#which is you know. it is VERY difficult to deal with a mental health problem when you arent aware you have a problem!

[realbeefman]

stacy is sooo interesting because she's in love with house but knows that they will never ever be able to have a healthy, stable, sane relationship because they're too similar so. she finds house-lite instead and marries him and. essentially moves on with her life! and is successful in this because she's a moderately well-adjusted person!

wilson, in contrast, never manages to escape the inevitable, in spite of his best efforts to find a house-lite of his very own, because he's an absolute fucking freak and ends up glued to house to the bitter. bitter end

[undeadcannibal]

How about ghost and König with an mentally I’ll S/O? I thought maybe like bpd?

Maybe the s/o splitting on them or them going into depression / manic phase.

Have a hard time coping right know and reading about my comfort character chills me a bit😅

Summary: How Ghost and König would help their S/O who struggles with their mental health.

Genre: Headcanons, request(s) Characters featured: Ghost, and König.

Warnings: Mention of mental health struggles, none.

A/N: I’m sorry to hear you’re having a rough time, Anon. Your girl is struggling hard too, but we’ll feel better soon! The approach I took for this was more focused on depression and manic phase(s) given those are what I’m more familiar with. I was tempted to try to include the splitting as well, but didn’t want to approach it and do a terrible/offensive job of it. I hope you don’t mind! Also, thank you for the request! It is much appreciated.   ( Gif credit: xxx )

Ghost―

Before the two of you had even agreed on becoming a couple, you’d had a long conversation about your mental health. Explaining everything you dealt with and how it could sometimes make life very difficult for you.

Thankfully, he explained that he understood more than he let on. Simply explaining that he, too, often struggled with his own mental health as well.

Over time, he’d be able to recognize the signs of when your slipping a bit. Noting if you ever stay in bed longer, skip showers, or find it difficult to do other simple tasks.

At that point, he’s unsure of what would work best for you but decides to try rather than leave you to suffer through it alone.

He’d do his best try and urge you out of bed with simple tasks that feel manageable: asks if you’d at least like to get up and change, maybe brush your teeth, comb out your hair  - if you’ve any - so it doesn’t tangle and knot.

Will absolutely take care of the cooking and chores so you don’t have to worry about it. He doesn’t mind it in the slightest. If anything, it helps ease his own mind a bit to take care of mindless tasks for the both of you.

Even if it’s not to your taste, he’ll offer to brew you a hot cup of tea anyway because he swears it helps him even during the roughest of times. If tea isn’t to your liking, he’s up and running to the nearest corner store to grab you your favorite drink and a little treat.

If the mania hits, he’s a little more unsure of how to approach things but will get it over time with help. Honestly, he’d just try and roll with the punches the best he can whilst also being your support system when you need it.

Definitely a good voice of reason. If you’re anything like me and tend to constantly want to do this and that when that burst of energy hits, he’ll try and ground you a bit. Asks you what you’d prefer to do first and also does his best to discuss the things you can’t do for whatever reason.

Sure, he’ll have moments where his own stress gets to him, but he’d never take it out on you. Especially when he knows you’re dealing with mental health problems more so than usual. He’ll calmly explain that he just needs a moment to deal with himself before returning, feeling better and ready to help however you’d like him to.

Moments like those are where his touch revulsion tendencies are practically non-existent since he’s so focused on trying to make you feel better. If you want to cuddle, he’s asking which spoon you’d prefer to be. If you’d rather just be within his presence, he’s happy to stay by you and find something to read or watch together. Anything if it means helping you feel better.

König―

Despite him dealing with anxiety and such, I can see him being very hesitant and unsure of what to do at first. You’d have to talk him through everything and explain the best ways to help you during your worst moments.

Be patient with this man. I personally like to roll with the Colonel status for him -- so he’d be a bit on the older side. Possibly a little behind on the times of how to help others in the best way possible.

However, once he gets the hang of things, he’s the best support system you could ever ask for.

When those rough times roll around, he’s already going through a mental checklist of things you’ve mentioned might help make things better. When those don’t work, he begins to try some of his own tactics to help.

Isn’t the best cook, but does try his best. If even that isn’t enough, he’s jumping to order and pick up whatever you’d like. Regardless of what or where it is.

Also loves to try and ground you a bit during rough episodes, he goes through a whole routine with you sometimes. May or may not have researched them online.

Much like Ghost, König will not hesitate to help ground you with physical touch and affection. The man gives the best bear hugs and will gladly squeeze you as tight as you’d like. Also loves to snuggle and just have you in his lap to try and make you feel better.

For those more manic periods, he’s right there with you until - if ever - he senses things getting out of hand. Still does his best to do right by you though. The last thing he wants is for him to try an approach that would make things worse for you.

Really just wants to be there for you however he can, no matter the cost.

Say the word and he’s doing whatever you want or need without question, and within reason.

[mournersandfunerals]

Alice Oseman's Solitaire is a very important book and here's why:

A lot of the time when mental health is being depicted in fiction, it centres so much around the person struggling with it. Which, of course, makes sense. It's important to show what people go through when they suffer from mental illnesses, and it helps others in similar situations know that they're not alone in dealing with it. But it isn't very often you see something from the perspective of a friend or a relative and what they go through when someone they care about is struggling. Solitaire is a book that's so important for this specific reason.

Here, you have Tori. A teenage girl who spends 50% of her time worried about her brother, Charlie, and the other 50% of her time trying to convince herself that she isn't worried about him. She puts so much pressure on herself to keep everyone's heads above water that she doesn't realise that she, herself, is starting to drown. Their parents don't know how to handle everything that's going on with their son, so they act like everything is fine, relying on Tori to be the problem-free "normal" one. That's a lot of pressure to put on your 16/17 year old daughter. Tori takes on the responsibility of keeping her family happy and together, which ends up having the opposite effect and drives them further away from each other. So now you have two siblings that are so near but not within reaching distance when they need each other the most.

Which leads us on to the themes of guilt within the book. This is something that is so well executed and hard-hitting and absolutely crucial.

Tori is someone who feels a lot of guilt and regret when it comes to what Charlie is going through. She feels partially responsible for everything that happened to him. It's not her fault in the slightest, but when someone close to you is hurting and struggling, and you notice but don't do anything because you don't know how, it takes its toll. A lot of the pressure that Tori's under comes from the crippling guilt that she's trying to hold in. It manifests itself into something entirely different. She suffers with anxiety, she has negative thoughts, she hyperfixates entirely on solving the Solitaire mystery so she has something to do while her family is barely holding it together. She spirals.

And what's super interesting about this is how Charlie has a similar reaction at the end when he eventually comes to terms with the fact that his sister isn't okay, either. He mentions how he noticed but didn't do anything, and he feels awful about it. The Spring siblings have a remarkable way of avoiding what's right in front of them because who in the world would want to admit that their brother or sister is the opposite of okay?

And to add to this, I think we really need to note the importance of Michael Holden within this entire situation as well.

Michael is there for Tori consistently. He shows up when she doesn't even realise she needs him, he comes back whenever she pushes him away, and it's almost as though he's her only form of stability within the chaos. And that's exactly what she needs. She doesn't know how to handle what she's feeling about her family so she's pushed everyone else away. She needs someone.

Because it's so easy to ignore the state of your own mental health when someone you love is going through hell. So now we have Michael, a character who essentially says, "I'm here. Let me worry and look after you, while you unwittingly take on the weight of the world." Of course, Michael has problems of his own but if he and Tori can share their burdens between the two of them, maybe the weight of all of it won't feel so heavy.

Alice Oseman created something so underrated and special with Solitaire. It tackles things that can be difficult to talk about but need talking about. It reminds you that it's okay to not be okay. You shouldn't feel bad about feeling bad. And just because someone you love is struggling, it doesn't mean that you're entirely responsible for them. It doesn't mean that you're not allowed to grieve and be upset about it. And it doesn't mean that you're not allowed to struggle through your own issues either. But it does mean that you can find your own support system and let them pull you out of the metaphorical and, I guess in this instance, literal fire that's burning around you.

