#grace sober

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Hey do you think ya can explain Barnaby and his illusion smoke a bit? It seems really cool and I don't remember if ya talked about it in depth before

sure! this got a bit longer than i expected!

so i was thinking that Barnaby seems like more of a hands-off kinda guy when it comes to altercations. would rather sit back and make funny commentary! so if he Had to get involved, i imagine it would be from a distance and still in an Entertaining Way!

thus - illusion magic! for this au i've been picturing that he got his paws on some illusionary herb in his early teens. for making people laugh, you know! and help out with the farm - illusions could distract animals, convince them to move on to different pastures, calm the chickens for egg-collecting, etc!

Ms. Beagle didn't really approve, since smoking is harmful, but lucky for the both of them this particular plant doesn't deal as much damage when smoked as normal smoking materials would - like tobacco! something to do with the magic properties! so Barnaby mostly used it for chores (when his mama wasn't paying attention, ofc - it's still a bad habit in her eyes) and entertainment purposes.

how it works: on its own, it doesn't do much when burned. it's not like illusions will waft out of the pipe's bowl, or that sniffing it will give someone hallucinations. in order for it to work properly, the user has to inhale properly, form the Intent of what the illusion should be / look like / behave, then purposefully blow the smoke out with that thought firmly in mind. the reach of the smoke depends on the force of Intent, and the intensity depends on the amount inhaled. those that breathe it in / are surrounded by it will see hallucinations of whatever Barnaby - or whoever the user is - wants them to! it can be literally anything! whether or not the target is fooled depends entirely on the individual, but the herb is potent enough that most are convinced that what they "see" is real (auditory hallucinations only occur if the target breathes in the smoke)

upsides: this form of magic is great for distractions, cover, deescalation, and that kind of thing. if needed, Barnaby could stop a fight with one exhale! it's a pretty powerful trick! it also means that Barnaby has built up a tolerance to illusion magic over the years, so where most of the party would be tricked, Barnaby would be unfazed. the only one with total immunity to the form of magic is Wally!

downsides: if Barnaby uses too much in too short of a time, it will get to him. and since he breathes in the largest amount - undiluted at that - it can fuck him up! using it sparingly / using repeated small amounts doesn't do anything. the most it will do is make him feel slightly untethered, but he has an easy time ignoring it / shaking it off.

in mild cases of the magic getting to him, it's like a bad trip. his proprioception is messed with (basically he gets uncharacteristically clumsy & off-balance), he feels like he's falling, anxiety spikes, and his vision is just... off! there are blind spots (im talking actual blind spots, not spots of black), things are moving in ways that they shouldn't, he has mild auditory hallucinations. the others can help ground him by talking to him, touching him, and confirming what's real and what isn't.

in bad cases, it's like that but 10 times worse. on top of all of the previous symptoms being worsened, he gets extremely vivid hallucinations, and they're very often not fun! it's a simultaneous feeling of dying, going insane, and not knowing what the fuck is going on. Barnaby loses sense of where he is, who's where, what's happening. he can get lost in the hallucinations - he has no way to know that they aren't real. in these terrible trips, no one can really help him. they can't get through the hallucinations, and if they do, the magic morphs Barnaby's perception of them and they end up adding to the effects. honestly the best thing for him is to let him rest somewhere with as little sensory input as possible & leave him be until he starts to come down. physical contact does help, since Barnaby understands on an instinctive level that illusions can't touch him, but it doesn't help half as much as it does w/ the mild trips. and again, the presence of someone can make the hallucinations worse.

so! suffice to say! he doesn't like using the herb all that often, and it's why he Stays Out Of It unless absolutely needed. he has two pouches of the herb - one with the strong stuff, reserved for emergencies / one with just a tiny bit of it mixed in with Barnaby's own personal blend for recreational/everyday use. (he also has an emergency tobacco stash in his pack, but that's only for when he's completely out of his usual blend <3)

extra lil scribble that didn't make it into the lil doodle post... i broke his wrist...

[thewingedwolf]

luther: the golden child

diego: the mastermind

allison: the peace keeper

klaus: the clown / mascot

five: the rebel / truth teller

ben: the lost child

viktor: the scapegoat

is this something i think this is something

[moon-mirage]

Your biblically accurate Haymitch is everything to me, he's my fave character! If you ever wanted to make me cry and take an elaborate request, I'd love to see your take on Haymitch remembering his family/his girl in a half-drunken haze. Or even his devastation after the announcement of the Third Quarter Quell and he's remembering snippets of his Games while drunk at his kitchen table! :'(

So, a happy request for your favourite character then? I love it when people go "X is my favourite character… now make them suffer!" 😂

Now, it’s not like l want to make you cry but since you asked for it:

[its-short-for-jackalope]

I love how Grace has a pattern of winning over/connecting with literal monsters—first Lumberaxe, then Max Jägerman—not because she's all good and pure of heart, but because there's something monstrous in her too.

