#The lights arent actually just light

[gray-warden]

I just realized I never posted photos of this really pretty harvestman i came across a while back. Note the green pedipalps and the dark and light spots on its back.

[shadystranger]

this moment so fucked up💀

[dareduffie]

overhated female main characters who are products of their environment and are blamed for every conflict in their story because for some reason an extreme lack of media literacy has become the cool and interesting thing to do

[moeblob]

Ananza realizing that Deacon's mom was a devoted follower of hers THEREFORE that's her son now, too! And she will dote on him and love him and never pick on him like all the other deities tend to do. That's her precious little boy who lives in another city and rarely gets to see her!

[keshetchai]

As someone who enjoys religion blogging/discussions, I've come to realize that it's a good practice to be aware of the general signs/symptoms of religious-OCD thinking (aka scrupulosity), because if the conversation is taking on all the hallmarks of scrupulosity, it's actually a definitive sign that we cannot meaningfully and compassionately engage in a conversation about religion in a healthy way. I've actually had this play out a significant number of times online, and when I realized what it was, I also began to realize that the intrusive thoughts/obsessive and compulsive thinking are only ever fed by continuing the discussion with that person.

[[ Important edit to clarify why I am saying it's not healthy — made after I went back to look for more concrete facts about OCD or anxiety (I have GAD, not OCD, but many resources overlap since they're both anxiety disorders):

When Reassurance is Harmful — this explains how/why reassurance-seeking specifically about an OCD fear is a compulsive behavior, and engaging with reassurance-seeking interferes with recovery/management/treatment.

This table from the Anxiety Disorders Center lists key differences between Information Seeking and Reassurance Seeking.

This IOCDF page on Scrupulosity info for Faith Leaders identifies "symptom accommodation" as enabling. Two of the examples of doing this by participating in the OCD behavior are: "Engage in excessive conversation focused on if-then scenarios (e.g., "If I did this, then would X or Y happen? And what if Z was involved? How about W?")" And, "Repeatedly answering questions about ‘correct’ religious or faith practices."

That page also goes on to outline more info about reassurance seeking. "Although providing answers to (often simple!) questions may seem harmless, providing reassurance serves to maintain the anxiety disorder cycle." (This BMC psychiatry article cites a lot of related studies establishing this.)

The IOCDF page on What is OCD and Scrupulosity? ]]

Imo, the responsible thing to do is to recognize that (even if the other person hasn't outright stated it/isn't diagnosed)* the conversation is not about religion, it is about needing mental health support from professionals and experts. Talking to me, the layperson who enjoys chatting theology and my religion — is not only not helping, but is actively harmful. I'm not just talking about the person who I replied to today, either. Like I've said, I've seen this happen dozens of times in various online forums.

*[while I am against diagnosing strangers on the internet, it's important to realize A) lots of people don't know what Scrupulosity is, so it's possible they've never considered this is a mental health concern that could be treated, and that B) for the purposes of my concern, it doesn't matter if they actually have diagnosed OCD. The only thing that matters is that their thought-process causes them genuine distress/fear, and every response given to them seems to only incite new/additional distressing questions/thoughts, or further entrenches the original distress.]

Ultimately, any discussion aside from "you might want to speak to a mental health professional about scrupulosity OCD" seemingly puts me in the position of feeling as if I am being used for their self-harm. I hate that feeling. I do not want to be leverage for fear and pain. I have GAD, I despise the idea that I am making things worse.

No matter how much I love religious discussion, the answer in these cases is always "please reach out to an OCD specialist/mental health professional. I am not qualified to discuss this." And then to stop there. I have never once seen anyone stuck in this compulsive thought spiral be reassured or feel any better by hearing from someone else's approach to theology handled with things like empathy, compassion, logic, or even atheism. It doesn't matter what we say, how we say it, or how we relate to our own religion. The urge to engage in this kind of conversation in order to chat about religion is a sign that we are not equipped to help.

You can't have a conversation here, because intentionally or not, ten times out of ten, you are adding fuel to the fire. Just like people can't simply tell me something that would erase/talk me out of my ADHD/depression/anxiety disorder, you also cannot simply argue/reassure/persuade people out of scrupulosity. We should not try. We have a responsibility to consider that it's outright harmful to do so, and to disengage.

[grimalkinmessor]

Touch Starved L vs. Touch Averse Light: FIGHT!!!

[dcladies]

TITANS LADIES + MAIN POWERS/ABILITIES

    —requested by anonymous

[bluebyrd-bookreviews]

"This movie was slow and predictable"

Yeah, it's called building suspense because you know how it is going to end but are still watching as it plays out like a train crash in slow motion

[monotone-artist]

the sillies

[id: two images of digital drawings of some rain world slugcat ocs. the first image features the scrapper and the hideaway. scrapper is a brown slugcat with a dewlap and round ears, and a darker face, tail, and a heart-shaped marking on his chest. he has scarred hands and is wearing green goggles with red lenses atop his head. the hideaway is a dark red slugpup with a lighter torso, face, and tail, and a heart-shaped marking on her chest. she has a large cut in her right ear.

in the first image, there are a few drawings of the hideaway: one of her on all fours, leaning very far backward with a scrunched up face; sitting on her haunches and gazing at nowhere, looking haunted; and standing up with her arms outstretched, her face bright and happy. the last drawing is of the scrapper walking along, glancing back over their shoulder. the hideaway is perched on their back and is also glancing backward.

in the second image are colorless sketches of the scrapper and the hideaway, as well as the current and the monarch. the current is a lanky slugcat with several antenna on his body, and the monarch is a scarred slugcat with a torn ear and frills on her cheeks and underside. there are sketches of: an upper body of the monarch winking and doing a thumbs up with an uncannily realistic human hand; scrapper intensely examining the hideaway's cut ear, gently holding her head in their hands, looking worried; and current laying on the ground, his head in one hand and looking grumpy, while the monarch is flopped over his back and is peering at him innocently. end id]

[sodrippy]

mental illness will have you asking normal people 'so how many moods do you have during a day? like one? all day? ok cool. yeah no me too me too for sure'

[hexados-on-a-string]

50% of the mechtanium surge arc 1 experience is just this

[draw-you-coward]

screenshot study! from the movie the sea beast which has SUCH pretty shots :)

this was very useful! i learned that something like this is way over my head rn 😅 it's the first time ive ever done a painted figure study and i can see why people struggle with them! it's a HUGE leap from shading in spheres or eggs. but now that i've seen how i struggle i can start to tackle it! huge difference from before where i was just feeling lost and didn't know how to proceed :)

edit: her dress is apparently fucking YELLOW!! i told you. i warned you about yellow

[hysterical-cats]

someone aught to get that woman under control..

fanart for @carlandrea's regency au because i am not immune to demeter looking distressed while wearing pretty dresses

[tinylittlebab]

ill be skinny. it will happen. ive been trying for so long now. once it was just trying to eat less and be smaller but not much real focus on my physical appearance. now its all about that. 11 years of my ed and 7 years of wanting what i want now. i dont live with my parents anymore. i have more control. i will achieve it.

there was a time where id eat 300-700 consistently. ill get that back. i will.

[supahstarrr]

as a dr fan we need to acknowledge that some of the danganronpa characters suffer through chronic liners for bad humor by out-of-touch old guy writers syndrome

[konfizry]

Anyway speaking of the sun did I ever tell you about the tales of arise eclipses