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

my dysphoria has been very bad recently and i have found it very difficult to do things like showering, changing and sleeping especially. ive been over wearing my binder a lot because i find it very difficult to bring myself to take it off, and i keep wearing it for 30+ hours at a time which i know is bad but i currently have no other alternative and not wearing one feels worse than the pain i get by overwearing. i hate wearing sports bras and ive run out of transtape, i have ordered more but it probably won’t be coming for another couple of weeks. i don’t know what to do because i don’t want to damage my body severely, is there anything else i can do?

Lee says:

As you know, wearing a binder for extended periods can lead to severe health issues, including respiratory problems, rib fractures, and skin conditions.

When you feel like doing something that's harming you physically is your only option to cope because your dysphoria is that intense, you should look into getting a therapist.

Frequently binding for 30+ hours isn't a sustainable option and finding alternative coping strategies will be easier with professional help to help you deal with what you're doing through.

Two posts that might help with your specific questions are Staying clean and coping with shower-related dysphoria and Dysphoria when you have to sleep and those two posts really cover most of what I have to say on those subjects so I won't reinvent the wheel by typing the same thing but I encourage you to read both links.

Apart from that, in the next couple of weeks as you wait for your TransTape to arrive (And start the process of seeking a therapist!) here are some strategies you can try doing:

1. Layered Clothing:

Wearing loose, layered clothing can help obscure the chest area. Consider wearing baggy shirts, jackets, or vests to help reduce the visibility of your chest.

Luckily it's fall time (at least here in the East Coast) so it's starting to get a little bit cooler, some days, and I wear a sweater (at work) or sweatshirt (when at home) like 100% of the time just because I'm always cold and it's also an Autistic sensory friendly thing for me too.

See more: Body neutrality

2. Distraction Techniques:

Engage in activities that take your mind off your dysphoria. This could be reading, drawing, journaling, listening to music, watching movies or TV, or any other hobby or activity that you enjoy and find absorbing.

Engage in self-care activities that actually make you feel good about yourself, not just doomscrolling social media. And for those times when you are on social media, if you're currently following anyone who makes you stressed/unhappy, stop following them. It's your feed and you're in charge!

But if you find that it's hard to do the necessary activities of everyday living because you find yourself spending most of your time engaging in distraction techniques, and you're falling behind on homework/work, that's another sign that you need additional support from a mental health professional.

3. Grounding Techniques:

Practicing mindfulness can help you stay present and reduce distressing thoughts, but the kind of nebulous meditation stuff never worked well for my ADHD brain.

Guided meditation

15 meditation tips

How to do progressive muscle relaxation

Body scan relaxation exercise

Mindfulness skills and worksheets masterpost

Imagery

Imagery self-help

Relaxation

Relaxation audio

Safe-place visualization

I found specific things like grounding exercises, like the "5-4-3-2-1" technique (identifying five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste), can help divert your attention from dysphoric feelings if you're having a Moment. This type of strategy is useful when you start to notice yourself spiraling to try and re-center yourself.

Soothing grounding exercise

Physical grounding exercise

Mental grounding exercise

Grounding techniques

How to make a grounding box

Grounding exercises

How to ground and center

4. Stay connected:

Connect with in-person and/or online LGBTQ+ support groups who understand what you're going through. Sharing your feelings and hearing from others who have similar experiences can be comforting and it can help you to learn new coping strategies and things to try.

In general, avoiding isolation is important. Join a club or volunteer for something, join a sports team, hang out with your friends, etc. Just don't stay alone in your room. Get out of the house if you can, or invite people over or have video calls or phone calls if aren't up to being out and about. Just stay in contact with people.

See more: Motivating yourself to socialize

5. Set Alarms:

Consider setting alarms or reminders to take off your binder and give your body a break. Even short breaks can help reduce the risk of injury.

Here are some links that may help in general:

9 strategies for dealing with body dysphoria

How do I deal with dysphoria?

20 Small Things To Do When Gender Dysphoria Gets You Down

25 Things I Do To Make My Body Dysphoria Feel Smaller and Quieter

More on coping with dysphoria

Dealing with dysphoria

A post with suggestions for coping with dysphoria

Take care of your mental health

8 tips for managing dysphoria and mental health

A coping tip

Disablity-friendly dysphoria tips

Dysphoria that prevents you from leaving the house/doing activities of daily living

Your feelings are valid, and it's essential to find ways to manage your dysphoria that prioritize your health and well-being. There isn't a secret dysphoria cure I can share with you, to be frank it just sucks sometimes and there's not a lot to do about it but you gotta find a way to cope and keep going and stay safe.

Eventually it gets better-- you either find a way to cope more effectively and manage the dysphoria and/or time just passes and you grow older and eventually find a way to access surgery, but either way you will eventually become an adult who is managing life somehow and overall doin' okay and yeah there's hope at the end of the tunnel so please keep going!

You deserve care, support, and understanding, even if your family isn't able to provide that right now. And again, apart from the two links that I started the response with, the main advice I have is that you should ask to speak with a therapist (even if you are closeted and don't tell your fam that it's gender/binding/dysphoria related) and just let them know that you're struggling with your mental health in general.

Please reach out for help if you need it, and consider seeking medical attention if you experience severe pain or discomfort from binding. Good luck!!

As some of you may have noticed, our blog has been around for a decade or so and some links may be broken because we're all busy etc so pls let me know if something is wonky in a post I'm trying to link to!

Followers, any advice for anon?

[bunniekittiee]

Which Plushie Dreadfuls Mental Health Collection Rabbits I think the TCM characters would have:

Bubba Sawyer:

Bubba would definitely have the Anxiety Disorder Rabbit.

Our lovely Junior worries very much. But it’s not just the regular worrying, it’s extremely intense.

Sometimes he gets it out of nowhere with nothing, sometimes there’s reasoning behind it, it just depends.

Makes him physically ill and it gets hard to focus.

Sissy will try to make him as many teas and scents to ease his nausea but it does not alleviate it.

He is comforted that she is trying to help, but it does not help him much.

Has thrown up a lot.

Sometimes it gets so bad, he sits in bed sweating, feeling like death, and very sick.

Drayton tells him that he needs to man up but Johnny tells the Cook to lay off of Bubba.

Bubba can’t control his anxiety, he’s not expected to by his other family.

He learns to live with it and cope.

Chop Top Sawyer:

Chop Top would have the Sleep Paralysis rabbit.

I believe that Chop Top suffers from sleep paralysis very frequently, even before he went to Nam.

Sometimes he sees funny things, but most of the time it is not very good.

A lot of it to him seems demonic, he’s had whispers of another language in his ear during sleep paralysis.

He doesn’t really understand why it’s him that has to deal with this, but he tries to manage it.

He has asked the others if they have sleep paralysis, but they don’t.

If it’s bad, he loses sleep and can be very tired in the morning which throws him off completely.

When in sleep paralysis, it gets hard for him to breathe because of the weight on his chest.

Nubbins has walked in on him during sleep paralysis and has tried to help him by trying to wake his body up.

Chop Top can’t communicate during sleep paralysis so he just stares at Nubbins and the weird creature thing that’s lingering over him.

Nubbins tells him that no one is there and that he is seeing things.

It comforts Chop Top knowing that the butt-fuck ugly entity that is standing over him is not real and Nubbins can see that it’s not real.

Nubbins Sawyer:

Nubbins would have the ADHD Rabbit.

I think this is kind of obvious, I believe Nubbins is very impulsive and forgetful.

He has dealt with this since he was a kid and Drayton never got him medicated.

Does not know how to manage it, sometimes he feels like his brain or heart is going to explode because of how fast they are going.

When it comes to killing or making things, he is definitely locked into it and will do it with no problem.

But any other tasks, he struggles to remember and it is difficult to keep him engaged.

Nubbins is very hyper and will stay up for long periods of time.

If he stays up for days straight, he also sleeps for a long time as well.

Drayton wishes he would have gotten Nubbins medicated but he knows that he can’t do much about it now.

They just hope that a victim will have Adderall on them so Nubbins does not have to suffer like he does.

Johnny Slaughter:

The one I think 99.9% of you were waiting for lol.

I believe Johnny, taking into consideration the personality we have pieced together for him based upon his bio, has the Borderline Personality Disorder Rabbit.

Now hear me out.

I think Johnny does get overwhelmed with his emotions. His moods can change very quickly depending on his interactions with other people.