[ragewrites]

last poems of 2023, both holiday gifts meant for the same friend.

[bugwolfsstuff]

10 minutes ago I opened a wip i haven't opened in 2 months about Thalia and Dionysus bonding over being turned into things by Zeus instead of being helped. It was supposed to be lightly angsty but still a sweet character study (?) and uh.....

Now they're having a conversation about whether or not Zeus loves them.

How did we get here?

[whimsicalcotton]

you'll fall and break your back

[humantea]

Hey who wants to see me drunkenly singing True Trans Soul Rebel

[goodbyemaryjane]

[lesbiandarvey]

.

[positiveupwardspiral]

[wisdomfish]

"For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment." [Romans 12:3]

[wiirocku]

1 Peter 1:13 (NASB1995) - Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[hed-romancer]

Infinity Train Similarities/Contrasts

Tulip and Amelia both deny the past and try to create someting new. Tulip creates false memories, and Amelia creates cars on the train. Tulip's number goes down when she realizes that her memories are false (such as when she suggests that her and her dad did work first and then fun, and then corrects herself in realization that they had fun during the work too, and her number goes down for the first time). Tulip finally accepts reality and leaves. Amelia starts accepting reality, but still isn't ready to leave.

Lake and Jesse are both running away from their problems, Lake literally and Jesse figuratively. While Lake keeps trying to assert her agency and be recognized as a person, Jesse continues to downplay his agency and doesn't act when he should. When Jesse finally acts, he gets his number down to 0. Lake is able to finally get One-one to see her as her own person and exit.

Simon and Grace lead a gang of kids, but they're both kind of kids themselves. They formed ideas as children and never grew out of them. Simon and Grace both have the wrong idea about the train, but while Grace finds new information and adapts her world view, Simon finds new information and refuses to accept that what he thought was true could be wrong.

Ryan and Min-Gi have the most obvious similarities/contrasts; Ryan being impulsive and thoughtless and Min-Gi being hesitant and cautious. Their desire to keep moving forward also contrasts with Morgan and Kez's desire to go back to the past.

[coochiequeens]

This is one of the reasons I hate it when people tell women to have a drink when they just want to talk or even just vent

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/19/quit-lit-women-drinking-addiction/

In “Quit Like a Woman,” author Holly Whitaker says, “At some point, it made sense to carry airline shots in my purse — just in case. Sometimes (especially when working on a deadline) I holed up in my apartment for days on end, drinking from morning until I passed out.”

Catherine Gray wrote in “The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober” that “Life was too sharp, too painful, too real and too loud when I was sober. Drinking softened the edges and blurred the clarity.”

A third writer, Annie Grace, said in “This Naked Mind” that “Giving up drinking felt like an incredible sacrifice, like the loss of a close friend.”

Welcome to the world of Quit Lit — a new genre of story telling aimed at helping women to drink less alcohol. I learned about these books from my patients — the ones who were starting to become concerned about the amount they drank — even before the pandemic. They are numerous enough to acquire the quippy category label Quit Lit, and have resonated with women who are recognizing that alcohol is not their friend.

The numbers on drinking tell an alarming story. From 2000 to 2016, an increasing number of women were drinking moderately and binge drinking, while rates among men remained flat. What’s more, from 2006 to 2014, there was a 70 percent increase in yearly alcohol-related emergency department visits for women, compared with an increase of 58 percent for men.

In 2020, college women were somewhat more likely than their male peers to report being drunk in the past month, according to Monitoring the Future, a survey conducted by the University of Michigan.

“Over the past 50 years, the gap between men and women’s alcohol use has been narrowing on every metric,” said George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Recent data is more promising — in 2019, 6 percent of women were classified as heavy drinkers, similar to 5.8 percent in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Quit Lit gave my patients and me an easy way to talk about dependence and addiction. Several of these memoir-cum-motivational guides are bestsellers, including “This Naked Mind,” “The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober” and “Quit Like a Woman.” These confessionals about alcohol dependence share a common theme: explaining in vivid detail the author’s battle with the bottle, and the ways in which society has duped us into thinking that alcohol is a cool way to deal with life’s ups and downs, rather than a toxic substance with addictive properties, which increases anxiety and depressive symptoms over time.

