#mechanical advice

[rhysintherain]

Tracked down a starter connector for my neighbor today, and it occurred to me this might be a useful thing to tell people about.

If an electrical connector on your car breaks, lots of shops won't have access to the parts to rebuild or replace just the connector. I've had parts stores have no listings for any wiring bits, and dealerships for some brands quote me a whole harness (usually over a grand just for the part) for a broken connector.

Wreckers, on the other hand, don't usually care about whole harnesses, because they're too hard to take out in one piece.

So if you need a connector replaced, see if you can find a wrecking yard who's willing to cut out the one you need with a few inches of wire attached for you. Usually they're only charging you for the time it takes to go get it, since they don't usually save them.

Bonus points if you know a thing or two about cars and know what you're looking for, because usually wreckers I've worked with just send me out with an apprentice to cut it out myself. That way I get exactly what I'm looking for and they don't have to look for it.

Anyway, this is maybe the one thing that has saved me the most money as a mechanic. Hopefully somebody here gets some mileage out of it.

[borderline-sanity]

GRWM as I ✨Wake Up with a Panic Attack✨

** None of this is medical advice, and is just a system I’ve worked on for myself. Everybody is different, everyone is in different circumstances.**

When it comes to the fight or flight instinct during panic attacks, I’m 100% a flight person.

I’ve dealt with panic attacks since high school and have been diagnosed with panic disorder. In high school I lived in constant fear of having an attack, which caused the attacks. It was all very cyclical. I have them less often now, but they still happen from time to time.

My go to method is to mix comforting and uncomfortable sensations and to overstimulate myself. I’ve tried deep breathing and relaxing music and the things that should logically help. But they always made me feel worse because I’m acknowledging the panic in such a head on fashion. I try to ground and overstimulate as many senses as I can, so I don’t have the energy or space to feel the panic anymore.

The initial terror, it’s going to happen. How fast you can pivot depends on the severity of the panic.

I tell myself I’m an expert in panic attack management. I have over 12 years of experience in the field and have worked tirelessly to perfect my methods. I have to convince myself I’m a pro at this, and have a 100% success rate of not imploding from anxiety. I narrate what I’m going to do and why it helps me specifically, basically what I’m doing here.

—-

My first stop is consistently my bathroom. I go through my bin of old lotions and pick a scent I have specially set aside for panic attacks. I use something that’s way too overpowering, but having something that smells bad to you is also an option. Sometimes I’ll use two different smells. The goal is to have a scent to ground you.

When I have a panic attack, my body fails at temperature regulation. Typically my feet are cold and clammy. So, I like to run some hot water in the tub and just stand in it for awhile. As I’m standing there, I apply whatever lotion or perfume I grabbed. Once my feet are warmed up, I get out of the tub and only sorta dry my feet. Then I put socks on my damp feet. Why? Because I hate the way it feels. And that harmless discomfort is going to distract me as I make my way to the next room.

I pick up a hoodie from the closet. Since I don’t know which way my temperature is going to flux, it’s nice to have on hand. I also have a big comfy shawl I use only during panic attacks.

I have to go down stairs to get to my kitchen. I take them really slow, especially with the damp sock situation. If I’m feeling too weak, I’ll just sit down and scoot down them. My instinct is flight, so staying in one room too long is no good. I usually feel safer being on the ground floor.

—-

Things might get messy in the kitchen, but that’s for future you to deal with. I used to keep a fresh lemon in the house at all times, but have moved away from that, opting for lemon juice. You can either bite into a lemon, or swish some lemon juice in your mouth and spit it out. A benefit of a fresh lemon is that it’s more messy. You’ll have lemon juice on your face and hands and that stickiness, at least for me, is an awful sensation.

You’re going to chase the lemon down with something else. I like to grab sour candy, like Warheads. But something like Pop Rocks also works. Picking an opposite flavor, like pudding or beef jerky is an option. You’re just trying to overload your tastebuds by making another harmless, but powerful distraction.

Alternatively, this step can be done when you’re in the bathroom. Swishing mouth wash and following it up with something sour is miserable. The face I make in the mirror is ridiculous and sometimes that’s enough to help soothe me.

—-

Like I said, I’m a flight person. So the next steps I either do pacing the house or on a treadmill. It just depends how steady my legs are feeling.

I grab my headphones, connected to my phone, and my tablet. I put the headphones on one ear and play music. The music is going to change every time. Sometimes you want something soothing, sometimes you want something loud. Sometimes you want music you love, sometimes you want music you hate. Having different playlists prepped helps you figure out what you’re in the mood for. I think one hit wonders are also a great option. There’s a familiarity and nostalgia that just hits the spot sometimes.