As a result, it can affect how he feels and if he wants to kill them.

Sometimes he is very hard to read because he has learned to mask this.

But if you look hard enough, when he smiles there are little to no emotions behind his eyes.

Most people tend to miss this and that’s why they end up on the dinner table because they don’t know to avoid him.

Nancy told Johnny that his biological mother abandoned him for her own selfish reasons, but the Lord made sure Johnny went into her hands.

This haunted the Slaughter boy. He became afraid of abandonment.

So if he were to keep a victim, his main worry would be that they would leave him.

He has very tumultuous relationships. They are extremely unstable and his intense mood shifts can affect the other person greatly.

When he’s angry, his anger can be aimed at no one in particular. But he will still take it out on them.

Can have depressive episodes but tries to work through it because he has things he needs to do, but it gets difficult.

Drayton sometimes worries for him when he sees the dark bags under Johnny’s eyes and the empty look in his eyes. Then he knows it’s bad.

Sissy Sawyer:

Sissy would have the Disassociation Disorder Rabbit.

She has a hard time recalling childhood memories because she disconnected very often.

Very frequently she feels as if she is watching herself from an outside perspective.

She does not feel like herself, she feels like a walking zombie attempting to look like a functioning human being.

It affects her moods, she will completely stay out of conversations and if she has to talk, she doesn’t realize what she’s really talking about.

She just feels like she’s just moving her mouth and speaking another language.

Sissy spaces out a lot and sometimes she does this when she is busy with tasks.

Bubba can read that look in her eyes that shows that she is just a vessel, Sissy is not really there.

He tries to help her, he won’t talk to her because he knows that it is hard for her to form words, but his presence is enough.

He will take over her chores and shoo her away to rest.

She can remember a few things about her time with the Manson Cult, but she can’t recall everything.

When she tries to remember, it just looks like a blur.

And it feels like there are many missing pieces to her memories.

Drayton Sawyer:

This rabbit is still under development.

However, Drayton would have the Intermittent Explosive Disorder Rabbit.

He suffers from extreme amounts of unwarranted anger and will take it out on his family.

Sometimes there are no particular reasons for it.

He can easily slip into an episode and it turns the household upside down until he calms down.

He will abuse his brothers and nephew, smacking them with the broom or hitting them with his fist.

Even the smallest events can trigger his anger and afterwards he feels horrible.

He knows that there was no reason for all the extra shit he did, and he knows he pissed off the whole household with his behavior.

Johnny tries to empathize (funny coming from him) with Drayton with the explosive anger and emotions.

He understands, but he wishes that his uncle could manage it better.

Because beating the shit out of Chop Top with a belt because he didn’t set the plates out is extremely out of place and unfair.

Alright, I did not want to get things wrong with the disorders i named so if I messed up im v sorry. Some of it is from what I have experienced, Sissy and Johnny to be specific (don’t suffer from either disorder ofc but I have felt some disassociation before and I have intense mood shifts) so I tried to describe it from my personal experience too. Anyways, I thought this would be fun to do!

[frozenjokes]

I Need [You] [To Be] A Hero! (1/2)

note: this is a pretty direct sequel to this fic, but can probably also be read on its own. wouldn’t recommend it though. ALSO. there is a misunderstanding involving domestic abuse in this fic, when in reality nothing has actually happened. still, if that makes you uncomfortable I would definitely skip.

next

It was safe to say Scar was freaking out a little. Grian, Cub’s roommate who he had never met before, not even as HotGuy, was in his house experiencing some sort of mental health crisis- what the fuck was happening?

His first impulse was to call Cub- of course that was what he wanted to do, but Cub had made it quite clear he was not happy with HotGuy right now, and Grian had been adamant that he couldn’t go home- that there was no one Scar could call who could help.

But when Grian woke up the next day, not leaving his room until the early afternoon, Scar didn't want to tell Cub anything at all. Grian’s face was all sorts of fucked, bruised to all hell, and Scar didn’t remember seeing bruises last night, but it was dark and he had been tipsy- Though, Grian had been wearing quite a heavy amount of makeup, which he seemed to have washed off now.. Oh god. Grian didn’t want to talk about what had happened, and Scar didn’t want to push, but he was suddenly quite worried about what was hidden under the sleeves of his sweater. Grian hadn’t wanted to be touched last night either- fuck.

Scar didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. Though, he got his answer pretty quick when HotGuy’s phone buzzed in his back pocket, his heart sinking at a text from Cub.

‘Have you seen CuteGuy at all? Last night? Important.’

What did he want to know about CuteGuy? Suspicion curled in his gut, but maybe that was just anger, or hurt, or any number of emotions turning his stomach. He hadn’t, obviously. He hadn’t been working last night.

‘No, but I need to talk to you. Meet me for lunch, same place, or anywhere that’s easiest for you. 2:00.’

‘I’ll be there. Is something wrong?’

Scar could only frown at the message, staring for too long before leaving it unanswered, dropping his phone back in his pocket.

“Hey, Grian, I have to meet someone for work. I’m going to lunch, and I can bring you something back if you want. Could be a while, but I grabbed a few things from the grocery store, so you can make yourself something if you don’t want to wait. Doesn’t matter either way, just text me. Whatever you want, I’ll make it happen.”

“Okay,” Grian mumbled, looking just as miserable as he sounded. He never looked up from his phone, scrolling aimlessly with lidded eyes. The sight broke Scar’s damn heart.

“Try and eat something, alright?”

“Okay.” Just about as noncommittal as it gets. Well. He would make sure Grian got dinner at least.

Scar wasn’t used to being unable to change in this house, but it wasn’t too big of a deal. He stopped by his hospital instead, the one that would glue him back together whenever needed, and changed there, leaving behind the bits of his disguise to pick up later. It wasn’t much, just the wig and the clothes he was wearing, but it still took a bit of time to fix his hair, adjust his makeup- just getting into his uniform could be a chore sometimes, especially when his prosthetics were deciding to be difficult- he was going to have to get those repaired again soon. A problem for another day.

By the time everything was said and done, he was a bit late, though he didn’t feel very bad. Cub deserved to squirm a bit as far as Scar was concerned, but he did try and hurry it up regardless.

And squirming he was.

Cub was a complete nervous wreck when Scar managed to arrive and sit down, which was reasonable, all things considered, but Scar was glad for it. He should be nervous.

“Uh, hi,” Cub spoke before Scar could, “I had a question, actually, I mean, I know you’re a superhero and that’s your thing, but are you- do you arrest people? Is that a thing you do? I couldn’t really find any answers online, I wasn’t sure.” Cub fidgeted with his hands when Scar frowned, almost aggressively avoiding eye contact.

“Why? Have you committed any crimes?” Scar couldn’t help himself from shooting back, the anger crawling beneath his skin getting the better of him.

“Uh,” Cub paused for what had to be an abnormal amount of time, “No. Just curious.”

“Just curious? Well no, most of the time, not really. My job isn’t to take people into custody, just to stop them from hurting other people or damaging anyone’s property. Our police force is a bit pathetic though, if you haven’t noticed, so most of the time our villains don’t really stay in jail.”

“You’re upset with me.” Cub said the words like facts, which they were, and stared. Scar stared right back.

“I think ‘upset’ is the wrong word here.”

“If this is about that fight with you and CuteGuy, I don’t think you have any right to be unhappy with me. That was stupid, you were both being stupid, and someone could have gotten hurt. I’m sorry I didn’t reach out or anything, but things have been bad at home, and I didn’t have the time or energy to talk, so some patience would be appreciated.”

“For goodness’ sake, I’m not mad about the fight.”

“Then why- I don’t care. I don’t have time for this. I- I need help. Someone I know did- has been doing some really bad things, and I want to help him, but I just don’t know how, and he ran off and he’s not answering his calls and-“

“Someone you know, huh?”

“Yes- What is wrong with you? Why are you acting so shitty?”

“I want to know what you did to Grian.”

“Wh-“ Cub stopped short, freezing completely, “What I- Scar, have you seen him? Is he okay? Is he safe? Do you know where he is? I don’t- What do you think I did?”

“I don’t think he feels safe at home, Cub. He’s got all sorts of bruises where people don’t just get bruises.”