The Quit Lit warnings are important. A hard-hitting article in the Lancetstated: “Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none.” Alcohol may not be beneficial for anyone, but it’s especially toxic for women. Women have less body water than men or similar weight, and so reach higher blood alcohol levels after drinking similar amounts. Koob says that over time, “it takes less alcohol for women to suffer from alcohol induced liver inflammation, cardiovascular disease, memory blackouts, hangovers, and certain cancers, than men.” And when it comes to breast cancer, there is no safe amount of consumption. “Epidemiologic studies have consistently found an increased risk of breast cancer with increasing alcohol intake,” according to the National Cancer Institute’s website.

Studies indicate that women tend to drink to reduce anxiety, depression and other mood states, while men tend to drink to increase positive feelings, said Sherry McKee, a professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, who has been studying gender differences in addiction for 25 years. “The pandemic clearly showed us the relationship between stress and drinking,” she said. “Women were experiencing greater distress, and that corresponded to increased drinking.”

Giving up drinking, especially when it is an addiction, is tough. The problem with many options for sobriety are that they are not enticing, Whitaker said. When she realized a decade ago that she needed to stop drinking, the only options she knew of were Alcoholics Anonymous and rehab — and neither appealed to her. She couldn’t afford to take time off work for rehab and the message of AA was not for her. Sobriety has to feel like a win, Whitaker said. “My sobriety came from wanting to be sober more than wanting the drug,” she said.

I listened to the audio version of “This Naked Mind” in December. In chapter after chapter, Grace dispels myths about alcohol — that you need it to be more confident, social, and fun; that it tastes great; that it helps us fit in — so we are no longer driven to drink by faulty assumptions. The book helped me to abstain during a few holiday gatherings. I found them to be just as fun without the buzz of a bourbon Manhattan. Plus, no headaches the next day or fuzzy recall of dinner discussions.

In early January, I read Allen Carr’s “Quit Drinking Without Willpower” in two quick sittings and resolved to have a Dry January. This would not qualify as Quit Lit because it is not a confessional but it’s the book Whitaker used to get sober. The message is simple: Once you understand your unhealthy relationship with alcohol, you’ll want to stop. It won’t require willpower because your mind will be made up.

After spending some time with Quit Lit, I understood the appeal. There’s probably a reason that only 7.7 percent of people with serious drinking problems seek help — it can be humiliating to label yourself as an alcoholic. When a witty, wise woman is telling you about her journey, it seems like one you want to be on.

If you’re concerned about the amount you drink, there are plenty of resources. Consult your doctor before making any drastic changes. If you’ve been drinking heavily for years, you may need to detox slowly and under supervision.

Educate yourself. The NIAAA’s Rethinking Drinking offers a wealth of information including how to tell when your drinking is problematic, how to taper off and whether to cut back or quit. It explains what alcohol use disorder is and when you should be concerned.

Learn about treatment options. There are now many paths to sobriety, including medication, therapy, outpatient programs, residential treatment and support groups. Your doctor can help you determine the best course.

Read Quit Lit. It is an easy way to gain a new perspective on what’s going on in your mind and body when you drink and to feel less alone on your journey.

Join a community. One of the benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous is that you become part of a tribe of people with similar struggles. If its message does not resonate, consider Women for Sobriety, or Smart Recovery.

Say out loud that you want to change your relationship with alcohol. Even mild drinkers tend to lie to themselves about their dependency. Tell yourself, then a trusted friend, then your doctor.

If you’ve had success quitting or cutting back, share your strategies in the comments section.

Lesley Alderman is a psychotherapist based in Brooklyn.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

1 Pedro 4:7-11

7 El final de todo está cerca, así que manténganse sobrios y sepan controlarse. Eso los ayudará a orar. 8 Y sobre todo, ámense profundamente, porque el amor es capaz de perdonar muchas ofensas. 9 Reciban a todos en su casa sin quejarse. 10 Cada uno de ustedes recibió un don espiritual que debe ser utilizado para servir a los demás. Así serán buenos administradores del generoso amor que Dios les ha dado en tantas formas. 11 El que hable, que hable de acuerdo con las palabras de Dios; el que sirve, que sirva con el poder que Dios da. Que todo lo que hagan sea para alabar a Dios por medio de Jesucristo, a quien pertenecen el poder y la gloria para siempre. Así sea.

(7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.) — 1 Peter 4:7-11 | Palabra de Dios para Todos (PDT) Palabra de Dios para Todos © 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015 Centro Mundial de Traducción de La Biblia © 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015 Bible League International Cross References: Genesis 6:13; Proverbs 10:12; Proverbs 17:9; John 13:31; Acts 7:38; Romans 12:6; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 4:1; Philippians 2:14; 1 Timothy 3:2