There are a few options for the tablet. You can put on a movie or tv show, and listen with your un-headphoned ear. I also like doing crossword puzzles or logic puzzles. It usually goes poorly, but I get so wrapped up in it. I’ve also found ‘Simon Says’ videos and follow those. Anything challenging and low stakes works here.

And this is where things usually begin to ease up. If my legs are too wobbly, I’ll just lie on the floor. Sometimes I go back to the lemon juice / sour candy. But eventually, my body is just exhausted and overstimulated. And there’s no more room for panic.

Once I feel myself winding down, I’ll get an electrolyte heavy drink. My go to is Pedialyte Zero Sugar packets but it doesn’t really matter what you use. I’ll have something light to eat if I feel up to it, usually just crackers.

When the panic has finally eases up and I feel safe again, I’m usually left exhausted. I fall asleep wherever I land, usually on the floor because it just feels nice and sturdy. When I wake up, I take care of any messes I left behind. And I drink more water.

—-

Important Notes and Additional Tactics:

Drink lots of water. Just have water dead drops everywhere.

Make it a point to keep yourself stocked up on supplies. Future you needs to restock supplies and put things back for next time.

Fidget toys are great and should also be in every room if possible. I like to use different ones depending on which room I’m in, just to keep up variety.

Ice cubes under the armpits or on the back of the neck are great. I guess anywhere works, I just find the cold distracting. As they melt, I’m left with water on my clothes. Similar to the damp socks, I hate this feeling.

My plant misting bottle stays in the kitchen and I’ll use it to spray my face or arms. Having glasses makes this more annoying, which is the goal.

I personally like to turn on as many lights as I can, but I understand this isn’t always possible.

Stepping outside can be helpful, just be mindful about it.

Reach out to people if that’s an option and you’re comfortable with it.

Walk through your routine when you aren’t in the middle of a panic attack. Developing this type of muscle memory helps you to be familiar and prepared. Remember, you’re the expert in panic attacks.

Take time to reflect on things. The day after a panic attack, I find a quiet place. I think back to everything I was feeling and who I was during the panic attack. And I talk to that past version of me and comfort her. Sometimes I find it easier to write it all out.

—-

I typed this while experiencing a panic attack. Usually I just narrate these things to myself. Recently, my older brother has started having attacks similar to mine. My hope is that sharing what I do to get myself through a panic attack will help at least one person. It is truly one of the most defeating and vulnerable experiences. I feel like I’ve lost so much time to my anxiety, I’d like to think I can help someone avoid the same struggles my younger self dealt with.

**None of this is medical advice, and is just a system I’ve worked on for myself. Everybody is different, everyone is in different circumstances.

[the-suns-a-tube]

[simplestudentplanning]

100 Hobbies To Try

Update: I wrote this at like 1 AM, so I was kind of half-asleep lol. A few people brought up that there were a bunch of duplicates in the list, sorry about that! I redid the whole list and ordered them alphabetically to avoid any repeating words. Hope you find the new list much more helpful!

Hobbies are a great way to practice self-care, and to have as a stress reliever. As uni students, we often find ourselves stressed out about our academic responsibilities, projects deadlines, and even financial concerns. We need some way to let out those stresses, and hobbies are one way to do it. You don't have to be good at them, you just have to enjoy doing them!

Here's a list:

Acrylic pouring

Antiquing

Archery

Astrology

Astronomy

Baking

Beekeeping

Bird watching

Bookbinding

Calligraphy

Canoeing

Candle making

Cartography

Chess

Checkers

Collecting coins

Collecting crystals

Collecting funko-pops

Cooking

Crochet

Crossword puzzles

Cycling

Dancing

Diving

DIY electronics

DIY home improvement

Drawing

Embroidery

Fencing

Filming

Fishing

Frisbee golf

Gardening

Genealogy

Geocaching

Glassblowing

Guitar

Homebrewing

Hiking

Horseback riding

Hot air ballooning

Ice skating

Inline skating

Jigsaw puzzles

Juggling

Kayaking

Kite flying

Kite surfing

Knitting

Lego building

Letterboxing

Magic tricks

Martial arts

Meditation

Metalworking

Model airplanes

Model building

Model rockets

Model trains

Mountain biking

Origami

Paper folding

Painting

Paragliding

Parkour

Piano

Photography

Podcasting

Pottery

Programming

Puzzle solving

Quilting

Rappelling

Reading

Rock climbing

Rollerblading

Running

Sailing

Sculpting

Sculpture carving

Scrapbooking

Scuba diving

Singing

Skiing

Soap carving

Soap making

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up paddleboarding

Stained glass crafting

Stargazing

Surfing

Traveling

Urban exploration

Urban farming

Virtual reality gaming

Web design

Wine making

Wine tasting

Writing

Yoga

[thiscatiscreepy]

Some advice for the mechs artists:

Make them fatter

Make them harrier

Drench them in blood.