Silence. Scar’s frown deepened, while all Cub could seem to do was gape.

“Oh fuck, Scar, I did not- Scar, this is a huge misunderstanding, I have not hurt Grian, I need you to believe me- I need your help.”

“I don’t believe you, actually.”

“Scar, Grian is CuteGuy.” For the first time, Scar saw the fear behind Cub’s eyes, the desperation in his voice; for the first time, Scar stopped completely short. When Cub was sure he was listening, he continued, “I found out when he met me in that parking lot. I didn’t recognize him immediately with the outfit and the covers over his wings and- I think he paints his flight feathers? But I figured it out pretty damn fast, and he’s- Grian has always had issues, Scar, like, major issues, but he’s- he’s not- he just doesn’t have good outlets, I don’t really think he actually wants to hurt people!”

Oh.

“I..” Scar dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his forehead, “I hit him. I did that.”

“You did do that! You almost shot him-!” Cub stopped, taking a breath, then laying his hands over his temples for a moment before letting them hit the table, “I don’t care. It was stupid, but I don’t care. I just want him to be okay. Is he safe? Where did he end up? I didn’t see anything on the news, but him not being CuteGuy doesn’t- he can have these really intense reactions to bad stuff happening, even little stuff sometimes, it’s- I promise you he’s trying, I know he’s trying.” There was so much pain there, so much, and Scar had to wonder if Cub knew the extent of what Grian had done, or if he even cared at all. Even Scar wasn’t sure, now that he really thought about it. He.. would have to check later.

“He’s safe. He’s at my, uh, a friend’s house. Found him at a bar, being.. I think intense is the right word. He said he couldn’t go home, and needed a place to stay.”

“Oh god. Was he drinking?”

“I don’t.. think so. Friend was pretty concerned, but Grian insisted he was sober. Took him home before that changed.”

“Oh, good. Good,” Cub sighed, head falling back into his hands, and Scar swore he felt Cub’s relief in his soul. “Could I.. get this friend’s number? I don’t know if I should try and see Grian yet, I really don’t want him to run again, but I just want to make sure everything is okay. I don’t- I have no idea what to do here, I really don’t, I’m just.. really grateful.” Cub paused, then sat up suddenly, “You won’t arrest him, will you? Please don’t. He’s already had to serve some time for repeated offenses, and he’s so much worse when he gets out, it won’t work, it won’t help him-“

“I’m not going to arrest him, Cub. And yeah, let me text you his number.” Scar grabbed HotGuy’s phone to do just that, fumbling a bit as he erased the name off the contact.

“Thank you,” Cub heaved a massive sigh, deflating, “It’s hard enough to get him working again as it is. Customer service isn’t an option- you think I’m bad, woof. It’s not an option.”

“I don’t think you’re bad!”

Cub snorted. “That’s sweet.”

“I don’t!”

“You were barely through the door before I said something rude, then had a complete autism panic attack in the back room. That was particularly bad.”

“Okay, but the thing you said about my legs was hilarious- oh is that what that was?”

Cub paused for a moment, then shook his head, teeth poking out behind his smile, and Scar felt himself fall back in love all over again, “Yeah man, I get it rough sometimes. Thought you knew, honestly.”

“People react in so many different ways to seeing me, getting helped by me, or thinking they’ve embarrassed themselves in front of me that I’ve literally seen it all. I’ve just stopped asking questions.”

“Hey, cheers to that, man.” Cub checked his phone when it buzzed, though had a small moment of confusion that Scar had already anticipated before he shared the contact. “What’s your friend’s name again?”

“Not my place to share, I’m afraid. He’s a tricky guy, really paranoid about the fae and names, so you’ll have to ask him what he wants you to call him. I’ll give him a heads up that you're contacting him, so it’ll be fine. If it’s easier, Grian calls him Micah. For ease of access, he might let you call him the same name, but he’s been known to be.. difficult. Very nice though, just a little odd about some things. You should see his house, it’s all decked out in iron trims and’s got these funky chains everywhere? His front and backyard is all pavement, it’s nuts. I mean, I guess you will see it eventually, won’t you? Maybe.” Scar found himself rambling, suddenly very afraid of being found out. Grian did a pretty shit job at hiding his identity- the voice thing in particular, why did he do that? And if they’ve been friends for years, why did Grian even go near Cub in the first place? REGARDLESS. Clearly Cub had a pretty good intuition, so Scar would greatly prefer if he and Not HotGuy also known as Scar also known as Micah never met.

“Oh. Cool.” Cub looked kind of amused for some reason, but Scar didn’t get the chance to try and puzzle the expression out before he spoke again, “Hey, that’s a different mask, right? Any reason?”

“Oh! Yeah! This is the one I wear when I break my nose, since it doesn’t really cover it like the other one does. Well, CuteGuy broke it actually, but you understand. It’s.. a relatively common occurrence for me.”

“Ah, you know, I thought your nose looked a little crooked, but it’s always been kind of crooked, so I wasn’t quite sure. But that makes sense to me. ‘S cute.”

Scar’s brain stopped working. “What?”

“Nothing. Just thinking.” Cub smiled, and Scar felt his face heating up, and Cub laughed, fuck, what a delightful sound, “You silly thing,” Cub sighed, and Scar had no idea what that meant, but he wanted to know, he wanted to know so bad, he leaned over the table, waiting for Cub to say more, to say more right now, but Cub’s eyes were closed, sitting back in his chair contentedly.

Cub did not say more, and neither could Scar when their waitress arrived at the table, the same lady from before, looking positively frightened for some reason.

“Are.. you two ready to order?”

[thefaithfulwriter1]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒 (𝟎𝟎. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏)

❝ And I will find the strength to un-tape my mouth. When I used to be afraid of the words. But I've learned just to let it out. Now my heart is ready to burst. 'Cause I, I feel like I'm ready for love. And I wanna be your everything and more. And I know everyday you say it. But I just want you to be sure. That I am yours. ❞ - I am Yours - Ella Henderson

Summary - In which a story is told about a successful writer who struggles with all aspects of her health. Yes, she is famous for her hard work, being granted with fans and recognition. But she still lives a struggling lonely life. Between her health and past she doesn't know what to do anymore. That is until she is given the suggestion to adopt a hybrid from her doctor for emotional support. Taking the advice, she soon looks into adopting a hybrid which she does, finding a handsome kind tiger hybrid. But it soon leads to the beginning of her story of how she comes upon six more hybrids in need of help which she does whole heartly. And she soon finds out that she is capable of love and is deserving of love as well.

Pairing - BTS (Taehyung Centric) x Fem!Reader

Alternative Universe - Hybrid

Warnings - Fluff, Angst, 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 (𝙰𝙳H𝙳, 𝙰𝚗𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚢, 𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛, 𝙿𝚃𝚂𝙳), 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚜 (𝙻𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚜, 𝙻𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖), 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙰𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚎, 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚂𝚎mi Smut

You were sitting in the back of a car in front of a building… thinking. Stuck in your head thinking of your life. You were a successful writer. You were very successful so much so that your books were bestsellers all over the world. You were still coming along good with your books too. But with you rising as a bestselling author over the years many other things came along as well. Things along the lines of houses, cars, and fans. Just because you had all these things didn't mean you were the happiest person. You were very grateful for all you had but that didn't mean you didn't have your problems. You were never able to escape your past nor your health problems…which were many.

Your health problems made your life difficult. But you tried to enjoy life to the fullest knowing it could be worse. Your health pertains to your mental and physical health. Your mental health was ADHD, Manic behavior, depression, anxiety, PTSD, being your main mental problems. Physically you had the crappiest lungs which caused you to carry an oxygen tank on your person at times (like now). Leading you to have severe chronic asthma, you also had a low immune system meaning you were able to get sick easier and faster. Yes, you knew you had it rough but couldn't bring yourself to complain knowing others had it worse than you. So all you could do was take it one day at a time and deal with all your problems as best as you could as they came your way.

These problems though caused you to see a therapist. This started from a young age to help you with your feelings along with the events that had happened to you in the past to your most recent life events. You've never really had conflicted feelings with your therapist up until now. Because right now you were about to make a big change in your life upon the request of your therapist.

At the moment you were looking upon the vast building in front of you anxiously. You had so many thoughts running through your mind at the moment both positive and negative. You honestly didn't know what to do as you looked upon the building with worry.

