pos-syscourse

[pos-syscourse]

You cannot control anyone else's actions, but you can control your own.

No, you won't stop that user from sending anon hate, but you can turn off asks, or delete the asks instead of responding to them. No, you can't stop that user from posting horrific things, but you can report those posts, and block them so you don't see those sorts of things. No, you can't stop people from hurting you, but you can take measures to prevent yourself from being hurt as often.

I know how helpless it can feel sometimes. How everpresent the pain can be.

But the fact is, you can survive pain. You already have. It isn't insurmountable.

You can handle these things. You can act.

Please, do so.

[pos-syscourse]

Syscourse Break!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone’s had a lovely Wednesday. From what I’ve seen, the tag has been slow moving today, which is always a good sign that people are (hopefully) out enjoying themselves!

Today I played nostalgic games with my partner, and relished being taken care of, since I’ve been unwell. It made me wonder:

What do you have nostalgia for?

Happy break!

Please no syscourse on this post. Let’s all try to take a break today!

[pos-syscourse]

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday! I made sure to come home and rest, since I did quite a bit today.

Make sure you're doing fun, varied things for your rest!! I've found that switching it up now and then keeps things alive and fresh. Give yourself the enrichment you need!

Throw a watermelon in that enclosure ;)

[pos-syscourse]

You have more in common than you think. After all, we're all here, aren't we?

Syscourse often creates lines. Endogenic VS Traumagenic. Anti-endo VS Pro-endo. Disordered VS Non-disordered.

But each of these binaries is a spectrum, just as all things are. There's middle grounds, and even in terms of these binary ideas, they are also spectrums in of themselves.

We often push others away due to these binaries, and often feel swells of anger about these binaries. Today, I want to challenge everyone to step back and find the commonalities in what others say.

Remember: there's someone real on the other side of those words. They're not just a cruel comment -- they're a person.

[pos-syscourse]

Saturday Songs!

Fooling Yourself by Styx!

I grew up on these kinds of classic rock songs. This one never resonated much with me as a child, but lately I’ve been listening to it again.

As a child, I didn’t let myself get angry. I didn’t let myself feel that emotion. And as such, I’ve struggled in my adult life to accept anger and to be upset. It’s a milestone to speak up and say I’m frustrated about something.

And the thing is, pushing that anger down means I was holding onto it. I was clinging to the anger without realizing it. And that anger controlled me; in my case, it made me cower and surrender even more. Maybe if I give up more, I’ll stop being so mad.

Maybe for you, your anger did the same — made you cower and fawn. Maybe your anger made you more confrontational. Maybe your anger made you numb everything, just stop it all. Maybe your anger did something different, or a mix of those things.

But at the end of the day… we’re fooling ourselves if we don’t recognize our anger.

We’re dismissing our humanity if we push that anger away. We need to be angry, consciously, and put that anger to good use.

This song is not angry. But it is. It’s angry in the sense of determination and spite of the doubt, not in the furious rage sense. It’s not overwhelming anger that cannot be managed.

It’s anger that helps.

All anger is there to help.

Let it.

[pos-syscourse]

You don't always have to fix everything. Not even about yourself; not even the unhealthy things.

You're allowed to be whatever you are.

You don't need to dedicate every moment to healing, or to fixing yourself, or to making yourself a better person. Your actions do not need to be dictated by growth in every instant!

You're a living, breathing person. Online spaces erase that, sometimes.

Today, treat yourself like the flawed person you are, and give yourself the grace and respect that we all deserve.

[pos-syscourse]

Syscourse Break!

I hope you all had a wonderful day, or are about to have a wonderful day when you read this!!

Let’s have a cute question today. I started my day in a grumpy mood, but when I got to work, they were blasting feel good music. It brightened my whole day, and even though today was hard, at least I had something to brighten it.

What’s your favorite way to start a day? If you had no barriers and no worries, how would you start the day off?

Please no syscourse on this post. Let’s all try to take a break today!

[pos-syscourse]

Make sure to take breaks — even from what you love a lot!

There’s a lot of things that bring me joy. But all things are best in moderation; overwhelming yourself with the things you enjoy is still overwhelming.

Spice it up a bit! Instead of another night of YouTube and tumblr, I chose to make a picrew and… well, do a different tumblr experience with an ask game (hehe). It all varies, even if it’s similar!

Good luck out there in your timezone! May you find rest soon :)

[pos-syscourse]

I just got home from a wedding, and I’m sadly far too exhausted for introspective syscourse songs today!

Enjoy an artist I’m obsessed with, with no syscourse analysis attached. Just a lovely little love song :)

[pos-syscourse]

Our opinions probably don’t line up.

I hold opinions I keep close to my chest, here. You know very little about me — only what I’ve shared. And that thought shouldn’t cause you alarm.

Those who follow me do so because they like the content of a blog. And that’s dedicated to kindness, joy, and rest! It’s okay for you to follow me, even if they don’t agree with unspoken things I don’t say but believe.

There’s a saying I hold close to my heart. If a man raises money for an orphanage, sends the orphans gifts, and ensures they have the best possible education and lives… and secretly hates the absolute devil out of kids? Then he does no harm. He just helped, and that’s what matters.