Recede Jonny's hairline

Good luck 👍

[ineffectualdemon]

You're going to do better when you take the labels "healthy", "good", "negative", and "unhealthy" and put them far far away in general but from coping mechanisms and emotions in particular

It was truly life changing for me when a therapist told me this:

"A coping mechanism is a method you use to survive and if it keeps you alive it's doing its job. It's only a problem when you apply it to situations it's not meant for. You need to learn how to put it back in your bag of tools and pull out the appropriate coping mechanism for the situation. And if your situation changes back to one where your old coping mechanism still works you can go back to it."

Your coping mechanism isn't "negative" or "unhealthy". You're just trying to take a hammer to a situation you need a screwdriver for

It's about using the appropriate tool for the situation but the goal is always the same: survive

In a similar note you don't have "negative" or "bad" emotions

You just have emotions

And you're not a monster for feeling a certain way.

You are responsible for your actions but even then an actions ability to do help or harm depends on your situation

Is it manipulative to burst into tears and go on a rant about how you're the worst person alive when someone corrects you?

Depends!

Is the person asking just a friend, coworker, etc asking for something completely reasonable?

Then yeah that's not a good look

Is the person someone who will scream and yell and insult and maybe even hit you until you have shown what they consider to be the 'proper' amount of remorse and debasement?

Then no it's not manipulative, it's a survival tool

I know the internet hates nuance but seriously. Having certain coping mechanisms or feelings or having done certain actions does not make you a monster

But it is important to learn how to find the correct tool to a situation.

If you try to use a hacksaw to attach bookshelf to a wall it's going to go pretty badly and cause a fair amount of damage in the process

But don't beat yourself up for owning a hacksaw. At one point you needed it and at least it's there if you need it again

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Meaningful Research

Being careful about when you deliver information to your party is one of the most difficult challenges a dungeonmaster may face, a balancing act that we constantly have to tweak as it affects the pacing of our campaigns.

That said, unlike a novel or movie or videogame where the writers can carefully mete out exposition at just the right time, we dungeonmasters have to deal with the fact that at any time (though usually not without prompting) our players are going to want answers about what's ACTUALLY going on, and they're going to take steps to find out.

To that end I'm going to offer up a few solutions to a problem I've seen pop up time and time again, where the heroes have gone to all the trouble to get themselves into a great repository of knowledge and end up rolling what seems like endless knowledge checks to find out what they probably already know. This has been largely inspired by my own experience but may have been influenced by watching what felt like several episodes worth of the critical role gang hitting the books and getting nothing in return.

I've got a whole write up on loredumps, and the best way to dripfeed information to the party, but this post is specifically for the point where a party has gained access to a supposed repository of lore and are then left twiddling their thumbs while the dm decides how much of the metaplot they're going to parcel out.

When the party gets to the library you need to ask yourself: Is the information there to be found?

No, I don't want them to know yet: Welcome them into the library and then save everyone some time by saying that after a few days of searching it’s become obvious the answers they seek aren’t here. Most vitally, you then either need to give them a new lead on where the information might be found, or present the development of another plot thread (new or old) so they can jump on something else without losing momentum.

No, I want them to have to work for it:  your players have suddenly given you a free “insert plothook here” opportunity. Send them in whichever direction you like, so long as they have to overcome great challenge to get there. This is technically just kicking the can down the road, but you can use that time to have important plot/character beats happen.

Yes, but I don’t want to give away the whole picture just yet:  The great thing about libraries is that they’re full of books, which are written by people,  who are famously bad at keeping their facts straight. Today we live in a world of objective or at least peer reviewed information but the facts in any texts your party are going to stumble across are going to be distorted by bias. This gives you the chance to give them the awnsers they want mixed in with a bunch of red herrings and misdirections. ( See the section below for ideas)

Yes, they just need to dig for it:  This is the option to pick if you're willing to give your party information upfront while at the same time making it SEEM like they're overcoming the odds . Consider having an encounter, or using my minigame system to represent their efforts at looking for needles in the lithographic haystack. Failure at this system results in one of the previous two options ( mixed information, or the need to go elsewhere), where as success gets them the info dump they so clearly crave.