The building was an adoption agency... an adoption agency specifically for hybrids.

Yes, in this world hybrids were very real, being discovered years before you were even born. And right now you were glued in your seat. Scared of what you were about to get yourself into with the possibility of adopting a hybrid today. Will he or she like you? Will they accept you and your differences? Will they be able to adapt to your way of living? Your rambunctious thoughts were soon cut off by someone in the driver's seat clearing their throat to catch your attention.

"Miss Y/n its about time that we get going in don't you think?" They had asked softly while looking at you with a small smile. That someone was your human butler. Who has been with you ever since the first book you wrote was a bestseller, which was about five years ago when you were eighteen.

Xavier Johnson was his name and he was a man in his late thirties. Xavier knew everything about your health and past which led him to take the job. Especially, when he found out you were just a caring and humble young woman who needed extra help in life.

"Do you think I should do this Xavier," you whispered nervously as you carefully played with the smooth tube connected to your oxygen tank.

"Personally I think you should. You need the companionship along with the socialization and who knows maybe it'll be different with a hybrid. But that is just me, you should do whatever you're comfortable with Miss L/n," Xavier told her straightforwardly. He wanted her to know his thoughts. Which you took into consideration. It took you minutes to rethink everything and ready yourself for this big change in her life.

"Okay lets go then before I change my mind," you sighed out.

TAGLIST -

rinkud

[meggannn]

Do you happen to know any other games like transistor or Hades? sorry if it's so random but I got into them thru seeing them on your blog and have been looking for something along similar gameplay

if you haven't already, check out the rest of the Supergiant catalogue? they're also isometric action games, and although I haven't played them myself I hear good things:

Bastion—truthfully I tried this one and just couldn't get into it but it does look pretty and has good voice acting like all SG games

Pyre—honestly I've been meaning to play this for a while but I just haven't gotten around to it. it has middle child syndrome in that it gets looked over for its move hyped siblings but everything I've heard about it has been positive

I don't know if I can recommend anything with similar gameplay to Hades and Transistor, because I don't play a lot of roguelites and Transistor was so unique I'm struggling to think of a comparison. Supergiant has been really singular for me in combining storytelling with gameplay, the marriage of the two in Hades in particular I think was a masterclass akin to Portal (which I'd also recommend if you haven't played it). so a lot of these recommendations are just going to address parts of what I liked about Hades and Transistor, but not the whole package, really.

story-heavy RPG-light games with beautiful graphics with no combat:

Oxenfree—supernatural/coming-of-age story about a group of kids trapped on an island when a portal opens to another world

Night in the Woods—the story of Mae, a college dropout struggling with mental health, who moves back home to deal with friend and family problems... and something else that's in the woods

Afterparty—two friends die and get sent to hell. they hear the only way to escape is to challenge the devil to a drinking contest, so they travel the afterlife to do just that

Signs of the Sojourner—this is an interesting one where you travel to acquire goods to sell at your shop, but negotiating is difficult, and the cards in your deck will help you succeed in forging bonds in conversations. the more diverse cards you have, the more people you can interact with successfully, but you also risk losing the cards you started with, which will make your conversations back home difficult when you return to stock up.

action-heavy indie games, usually made me go "just one more map":

Apotheon—story set in a 2D Greek mythology world about a man challenged to take down the pantheon one god at a time

Into the Breach—the only other roguelite I've played, it's a turn-based strategy where you fight aliens on a grid system with robots, very Pacific Rim-esque

Cult of the Lamb—a roguelite about running your own cult full of animals. apparently it's big on the horror elements without being off-putting or too gory due to the cute graphics. I haven't played this but other people have recommended it!

Jade Order—a very short puzzle game with a neat map design

[crystalsenergy]

Self demands (an attempt at how to deal with this, and a genuine transmission of understanding 🌿🌼)

Whether it comes from you to yourself or from others, demands are something that can greatly affect a person's psychological well-being. And often, it's difficult not to be affected.

Living, dealing with my life, getting to know other people, I realized that all of us will feel some kind of pressure at some point in life.

I see demands as something dangerous for a person's mental health, which can make them feel weak, powerless, incapable.

The way we react to it is unique, it's ours. We cannot define a standard reaction to these things because each person reacts differently. But I believe that we can always handle it differently, better for ourselves. And, of course, this way will vary from person to person.

➥ Self-demands

Many times, the demand doesn't even come from outside but from within. And in these cases, I believe we can control the situation more.

I used to be a person who demanded too much of myself, who wanted to achieve perfection in everything and was upset if I didn't reach it, if everything didn't turn out perfect. Until I learned that seeking perfection is exhausting, especially depending on what you're doing.

There are specific phases of our lives that seem like we cannot escape demands. Adolescence is the main one. Parents, school, and society itself place a series of obligations on your shoulders, a lot of times, it's the consequence of their projections on youth. It's really hard. But what I often see are people who, in addition to the pressure from outside, also pressure themselves. And that's very harmful.

As someone who has been through all of this, I strongly advise you to make sure that at least one of the demands doesn't exist. The external one will be there, and you already need to control/try to handle how it will affect you.

So let's try to understand why we demand things from ourselves and how to handle it better. Okay?

First of all, we need to clarify that: ›› Demanding too much of oneself is not the best way to achieve a good result.

➥ Overcoming oneself and others

Many of the thoughts of those who demand too much have to do with the desire to overcome oneself, to surpass one's own limits. Always wanting more from oneself, for you, it's never enough, you never get there. Because you have to work more and more. Overcoming oneself usually has to do with some standard or specific person(s) that have been set in mind as a profile to be followed. But why do people generally have this thought?

➥ Comparisons, influences of personal life history, and what was taught

Many times, excessive demands may be related to what was taught to you as you were growing up. School, family, the outside itself. Ideas that you need to surpass others to be valued, to be considered better. Some comparisons made since childhood: children in schools being seen and compared according to grades and performances, or at home taught by parents that they need to surpass others to be well-regarded.

These thoughts are very misguided, and if they don't cause problems at that age, they can generate frustrations later, in adolescence, for example. What is even worse if we stop to think about it: it's during adolescence that you receive even more demands to carry.

➥ Self-demands to be well Another thing that unfortunately is taught to us is how we should always force ourselves to be well, always smile, sometimes even pretend a good mood and well-being that we are not feeling at all.

With life [and with Psychology too], I learned that hiding things is even worse. Hiding from others is also hiding from oneself. I understand that there are places and people that it's not worth telling how we are feeling; but it's two different things:

Not telling everything to everyone

VS. Pretending to be well

All feelings exist to be lived.

It's like phases that you really need to experience because otherwise, you won't move forward.

It's as if we need to go through the pain, understand it, and of course, seek help from others and within ourselves to get out of it.

Self-demanding to be well soon will never bring benefits.

You really start to see yourself as inferior for not smiling, living life the way others do. And here comes the same teaching that applies to demands in things like school: do not compare.

You live a moment, and people live other moments. Each of us has our own time.

You have smiled a lot and had happy days; you are not just suffering. And in your happy days, there were also sad people going through bad phases. Therefore, each of us has our own moment. Whether good or bad, it must be lived. Do not compare.

➥ Tasks and more tasks

Many people fill themselves with tasks believing that they will be able to fulfill all of them. This also generates many frustrations and can gradually end up with mental health and self-esteem too.

➥ What can happen

These attitudes and thoughts directed at oneself can generate feelings of anxiety and guilt. Anxiety to do more and more things and surpass oneself (which is terrible because you don't live in the moment, you live in anxiety to do one thing after another). Guilt for not being able to do more tasks.

I have been very frustrated with self-demands. It was the vestibular phase, and I was under pressure. School, prep course, relatives. People, in general, put pressure, saying, 'if she doesn't pass…' Expectations also generate demands. The ideal is to allow the person to live their own time.

I also wanted to embrace the world, do several things at the same time. For those on the outside, that was right. "Look up to her, [Name]." "Do it like her, several things at the same time." But no, we need to know how to choose what we are going to do, how we are going to do it.

