutely essential to depression recovery. Staying connected to other people and the outside world will make a world of difference in your mood and outlook. And if you don’t feel that you have anyone to turn to, it’s never too late to build new friendships and improve your support network.

Ways to reach out

Look for support from people who make you feel safe and cared for. The person you talk to doesn’t have to be able to fix you; he or she just needs to be a good listener—someone who’ll listen attentively and compassionately without being distracted or judging you.

Make face-time a priority. Phone calls, social media, and texting are great ways to stay in touch, but they don’t replace good old-fashioned in-person quality time.  The simple act of talking to someone face to face about how you feel can play a big role in lifting the fog of depression and keeping it away.

Try to keep up with social activities even if you don’t feel like it. Often when you’re depressed, it feels more comfortable to retreat into your shell, but being around other people will make you feel less depressed.

Find ways to support others. It’s nice to receive support, but research shows you get an even bigger mood boost from providing support yourself. So find ways—both big and small—to help others: volunteer, be a listening ear for a friend, do something nice for somebody.

Care for a pet. While nothing can replace the human connection, pets can bring joy and companionship into your lifeand help you feel less isolated. Caring for a pet can also get you outside of yourself and give you a sense of being needed—both powerful antidotes to depression.

10 tips for reaching out and staying connected

Talk to one person about your feelings

Help someone else by volunteering

Have lunch or coffee with a friend

Ask a loved one to check in with you regularly

Accompany someone to the movies, a concert, or a small get-together

Call or email an old friend

Go for a walk with a workout buddy

Schedule a weekly dinner date

Meet new people by taking a class or joining a club

Confide in a clergy member, teacher, or sports coach

Tip 2: Do things that make you feel good

In order to overcome depression, you have to do things that relax and energize you. This includes following a healthy lifestyle, learning how to better manage stress, setting limits on what you’re able to do, and scheduling fun activities into your day.

Do things you enjoy (or used to)

While you can’t force yourself to have fun or experience pleasure, you can push yourself to do things, even when you don’t feel like it. You might be surprised at how much better you feel once you’re out in the world. Even if your depression doesn’t lift immediately, you’ll gradually feel more upbeat and energetic as you make time for fun activities.

Pick up a former hobby or a sport you used to like.

Express yourself creatively through music, art, or writing.

Go out with friends.

Take a day trip to a museum, the mountains, or the ballpark.

Support your health

Aim for eight hours of sleep. Depression typically involves sleep problems; whether you’re sleeping too little or too much, your mood suffers. Get on a better sleep schedule by learning healthy sleep habits.

Expose yourself to a little sunlight every day. Lack of sunlight can make depression worse. Take a short walk outdoors, have your coffee outside, enjoy an al fresco meal, people-watch on a park bench, or sit out in the garden. Aim for at least 15 minutes of sunlight a day to boost your mood. If you live somewhere with little winter sunshine, try using a light therapy box.

Practice relaxation techniques. A daily relaxation practice can help relieve symptoms of depression, reduce stress, and boost feelings of joy and well-being. Try yoga, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or meditation.

Develop a "wellness toolbox" to deal with depression

Come up with a list of things that you can do for a quick mood boost. The more “tools” for coping with depression, the better. Try and implement a few of these ideas each day, even if you’re feeling good.

Spend some time in nature

List what you like about yourself

Read a good book

Watch a funny movie or TV show

Take a long, hot bath

Take care of a few small tasks

Play with a pet

Talk to friends or family face-to-face

Listen to music

Do something spontaneous

Tip 3: Move vigorously during the day

When you’re depressed, just getting out of bed can seem like a daunting task, let alone working out! But exercise is a powerful depression fighter—and one of the most important tools in your recovery arsenal. Research shows that regular exercise can be as effective as medication for relieving depression symptoms. It also helps prevent relapse once you’re well.

To get the most benefit, aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. This doesn’t have to be all at once—and it’s okay to start small. A 10-minute walk can improve your mood for two hours.

Exercise is something you can do right now to boost your mood

Your fatigue will improve if you stick with it. Starting to exercise can be difficult when you’re depressed and exhausted. But research shows that your energy levels will improve if you keep with it. You will be less fatigued, not more, once it’s part of your routine.

Find exercises that are continuous and rhythmic. The most benefits for depression come from rhythmic exercise—such as walking, weight training, swimming, martial arts, or dancing—where you move both your arms and legs.