The Art of obscuring knowledge AKA Plato’s allegory of the cave, but in reverse

One of the handiest tools in learning to deliver the right information at the right time is a sort of “slow release exposition” where you wrap a fragment lore the party vitally needs to know in a coating of irrelevant information,  which forces them to conjecture on possibilities and draw their own conclusions.  Once they have two or more pieces on the same subject they can begin to compare and contrast, forming an understanding that is merely the shadow of the truth but strong enough to operate off of. 

As someone who majored in history let me share some of my favourite ways I’ve had to dig for information, in the hopes that you’ll be able to use it to function your players.

A highly personal record in the relevant information is interpreted through a personal lens to the point where they can only see the information in question 

Important information cameos in the background of an unrelated historical account

The information can only be inferred from dry as hell accounts or census information. Cross reference with accounts of major historical events to get a better picture, but everything we need to know has been flattened into datapoints useful to the bureaucracy and needs to be re-extrapolated.

The original work was lost, and we only have this work alluding to it. Bonus points if the existent work is notably parodying the original, or is an attempt to discredit it.

Part of a larger chain of correspondence, referring to something the writers both experienced first hand and so had no reason to describe in detail. 

The storage medium (scroll, tablet, arcane data crystal) is damaged in some way, leading to only bits of information being known. 

Original witnesses Didn’t have the words to describe the thing or events in question and so used references from their own environment and culture. Alternatively, they had specific words but those have been bastardized by rough translations. 

Tremendously based towards a historical figure/ideology/religion to the point that all facts in the piece are questionable.  Bonus points if its part of a treatise on an observably untrue fact IE the flatness of earth

[brightlotusmoon]

My friend just said this and I agree:

"New writing minsdet I'm trying out: defeat impostor framing by being just as unhinged, just as fragmented, as your worst critics think you are. The correct response to "this is a mess" is "I know, isn't it cool?" The correct response to "what if no one understands what I'm trying to do?" is "then it won't be anything I haven't felt before." Lean into the hate. Use your weight to throw it off balance like a martial art."

[canisalbus]

hi i ride motorcycle year round and wanted to chime in. for vasco's small around-town trips he'd probably be fine with his ears free, but for longer trips at higher speeds or when its cold out he'd want them protected. probably by tucking them under his chin into the collar of a jacket and then putting a scarf or bandana on. also goggles would be helpful if a full helmet wasn't wanted. since they're in europe and around italy specifically he could have a nice ducati (fast rockety sport bikes) or a cafe racer (much more like a motorized bicycle but they can still have a lot of power) a cafe racer would offer a lot of seat space for machete to be thoroughly uncomfortable in lol

i love your ocs they're great thanks for all the cool art :)

.

[spacejax]

Resources that have helped me in my classes!

(will add to this list as I find/remember more)

Classes I've used these in so far:

Honors Mechanics

Honors Thermodynamics & Optics

Relativity & Quantum Mechanics

Theoretical Mechanics

Calculus I, II, III

Differential Equations

Mathematical Techniques in Physics

Introduction to Astronomy

Fundamentals of Astronomy

Astronomy & Astrophysics

- - - - Youtube Channels - - - -

Physics

Michel van Biezen - oh my god I love him. I think he uses Sears and Zemansky's University Physics for example problems. His channel has 10k videos (!!!) and is very well-organized. He also lectures on math (from 5th grade to linear algebra), chem & organic chemistry, and astronomy.

Calculus

The Organic Chemistry Tutor - I mostly watch his videos on Calculus I-III and Differential Equations, but he also covers physics and chemistry.

Nancypi - Precalculus, Calculus I, and some of Calculus II. I barely showed up to calc lectures my first semester so she was a great help. also i have a crush on her

Michel van Biezen - I usually don't watch his math videos because his notation and techniques are different from what my prof makes us use

Astronomy

Urknall, Weltall, und das Leben - my literal dream channel. perfect levels of dryness, and videos are usually at least 45 minutes long. It's entirely in German though lmao

Michel van Biezen - covers important topics in introductory astronomy, and also does example problems (although I think they're all algebra-based)

- - - - Textbooks - - - -

Introduction to Cosmology - Barbara Ryden

Foundations of Astrophysics - Ryden & Peterson

University Physics - Sears and Zemansky

Calculus - James Stewart

Modern Physics - Kenneth Krane

Classical Mechanics - John Taylor

- - - - Workbooks - - - -

Essential Modern Physics - Chris McMullen, Ph.d. ----- LIFE CHANGING. BUY THIS FOR INTRO TO QUANTUM.