When you choose to embrace the world =

you put many responsibilities on yourself, overload yourself, and blame yourself a lot for not being able to do all your tasks. And obviously, you won't be able to: you fill yourself with things to do and still seek perfection. There is no time or energy for everything to go this way.

➥ How to deal with it

Calm down, not everything is lost, and things can work out.

Changing habits and deconstructing these thoughts is very important.

Seek help.

Try therapy, healing frequencies available in places like YouTube, relaxing music (music has immense power!), Solfeggio frequencies, binaural frequencies, and not only with a focus on "concentration, learning", because none of this will serve if the foundation of your being is not based on a minimum of self-respect and a search for internal harmony. No one can endure eternal self-demand without succumbing.

Important message: you can and will live your life well. If you demand a lot from yourself today, there is a way out of it. Don't feel bad for demanding from yourself, don't blame yourself. Try to change gradually, take it easy on yourself, live your time, be kind to yourself. And deconstruct the thoughts: perfectionism masks benefits, in the short term and initially, you may perceive this as something good, but in the long run, the downsides prevail.

➥ Have real goals for your routine!

It's no use getting overwhelmed with tasks. Be realistic, define for yourself only what you have the possibility to accomplish in your day.

➥ Do. not. compare. ₊˚.

Everyone has their own pace. Everyone has their own time. Each person will get there in their own time. You are not worse for "still" being here. There is no "still" because you are not behind in anything. Respect your time and be kind to yourself. It's what you deserve.

Do not rush, do not get frustrated.

Detach yourself from others, from standards, from what is required of you in the environments you live in. You are not your demands.

Life is not a race.

"Stop running for nothing, You don't need to have a dream that anyone dreams." "You don't need to follow someone else's dream. Create and chase after your own."

[organised-kitty]

Tag 20-28 | 18/100 hours | 28/08/23

So basically this week I barely studied German, I only did like 2 hours in the entire week and I felt like a total failure to be honest. After careful analysis I realised I needed to re organize my goals, my plan, my study techniques and my mindset so I can make this work out the best possible. At this moment I’m in a stage where I feel like nothing works to help me get back on track but I need to see this as a period of experimentation to help me push forward. So this is my take on how to deal with failure and slumps in progress. (Inspired by selfcare-journey)

⭐️ Identify what’s not working

Personally, what’s keeping me from doing my tasks is the fact that I’m always feeling tired and I have frequent migraines; I have been sleeping less than 6 hours a day because of university and yet I haven’t done as much progress because I’m so tired, I can’t focus and therefore I worked very slowly which left me feeling lazier, very frustrated and unmotivated.

⭐️ Prioritizing health and self care

I think we have all been consumed at some point by the idea of toxic productivity where the one who works the most and sleeps the least is the best one, but ultimately enjoying learning and having quality study time will only be possible if we’re physically and mentally sane.

I feel hesitant to redefine my work hours because I feel guilty when I think of studying less, I’m scared of not meeting deadlines, but I already know that this toxic cycle isn’t working for me so I have to accept that it’s okay if I can’t study 8 hours straight, if I need more breaks than other people and it’s okay if I work slow, if I don’t grasp things quickly, it’s okay to fall behind..because I’m in the process of rewiring how I study and taking my time is better than not doing anything and giving up.

⭐️ Managing energy levels

Along with my horrid sleeping schedule this energy slump is also the result of me not eating throughout the day and then having a huge unhealthy meals later in the day, and it’s really affecting my energy levels. So I need to start keeping hydrated, doing light exercise, eating healthier and more regular meals along with having better sleep hygiene because honestly I feel half dead. I also need to go to a medical check up to figure out what’s the cause of my migraines.

⭐️ Dealing with procrastination

I think lately I really struggle with a sense of discomfort when I study because lately I associate studying with failure and frustration. So I think breaking my task into smaller bits might make it less overwhelming. When I was in therapy I learnt a lot about how to deal with intrusive thoughts and emotions so I will put some of those techniques into practice. I also want to work on self compassion and embracing the idea that even a little progress is a step closer to my goal, I think celebrating those small wins can create a positive cycle of motivation.

⭐️ Improving focus

For this aspect I will go back to the ultra short Pomodoro method. (10-15 min with 2 min break) Force myself to work for a small period of time and give myself a tiny break. It’s a pretty basic technique but the idea of this is to experiment and see how well it works for me, identify for how long I can work until things start to become difficult. I think the best breaks are those that keep you away from your phone, because 5 minutes of social media is a recipe for disaster. So I will try to do things like grab some water, stretch a bit, breathing exercises, clean my bag, walk around the room a bit, doodling, have a snack, so that I keep active but refreshed. I think being in a productive environment like a library or a cafeteria could also help to keep focused.

⭐️ Enjoying learning

Now that I’m coming across more difficult content I tend to get unmotivated, so I think the best strategy is try seeing it like a game, where I don’t focus on the learning outcome but rather focus on the process of understanding, problem solving and overcoming new challenges, perhaps that will make the journey more rewarding.

Reminding one self of why I started and connecting the connecting the content to my interests and real world applications could be really useful in boosting my curiosity and motivation as well.

⭐️ Active learning

My study sessions have turned into something very passive, just doing exercises and checking flashcards has become very boring. I think I need to re-incorporate more active learning techniques like writing in a journal in my target language and talking to native friends more.

Additionally I think I need to readjust my schedule and re organize myself so I can include these changes, track them and check for feedback, but this post is already long enough so I will make a separate one.

[sirfrogsworth]

I am so confused.

Even when this lens was first released it was $850 brand new.

Does he think people aren't going to check current prices? Did he get scammed and overpay originally? Not to mention eBay gives you a suggestion for pricing.

I really wish I hadn't sold my lenses. There was a point where I had a major decline in my health and I could no longer make comedy for my main website. At the same time, my parents were getting sicker and needed more help. We were also struggling financially. I was so depressed and I was sure I'd never do photography again, so I sold most of my lenses.

We needed the money at that moment, but in the grand scheme of things, the lens money barely made a dent in our situation. Not to mention, we got a small inheritance from my grandmother soon after, so that increased my regret. It took me years of scrounging and saving to build up a collection of 5 lenses. None of them top of the line, but all of them a good value for their performance.

Thankfully I kept the lens I used to take pictures of Otis—my "puppy lens." But my ultra wide, my macro, my tele, and my portrait lens... all gone.

And now I am trying to figure out the cheapest way I can do what I want to do with photography and I'm remembering just how expensive this hobby is. But I think I need to figure this out because I have had a substantial boost in my mental health since I started taking photos again.

A good 50mm could serve several roles. I can add extension tubes for macro. It is about 75mm on an APS-C camera, which is good for portraits. The wide aperture would allow low light photography. Combined with my Otis lens, all I'd be missing is telephoto and ultra wide angle, but honestly I never did much of that anyway. Though ultra wide angle photography is probably the most fun you can have taking pictures—even if the photographic uses are rare.

I did get a Nifty Fifty for my trip to Orlando. I wanted to see if I could get away with using a $100 lens. For the price, it is surprisingly good. And it is the first lens I recommend to anyone starting photography—as almost every camera brand has its own version. But I had several issues trying to make it work for my needs.

It's not very sharp, which is actually fine for shots taken at a distance, but would be a deal breaker for product photos and macro shots which are very close up. Those require as much detail as possible, especially if you need to crop. When you are trying to show people the fine hairs on a bee's body, a soft image just isn't going to have the same impact.

It also does not nail focus consistently and it back focuses (it focuses more behind than in front). Which is a deal breaker for my efforts to use less energy. When I did my portrait shoot with Katrina, I had to do many test shots and look at them on the computer to make sure I was getting them in focus. I was going back and forth and getting up and down. In the end I had to use a smaller aperture and higher ISO to get increased depth of field. And even then the tip of her nose was soft in the photos. Not to mention the added noise from raising the ISO.

This Sigma is a wonderful lens. I'm trying to find a good deal used, but it's still out of reach for now. I have no idea what my financial future is right now and until I know for sure that my brother will release my inheritance in March, I have to be more careful with my budget.

I am going to sell all of my studio lighting gear and use those funds to help me set up a new studio upstairs. I'm hoping that will cover the new lights I will need, but I don't think it will be enough for a lens. Someone suggested a site where I can turn my yard into a dog park, so I am looking into that. I might also see if I can get some gigs restoring photos for people, but it is so difficult finding clients.