Add a mindfulness element, especially if your depression is rooted in unresolved trauma or fed by obsessive, negative thoughts. Focus on how your body feels as you move—such as the sensation of your feet hitting the ground, or the feeling of the wind on your skin, or the rhythm of your breathing.

Tip 4: Eat a healthy, mood-boosting diet

What you eat has a direct impact on the way you feel. Reduce your intake of foods that can adversely affect your brain and mood, such as caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, and foods with high levels of chemical preservatives or hormones (such as certain meats).

Don’t skip meals. Going too long between meals can make you feel irritable and tired, so aim to eat something at least every three to four hours.

Minimize sugar and refined carbs. You may crave sugary snacks, baked goods, or comfort foods such as pasta or French fries, but these “feel-good” foods quickly lead to a crash in mood and energy. Aim to cut out as much of these foods as possible.

Boost your B vitamins. Deficiencies in B vitamins such as folic acid and B-12 can trigger depression. To get more, take a B-complex vitamin supplement or eat more citrus fruit, leafy greens, beans, chicken, and eggs.

Omega-3 fatty acids play an essential role in stabilizing mood

Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA can give your mood a big boost. The best sources are fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, tuna, and some cold-water fish oil supplements. Aim for two servings a week. See: Choosing Healthy Fats

Tip 5: Get a daily dose of sunlight

Sunlight can help boost serotonin levels and improve your mood. Whenever possible, get outside during daylight hours and expose yourself to the sun. Aim for at least 15 minutes of sunlight a day. Remove sunglasses (but never stare directly at the sun) and use sunscreen as needed.

Take a walk on your lunch break, have your coffee outside, enjoy an al fresco meal, or spend time gardening.

Double up on the benefits of sunlight by exercising outside. Try hiking, walking in a local park, or playing golf or tennis with a friend.

Increase the amount of natural light in your home and workplace by opening blinds and drapes and sitting near windows.

If you live somewhere with little winter sunshine, try using a light therapy box.

Dealing with the winter blues

For some people, the reduced daylight hours of winter lead to a form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD can make you feel like a completely different person to who you are in the summer: hopeless, sad, tense, or stressed, with no interest in friends or activities you normally love. No matter how hopeless you feel, though, there are plenty of things you can do to keep your mood stable throughout the year. See Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Tip 6: Challenge negative thinking

Do you feel like you’re powerless or weak? That bad things happen and there’s not much you can do about it? That your situation is hopeless? Depression puts a negative spin on everything, including the way you see yourself and your expectations for the future.

When these types of thoughts overwhelm you, it’s important to remind yourself that this is the depression talking. These irrational, pessimistic attitudes—known as cognitive distortions—aren’t realistic. When you really examine them they don’t hold up. But even so, they can be tough to give up. Just telling yourself to “think positive” won’t cut it. Often, they’re part of a lifelong pattern of thinking that’s become so automatic you’re not even completely aware of it.

Negative, unrealistic ways of thinking that fuel depression

All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”)

Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I can’t do anything right.”)

The mental filter – Ignoring positive events and focusing on the negative. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.

Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count (“She said she had a good time on our date, but I think she was just being nice.”)

Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“He must think I’m pathetic”) or a fortune teller (“I’ll be stuck in this dead end job forever.”)

Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel like such a loser. I really am no good!”)

‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do, and beating yourself up if you don’t live up to your rules.

Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”)

Put your thoughts on the witness stand

Once you identify the destructive thoughts patterns that you default to, you can start to challenge them with questions such as:

“What’s the evidence that this thought is true? Not true?”

“What would I tell a friend who had this thought?”

“Is there another way of looking at the situation or an alternate explanation?”

“How might I look at this situation if I didn’t have depression?”

As you cross-examine your negative thoughts, you may be surprised at how quickly they crumble. In the process, you’ll develop a more balanced perspective.

When to get professional help

If you’ve taken self-help steps and made positive lifestyle changes and still find your depression getting worse, seek professional help. Needing additional help doesn’t mean you’re weak. Sometimes the negative thinking in depression can make you feel like you’re a lost cause, but depression can be treated and you can feel better!

Don’t forget about these self-help tips, though. Even if you’re receiving professional help, these tips can be part of your treatment plan, speeding your recovery and preventing depression from returning.