[herssian]

heavensward

[shepherds-of-haven]

how did you end up deciding on the personality traits in your game? i know it can depend on what your game is about, but i am currently writing a game of my own, but months later, i still cant decide on what to implement due to the so many different personalities out there.

Hi there, thanks for your question! I think it helps to think of the stats in a gameplay/mechanical sense rather than a personality sense (or at least, that's how I initially decided on which ones I'd use for my game): in other words, what personality traits or skills would be checked frequently in order to determine a character's success/failure rate with certain choices? It made sense to me that having a certain amount of courage would be necessary for a lot of things, especially in a dangerous line of work like the Shepherds, or you'd need charisma to successfully persuade people or witnesses or what have you, or cunning to lie or react to situations in creative ways or propose more unconventional plans, or intelligence to solve problems or put together clues--and failure to build on these areas would result in different scenarios. But it'd be less useful in a mechanical sense, say, to make something like shyness or sarcasm a tracked stat, because there were few situations in my mind where the game would check them and be like, 'Sorry, you're not shy enough to make this choice,' or 'You're not sarcastic enough to succeed at this thing.'

If you're making a game that relies a lot on relationship-building or roleplaying (or you want your character responses to be automatically determined by their personality stats), the latter might be a better approach for you, though! For Shepherds, I was gunning for a more action-based, traditional RPG playstyle, so using personality traits that are considered more standard for that genre made sense to me. The opposing stats (Heart of Gold/Will of Iron, or compassion vs. ruthlessness, or Soldier/Rebel, teamwork/order vs. lone wolfing it/rule-breaking) are more about how they affect other peoples' relationships to and perceptions of you or are a way of tracking an overall history of your decision-making, rather than determining success or failure with choices (though sometimes they do that, too), which is why they're more neutral paired stats and not just a 0-100 linear skill to build on!

I hope that all makes sense!

[honestlyvan]

(Crossposted to Dreamwidth)

The thing that makes me the most "run around in circles" crazy about Initiation is that Alan wrote the Casey of the Dark Place into the story to help him, and then made it so that Casey knows even less about what is going on than Alan does.

Alan never gives Casey the opportunity to get past step fucking one to help him, explains nothing to him, and Casey ends up with no idea what he's even doing here, no idea what his assigned purpose is, no idea what his narrative goals are. He's an actor given no script, no stage direction, to the point that Casey doesn't even know they're in a story, and it makes him sink deeper into depression with every passing loop with no knowledge to ground him.

And it's impossible to tell if this is because Alan didn't realise that he had the perfect opportunity to write Casey like the Diver, a living repository of Alan's accumulating knowledge about the Dark Place, a seeing-eye dog to guide him through the dark -- or if Alan did try that, and it somehow went so horribly wrong that now he and Casey can't both survive in the same narrative line without trying to kill each other -- or if Alan did try that, and it went horribly right, and now the Dark Presence can't let Casey live because Alan's bespoke perfect little detective is too good at finding out useful things.

And instead, in the story we currently have, Alan made up a guy for a specific purpose of helping him, but because Alan is the protagonist, because it's his story, his fault, his duty and his job to get himself out of it, he doesn't even let Casey fulfil his narrative purpose. What the hell else is Casey supposed to do, Alan, other than the thing you literally made him for? He's the detective -- he's supposed to solve things.

[vilevampz]

Healthy Coping Mechanism: Why Poetry is a Powerful Tool

Life recently has been a whirlwind of ups and downs, but I've found a healthy way to cope. In the past I used to deal with stress, anxiety, sadness, etc. in an unhealthy way that resulted in much more agony. One day, I was in a blurry haze and just started writing poems with no goal in mind. Through that haze, I was able to pour out the emotions eating me up and felt a sense of relief.

Writing poetry became a tool for me to cope with my feelings and not a creative outlet. I never enjoyed poetry as a kid, but writing it when I get overwhelmed has helped me appreciate it more. I do not write poems to create but rather to express myself when I can't find the right words to talk about what is troubling me or how I feel.

Benefits of poetry

Emotional Release

Expression of complex feelings

Self Reflection & understanding

Connection with others

Mindfulness & Focus

Tips for Writing Poetry as a Coping Mechanism

Start Small: Don't worry about writing a masterpiece. Begin with short, simple poems that capture your immediate feelings.