Every problem has a solution. And maybe the universe will do me a favor and keep my brother from being terrible just this once.

[acti-veg]

hi,

i was wondering if you think severely mentally ill people should have euthanasia as an option

i know this might be a difficult question to answer so please don’t feel you have to but i value your opinion

bc i believe the level of mental health support needed by some people does not exist, and they may suffer immensely their whole lives

i know you have to consider various factors including the effect on family etc but say someone has an incurable mental illness, wants to die and has no loved ones - and may actually cause more harm alive than dead - should they be allowed to die?

say the decision is not impulsive but they’ve suffered with their mental health for many years and tried lots of forms of treatment which hasn’t helped?

i feel all of the above apply to me apart from i do have family who wouldn’t want me to do it but at the same time staying alive for decades when you’re suffering pretty much constantly seems like a big ask :(

I'm going to try to answer this as a general ethical question. Whether I believe assisted dying should be an option for those who have been through the proper processes and can receive the relevant care, and whether I believe you specifically should be 'allowed to die' are totally different questions. I am not comfortable even commenting on the latter one given that I am not a professional and have very little information to go on, as I'm sure you can understand.

I believe in the right to self-determination for everyone, so long as they have the capacity to make their own decisions. That should include both how we live our lives, and the manner and timing of our deaths.

The practicalities and various lines that must be drawn are complex, but organisations like DIGNITAS already provide a good model. They require that participants be of sound mind, but what they mean by that is really just that the person is capable of making their own decision about their own condition. Their statement on the matter includes the following:

"Contrary to a widely-held opinion, people suffering from mental health problems normally have sufficient capacity of discernment to decide whether they would like to continue living or end their life. Therefore, and as a general rule, they are entitled to ask for an accompanied suicide and receive assistance just as much as people suffering from physical health problems, in order to avoid the high risk of failure. The same applies to healthy people who wish to end their life because they feel that it has become too arduous for them due to old age. There are no rational reasons to patronise these people through paternalism."

Of course, this is all has to be determined by a process of conversations and assessments by professionals. I would say though, that nobody should be dying because they can't access proper mental or physical health care; an organisation like DIGNITAS can only really provide it's intended function in a society where healthcare is accessible. Otherwise, you essentially just have 'your options are deal with it or die,' and we can't let those be the only choices available to people.

It's a difficult thing to think about and there will never be any ideal 'solution', but we have to stop assuming that someone wanting to end their life necessarily means that they are in some way deranged or cannot be trusted to think for themselves. People must be allowed to make their own decisions about their own healthcare, which should include both passive and active euthanasia.

Again though, I want to emphasise that this is a scenario where someone has access to proper mental health care, have been through the relevant assessments, the legal processes, made arrangements for what happens after death, disclosed all of this to the relevant parties and is being properly assisted. That won't be the case for someone thinking about this in isolation, who do not have access to a service like DIGNITAS. In short, assisted dying and suicide in the way we usually think of it are not the same thing.

For what it's worth, I'm always here if you want to talk to someone. Even if you just need someone outside the situation to vent to, then my inbox is always open. Take care of yourself, anon.

[valiant-if]

tldr; I wanted to have something to show for the work I've been doing roughly by the end of April, but my timeline is going to be delayed. I'll still do my best to get some work done, but things are hard right now. You've stuck with me this long, so I hope you continue to stick with me. Hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there!

I'm not trying to go too much into my personal life, but the long version—with a bit of venting—is that I'm having a lot of car trouble, and that has unfortunately been a domino effect for one of the worst mental episodes I've had in maybe 7 years. I don't make a lot of money, I can barely afford the cost of a rental let alone the repairs for my car, which I need to do my job, and quite frankly the people in my life that I rely on for support are not being very supportive of the situation. There's a lot of "your decision to procrastinate on important issues is the reason you are in this position" and a lot of indirect "you made your bed, now sleep in it" going around.

Executive dysfunction is really an alien concept to a lot of people, I guess. As if I've just been sitting around thinking, "Someone else will deal with the fallout of this issue when it blows up in my face." Instead of, you know, having daily anxiety attacks about it for the last 6 months but unsure how to solve the problem because my brain refuses to function on certain things.

The hard truth is that when you are neurodivergent, neurotypical people cannot seem to understand the mental hurdles you have to take just to make it through basic day-to-day life. A lot of people describe mental health struggles as drowning, but I think it feels a lot more like someone deliberately holding you under water and not letting you up. "Normal" society is not really designed for people like us to function, and, at least in the USA, the economic situation of people living below the poverty line (of which I am one) is designed to keep you below the poverty line. These problems combined are creating one hell of a storm for me right now, and even existing is difficult.

So I'm going to try to keep writing when I can, but unfortunately I've lost a lot of the momentum that I've had over the last few weeks. I don't know if my original timeline of getting the first half of Chapter 2 done by the end of April is possible in my current state. I may just update with whatever I have at that time anyway so at least you'll have something.

That's the long of it. Thanks for hearing me out and listening to my bitching. As always, I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there.

[finalspaceyandere]

Now thinking I was curious, how would your yandere version of Avocato react, if his beloved tried to kill himself due to falling succumbs to depression and devastation of always being pinned to one place with no rights but pure obsession of his delusional kind of love

How would Avocato deal with this kind behavior?

Would he be scared or become more possesive as well as obsessive?

Just curious

This had to be translated since my native language is not English, sorry for the spelling mistakes.

Very good question

For this extreme circumstance, first

Context

This occurs before Avocato betrays the Lord Commander.

…

In your early days you would have yourself in a baby-friendly room, perhaps in a few months, when he gains trust in you and believes that you have overcome your tantrums (as he calls them) and have adapted to this new life. With him, he might consider letting you go a little, so as not to suffocate you, otherwise he will forcibly give you sleeping pills.

He is very considerate at first, he shows you his loving face and lets his guard down with you… Or maybe he is just pretending, you don't really know.

You thought it would be something that wouldn't get worse from that point or at least no more than it already was, or would go in a direction that not even you would recognize, you really knew little or nothing of how crazy, how bad he was. If you knew how you make him feel, just by being close to him, those tickles he feels in his crotch are only caused by you, you, you, you and only you.

And if he is not at home, almost all the time you will have a little orange Ventrexian behind you, who at times can be passive aggressive with you, but if he is in a good mood, he will be demanding your attention like a "father/mother", which gives him care and love your child, because you are his "mom/dad"… Isn't that right? You love him, right? There's a reason why my dad chose you… Isn't there? Well, whether you like it or not, now you're going to have to take care of this kid, and learn to tolerate him, because if you don't pay attention to him he might get you. Make things difficult and it won't end well. If you're lucky, he may just scream and pull at your clothes, tearing them a little with his little claws, or he may get angry and not want to leave his room, which will at least give you time to yourself for a few hours. . but when his dad comes… That's the problem, he will force you to apologize and not in a exactly sweet way, he will make you feel guilty, because he is just a child???, how can you be so cruel to a child who only wants love??

Only to end up forced to sleep with him at night.

Could your life be good? Did you have to get used to a child who wants your attention 24/7? And a man who will probably have to see a psychologist for his delusions and short temper?

If you don't do what he wants, he will destroy you mentally. Do you have family that works with Mr Commander? Perfect, they lost their job because you denied them a kiss, you didn't want to hug their son? Well, your privilege of sleeping in a bed is over and you will spend the night in the box (as he calls it, it's a place that stinks of damp, it's like a bad attempt at a basement, he had to fix it, but for now he uses it as punishment)

He uses very few physical punishments, he is more mental, and that is killing you, it is too much, he subjects you to a lot and demands more than he gives, body and soul attentive only to him and his son, he puts pressure. in you. to the point that if you behave like a dad/mom with his son, and he has tried a couple of ways to have a baby with you, the good thing is that he won't force you to do anything you don't want to do… that's the only thing that you really like about him. But there is nothing wrong with fantasizing.