It’s okay if not everyone agrees. It is actions that determines who we, as people, associate with.

Make sure your actions shine.

[pos-syscourse]

We’re all hurting.

All of us here have something that’s hurt us; some wound left unhealed. And that doesn’t excuse any behavior — it doesn’t justify hurting others — but it does explain the behavior.

The issue with this being is, many will label the Bad Person as Someone Who Is Justified To Be Hurt.

Someone posts a rancid take, and they’re harassed. Someone says something disgusting, and they’re doxxed. Someone admits to doing something horrible, and within hours they’ve deleted due to the bombardment of hatred they’ve gotten.

And many of you have stopped caring about the fact that this person is someone. You’ll attack them mercilessly, feeling just and good, because you’ve labeled them as A Bad Guy.

We are all hurting. Including them.

Address the negative with kindness; not more hurt. Address the problems — from misinformation and bad takes to slander and crimes — with compassion in your heart.

Maybe, just maybe, if the world were a bit kinder, there would be less hurting people.

All we can do is try to help people hurt less.

[pos-syscourse]

I don’t know that I’ve got much positivity in me tonight, folks. Burnt out, stressed, and just doing my best for me.

Make sure to drink water, take your meds, and get some rest!!!

[pos-syscourse]

Venting and flooding are two different things.

When you vent, you’re getting the pressure out; you’re loosening a valve slightly so that things can flow more naturally.

When you flood, you’re not loosening a valve; the valve was blown off by the pressure and the water came gushing out, with no sign of stopping.

These two things are different because you do need the water. And just flooding it all out doesn’t help solve the problem in the pipes.

Please be careful when you’re venting! Make sure it’s actually relieving pressure, rather than leading to more problems with flooding and drainage. And always remember that, while talking about a problem may feel better, some problems do also require more of a hands-on approach.

Good luck out there today!

[pos-syscourse]

Not everything needs to be focused on something else.

Everything you do doesn’t need to be for recovery. It doesn’t need to be for plural acceptance. It doesn’t need to be for kindness, or anger, or any emotions.

Sometimes, what we do, or say, is allowed to just be. And expecting otherwise does a lot of harm.

Today was an incredibly difficult day for many, myself included. Maybe it was the religious overtones of the day. Maybe it was family and friends who are difficult to be around. Maybe it was symptoms, cropping up. Maybe it was all of these options, or none of them, or some combination.

Regardless: what you say, do, or feel does not need to be dedicated to fixing it, or helping, or letting it go. What you say can just… be.

The only request I have for people is that they try to see what harm their words could do. You don’t have to make the words be for anything; they don’t need to be plural activism, or support for trauma survivors, or making people feel safer.

But don’t make it against people. Don’t spread more hurt and pain. Try to think, could my words today hurt more people?

You don’t have to be anything. But there’s things to avoid being instead.

[pos-syscourse]

Saturday Songs!

Rule #1 -- Magic by Fish in a Birdcage

Here's today's (slightly late) Saturday song!

This song, to me, is for everyone doing good in times of adversity. Whether this be a positive post like my own, or activism in offline life, or just taking care of yourself...

That is so, so strong. It's so powerful, what we can do. Magic, as the song suggests, is an act of love. Magic is love, shaped and given form. And isn't that what we do each and every day? Magic?

Don't we love?

It's easy to forget that our activism is meant to be love. It is meant to be charged with love, and joy, and kindness. Activism so frequently is fueled by anger, but anger is a secondary emotion; it's the emotion that tells you that you deserved better. But that's reaching for the love you deserved; the kindness, understanding -- positivity.

We need to pass that on. If we allow our magic to be solely anger -- solely the negative, cynical, frustrated parts of ourselves -- then I don't think the magic can come through. I don't think we can affect real change without love, and kindness.

This is larger than the both of us. You can't kill an idea.

There is magic in this room. I don't know if you can see it.

So please try, today, to see the love in the world. The magic that is there. The magic you, yourself, wield.

Good luck.

[pos-syscourse]

I highly recommend cutting out the things that displease you. If something is upsetting you, doing what you can to cut that out of your life is likely going to help some.

Block people to prevent seeing their takes; don't forget to do it on your sideblogs as well! If you'd like, you can even make a note page of why you blocked people, since I know it can be hard to remember sometimes.

Block content and tags as well; tumblr allows you to block one or the other. It can help you avoid tagged topics, but it will also block content if you specify! This helps for untagged things.

On Discord, you can block individuals, but you can also ignore them without them knowing. Isn't that nice? It hides their messages.

Please, remember to take care of yourselves. I'm not very knowledgeable about other platforms, but... Remember that you are never obligated to interact with someone. You should always be dedicated to yourself, alright?

Good luck out there.

[pos-syscourse]

I took such a nice syscourse break yesterday that I forgot to make a syscourse break post!

That means I'm doing well.

I was busy watching a fun TV show with my partner. It's one I enjoy and I've been having fun with it! I hope you all are taking breaks as well. I've noticed that syscourse this past week has been aggressive and frustrating for everyone, with people being a bit... excessive.

Step back, enjoy yourself, and then look at everything. Is this... really what you want to do? Or would you prefer another fun episode of something instead?