Be Honest: Write from the heart. Authenticity is key to truly releasing and expressing your emotions.

Experiment: Try different styles and forms of poetry until you find what resonates with you.

Create a Routine: Make poetry writing a regular part of your routine, whether daily or weekly. Consistency helps in forming a healthy coping habit.

Read and Share: Read other poets' works for inspiration and share your poems with trusted friends or online communities for feedback and support. (You don't have to do this and it's okay to keep these poems to yourself or hidden)

[mossy-petrichor]

Mossy Petrichor's healthy coping 101

Do you always dissociate from distressing situations, repress strong emotions or deal with stress by self harming? Do you have 0 idea what it means when people talk about "coping"? This post is for you!

I usually see this happen a lot in people who were emotionally neglected (like yours truly), which is unfortunately really common, but no less traumatizing

Psa: all of this is based off my own experience, as someone who also had no idea how to cope and learned it by themselves. This isn't medical advice!

So, what does coping mean?

When you go through a stressful situation, you can feel your emotions at a 10/10. To cope is to bring this down so you don't lose your mind. This can apply to anger, sadness, hopelessness, fear

I like to separate coping into two ways:

Expressing the emotions in a healthy way

Calming yourself and bringing the emotions down (when you can't express them, or when those emotions do more harm than good)

I usually go by 1, but 2 can be used for when, for example, feeling angry at someone who can't change. So you keep feeling this anger that you can't do anything about, and it'll just make you feel worse to keep feeling it whenever you look at this person

Here's some things to make sure to do if you're feeling shitty:

Drink water

Eat a meal

Shower/bathe

Take a nap

Move your body (go outside if you can)

Socialize, talk to friends

(think of yourself as an animal in the zoo. If you noticed them feeling bad, what would you do to make them feel better?)

Here's some examples of how to express emotions healthily:

Singing loudly, screaming, humming, stimming verbally, talking to yourself out loud about what made you feel bad

Acting, drawing, painting (it doesn't have to be perfect! Just express whatever those emotions feel like, in whichever way feels right)

Writing poetry, visual poetry, making playlists, writing (like projecting into a character, make them do the things you wish you could do to cope)

Writing about how you feel, crying, venting (can be counterproductive, so if you feel like venting is just making things worse, try something else!)

Dancing, jumping, running/walking, exercising, cleaning, stimming physically

Ripping paper, chewing on something

Baking or cooking, going outside, playing with animals, gardening, taking pictures

Here's some examples of how to calm your emotions when you can't express them:

Watch something that makes you laugh

Consume comfort media (make a list! Videos, series, movies, books, songs)

Play a chill game

Make a list of things that make you happy and read it

Listening to music

Taking deep breaths, tensing and relaxing your muscles

Engage with things that make you happy (a hobby, art, an interest)

Meditation, sitting and thinking about your emotions

This isn't an extensive list! Coping is a very personal thing, and all of these are suggestions if you don't know where to start! In the beginning, it can (and will) feel like it doesn't do anything, because you're used to immediate solutions to make you stop feeling unpleasant emotions, and healthy coping mechanisms don't work immediately - it's a long term thing

Some of these can make you feel worse, in which case you should just try something else. As I said, they won't immediately make you feel better until you're more used to coping healthily

Eventually, you'll reach a point where it feels more intuitive and less forceful and uncomfortable, but you have to get past this first phase! It's like building a muscle, and it takes work. With practice, you'll figure out what works best for you and what doesn't

I promise it gets easier :•)

[thepedanticbohemian]

On embracing your mental illness

...and how to turn it to your advantage as a writer.

Today I came across an article about Pedro Pascal's struggle with anxiety disorder. You've seen him in photos with his hand on his abdomen. He does this as a coping mechanism, saying that's where his anxiety is centered. He puts his hand there to ground himself. He's an introvert and doesn't do well with red-carpet events. This is how he deals with the situations that trigger his anxiety.

Just when I thought I couldn't love this marvelous actor any more. I've adored him since Narcos. He brings such emotion to every role he acts. He's sourcing his mental illness to a positive effect.

You can do this, too. Never shrink from creating emotionally complex characters struggling with disabilities or mental illness. Demonstrate how they cope and overcome. We're all dealing with some shit sandwich life dealt us. Use it. Create mentally ill, unreliable narrators. Show their quirks and coping mechanisms. Your readers will love your authenticity.