But he wouldn't stop harassing and pressuring you, emphasizing what a “bad father figure” you are, not to mention that some days you didn't eat or didn't go out of your daily routine, your mental health began to be a problem. You wanted to escape with your mind, even creating a mini carsel for yourself, it crossed your mind a lot that maybe you had a minimal option to get out of this shit but you didn't want to go that far, but you liked to believe that he would get tired and leave you. . . only once in the 8 months you were there. You were putting up with this, because let's be honest, when you want to be a bitch to someone, it drives them crazy.

and one night… you had enough.

You took advantage of him staying late and as always, trying to get your attention, he was just an 8 year old boy and under other circumstances you would feel much worse about this, but not today.

He wanted you to play with his little plastic swords, so he asked his dad to buy him the same ones, just to play with you, he always walked them up and down so you could play with him, and on this particular day he did. you rejected it. . because supposedly your head hurt, he understood but he still wanted your attention or to be in it.

*mom / dad, can I fall asleep with you?

You cursed yourself a little, the problem was with his dad, not with this little one.

*mom / dad?

_Not today little one…

*But…

_I TOLD YOU NO, TO YOUR ROOM!!!!

Normally you don't yell at him, maybe some days you don't respond and you pretend not to listen, but you never yell at him, sad and upset you ran to his room.

You waited exactly 10 minutes and carefully went into the avocato's room, you knew that he had one or another knife as a collection, since there were no knives in sight in the kitchen, because you could "get hurt"… But no You found nothing, just a bottle of pills, you assumed they were the sleeping pills he gave you… Without thinking, you just took them all… At least most of them, you didn't even see the name or anything about the medicine, you thought that at any moment avocato arrived home, you wanted to end everything once and for all, within minutes you began to have rapid palpitations, your chest felt bad, this was not what you were supposed to feel, you took a look at the bottle, "vitamin" it was what it said, but they were not for humans, but for Ventrexians.

Your hands trembling, your mind confused, you swore they smelled the same, they had the same shape as sleeping pills, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON! You didn't even manage to take one more step before falling to the ground, you couldn't move, you felt cold and without realizing it All this happened 10 minutes ago, if you wanted to die, intoxicated by sleeping pills, sleeping peacefully, not this, not lying on the floor with your forehead in a cold sweat.

You heard a familiar voice call you as you entered the house, you barely had the strength to be in the same position, at this point you lost consciousness but the last thing you remember was that they shouted your name.

When you woke up, you tried to adapt your eyes to the light of the place, although it was dim, just so that your eyes wouldn't hurt so much, you were… in a hospital? Wait, did you come out? You turned your head almost everywhere, To make sure and confirm that you were in a hospital, you felt bad, well, I was disgusted to be exact, so those sudden movements when you woke up took their toll on you, that's when you heard his voice.

You woke up, that means you're better.

His voice sounded conceited, happy but certainly angry, he stood up calmly from the corner where he was, at this point you already knew that expression on his face, you knew what would happen once you left this place, he walked to where you were, he had His eyes were really teary, his face, although angry, looked happy, he took your hand and kissed it.

Our son will be very happy, you can't imagine how much I cried when I found out that he would stone his mom, I hired him for some serum and something to eat that is not so heavy for you.

(I'm really sorry for taking so long, I really wanted this to be as good as possible, I'll be much more active I promise ^^)

He let go of your hand to dry the tears that were coming out of his eyes, before crossing the door, he turned his face a little to see you.

Don't do it baby, remember that you are still in tera com primre, outside of here you have nowhere to go, I already took care of that, here everyone is loyal to me, if you call the police I will know, here I am the authority, behave well and Maybe he won't punish you...at least not much.

At this point you no longer know what to do, will you give up?

(I'm really sorry for taking so long, I really wanted this to be as good as possible, I'll be much more active I promise ^^)

[animerunner]

Okay so we need to have a small talk about how the curse reads less as a mental illness. And more from whta we know as a physical illness that has a mental aspect.

Which no, those aren't entirely the same thing.

Please before I get into this this isn't me attacking the idea behind this. It's just I don't think a lot of people fully understand how a physical illness that is extremely difficult like the Owl Beast can often encompany so much more than just physical illnesses. And can impact your mental health.

If you've never been in the shoes of having a chronic undiangoses condition.

Because here's the thing at the end of the day. Is the illness only impacting you on a literal level physically. Yes. But illnesses can absolutely have impacts on you mentally because of what you tend to lose.

And when your dealing with something that makes it impossible to plan. To make your next move etc. It will have a mental impact. Because you tend to start thinking about what you can do or used to be able to do. And the fact you lost that and no one can really explain to you why you lost it.

This is something I still struggle with because my chronic autoimmune issues has made it difficult to plan anything. I've lost weeks, plans all sorta things. I literally had to reschedule one of my exams three times because I got a cold that turned into bronchitis. Which then snowballed into triggering a migraine because of outside circumstances.

And I rightfully had my GP at one point ask me if I was doing okay. Because she realized because of what was happening I was probably taking some damage to my mental health.

And this is where it kinda varies from your traditional mental illness. I feel like. Because I definitely knew it was. But the problem is for me at least. There was nothing that medicine could due to fix this. What I needed and still do is a diagnosis.

And circling back to Eda I suspect she dealt with some of those same issues. Of not having a clue what was going on. Of having to worry about what a transformation could cause. About not knowing when she might lose time or plans or dates. So while the curse started out as something that was very physical

It bled over into mental because of what it was causing. Not because entirely the curse is mental illness allegory at the beginning.

I hope this made some sense. This ended up being way longer than I expected.

Like I said I have no real issue with the idea of it being maybe thought of as a mental illness allegory. I just think the curse might have been intended to view in a light maybe not a lot of people realize. Because a lot of people don't know what it is like to live with a difficult undiagnosed illness.

[taylortruther]

Your last couple posts got me thinking. I am similar to you in that I don’t romanticize my struggles. Although, I don’t know if romanticize is the right word for what Taylor does, I don’t know a better word but she paints her struggles with a lot of purpose. For me, when I overcome adversity, I don’t really feel the sense of triumph and heroism that I think she does. I think she puts these feats into an overarching narrative of her life and gives them new meanings.(And in a lot of ways I am envious of that ability, I wish I had that kind of optimism).

Any way, connecting this idea to her continuing to reference the beginning of the relationship, I think one of the reasons she did that is because there was so much working against them in the beginning. I’m sure she believed they wouldn’t ever actually make it out of the mess and be together. When they finally did make it work, I think Taylor re-conceptualized it as two lovers fighting the world for their relationship (think Shakespeare lol). And it’s not that lovers fighting for their relationship isn’t romantic, because it is, but I don’t think the myriad of forces stopping them from committing to each other that they overcame warrants this level of Shakespearean narrative.

Looking at what was working against them, there was them dating/see other people, the media shit storm/over saturation of Taylor, Joe’s resistance to spotlight/fame, Taylor’s mental and physical health struggles. I think it was natural for Taylor to conceptualize the resulting relationship that came out of that tough time as this great triumph in her life. A love she fought for and won. A love that all the forces in the world couldn’t stop. A love that defied all the previous love’s she’s had. When in reality, what they overcame was more or less themselves and in doing so they both had to make major compromises. Eventually those compromises stopped working and the thing that ultimately tore them apart was not the outside world, but internal issues (some of which were present from the beginning).

Anyway, I’m curious to know how much Taylor’s perspective of that beginning time period has changed. Hopefully we get one final revisit on ttpd lol!!

hmmmm interesting, but i have some thoughts (i called these disagreements at first but tbh we are just having a conversation here, not a debate! and i am interested in hearing your additional thoughts.

we are edging close to a Very Philosophical Discussion About Art and how one portrays life as art and vice versa. how do you determine what "warrants" a shakespearean narrative? what's the point of life if you can't romanticize some things, or find magic in the mundane, even in your art?

also this is getting into a philosophical place of: what does it mean to be an external vs internal problem? taylor deals with intense media scrutiny, which is psychologically difficult for anyone to deal with... can we really call that just an "internal issue"?

tbh i think even if taylor didn't create a narrative of her life in song, we would still see what she has gone through, and form a narrative around it. we can't help it. but also, her life HAS seemed almost story-like in recent years. a woman at the peak of her career is taken down (cancelled), she finds love in the midst of the apocalypse, and she rises to even greater heights like a phoenix... while that great love dies. i mean, that story writes itself in a way.