In addition to going for walks/meditating, I think just taking care of yourself is really important. Just stuff like hygiene, taking breaks regularly, doing stuff specifically for you. Daily...
In addition to going for walks/meditating, I think just taking care of yourself is really important. Just stuff like hygiene, taking breaks regularly, doing stuff specifically for you. Daily routine is also really healthy, although it's definitely something I struggle with.
This was a good reminder that I need to get a shower sometime today, haha. Showers almost always make me feel better, but it can be hard to remember when I'm glued to a computer screen. Drinking...
This was a good reminder that I need to get a shower sometime today, haha. Showers almost always make me feel better, but it can be hard to remember when I'm glued to a computer screen.
Drinking water is another one; I got out of the habit, but I used to track my water intake in my FitBit app, and it subtly prompted me to drink more.
I agree with all of the above. In addition, even if you're just hanging around at home, get dressed in real clothes after that shower. I find that pajama pants and an old t-shirt -- while...
I agree with all of the above. In addition, even if you're just hanging around at home, get dressed in real clothes after that shower. I find that pajama pants and an old t-shirt -- while comfortable -- are not conducive to productivity and feeling healthy (for lack of a better word).
I sometimes struggle to find the balance between a good healthy routine and a routine that when it gets thrown off leads to feeling bad about myself. Have you ever run into that?
I sometimes struggle to find the balance between a good healthy routine and a routine that when it gets thrown off leads to feeling bad about myself. Have you ever run into that?
Exercise and creation. I love the natural high of exercise. I also think that creating something gives the same sort of natural high, but is not often recognized these days. It is so easy to buy...
Exercise and creation. I love the natural high of exercise. I also think that creating something gives the same sort of natural high, but is not often recognized these days.
It is so easy to buy finished things, consume packaged ideas, spectate instead of do... There's also a strong culture of self depreciation that saps away the creative glow if a first attempt is not "perfect." When I teach art to kids that are in the 11-13 age range they become a lot more inhibited. The brain has developed enough to become aware of layers of excellence, but not enough to independently understand perspective (the outlook, not the drawing technique. ) A lot of people decide at that point that they're not "good" at art. Or that they don't understand it.
I recommend making something when you're feeling down. A card. A poem. A new dish, an exercise routine, a stimulating conversation, a silly song, a soap on a rope...
I forgot to include this in my post, but I started learning embroidery because I knew that creating things again would feel good. I like crafts and suchlike because there's often lots of different...
I forgot to include this in my post, but I started learning embroidery because I knew that creating things again would feel good.
I like crafts and suchlike because there's often lots of different steps involved; learning techniques, coming up with and developing the ideas, making the project. If I get bogged down in one aspect or too tired to continue I can switch to another for a little bit.
Plus, having a physical object at the end is very satisfying. :)
Very long hikes in the woods :) Unfortunately I found a deer-tick on me and the antibiotics they put me on make me very sensitive to sunlight (uggggh sunscreen)... and of course it's raining all...
Very long hikes in the woods :)
Unfortunately I found a deer-tick on me and the antibiotics they put me on make me very sensitive to sunlight (uggggh sunscreen)... and of course it's raining all weekend :p
Do deer ticks turn people into vampires? I had no idea. I run. I read. I write. All these things keep me grounded. Whether that keeps me mentally healthy is a paid professional's job to evaluate.
Do deer ticks turn people into vampires? I had no idea.
I run. I read. I write. All these things keep me grounded. Whether that keeps me mentally healthy is a paid professional's job to evaluate.
Yeaaaah, lyme disease is all sorts of terrible and I live smack dab in the middle of one of those red splotches (hint: I can drive to the titular Lyme in less than an hour)
Yeaaaah, lyme disease is all sorts of terrible and I live smack dab in the middle of one of those red splotches (hint: I can drive to the titular Lyme in less than an hour)
Ticks are the one living being that I pathologically need to kill in the most sadistic ways possible, because nothing else will kill them. I once took a hammer to a tick because I had no fire to...
Ticks are the one living being that I pathologically need to kill in the most sadistic ways possible, because nothing else will kill them. I once took a hammer to a tick because I had no fire to burn it with and water is UNRELIABLE.
You reminded me of when I was growing up and I would sometimes find ticks on our horses that had been attached for several months and had swollen to the same size as the tip of my thumb. They got...
You reminded me of when I was growing up and I would sometimes find ticks on our horses that had been attached for several months and had swollen to the same size as the tip of my thumb. They got so big that their bodies had turned white and their legs were basically useless (example). We didn't need to do anything to kill these ones; the phrase "victim of your own success" comes to mind.
I used to live in NH and MA when I was younger and yeah. I got one on me when I was 5 and it was pretty freaky. Fortunately Hawaii has no deer ticks and there is no threat of lyme disease here!...
I used to live in NH and MA when I was younger and yeah. I got one on me when I was 5 and it was pretty freaky. Fortunately Hawaii has no deer ticks and there is no threat of lyme disease here! Instead we have centipedes and scorpions...
Cool! I just moved here from Japan a year ago and it's been awesome so far, it really is as beautiful as they say and everybody I've met so far has been extremely nice. I grew up with my parents...
Cool! I just moved here from Japan a year ago and it's been awesome so far, it really is as beautiful as they say and everybody I've met so far has been extremely nice. I grew up with my parents moving every few years so I'm looking forward to finally staying in one place for a while. The 808 state is amazing :D
But I didn't know we had ticks. Do they carry any diseases?
No, they don't carry strange diseases. They're just nasty little blood suckers. (Could it be that I'm biased?) There aren't a lot of them and you find them in areas with farm animals. I'm going to...
No, they don't carry strange diseases. They're just nasty little blood suckers. (Could it be that I'm biased?) There aren't a lot of them and you find them in areas with farm animals.
I'm going to be in Honolulu in August for Amazing Comic Con. Let me know if you want to do lunch or something!
You should be wearing sunscreen anyway. 30 spf is plenty. They're not all awful, you just have to find one you don't hate. Sunscreen prevents wrinkles, too. :) Deer ticks can be prevented with DEET.
You should be wearing sunscreen anyway. 30 spf is plenty. They're not all awful, you just have to find one you don't hate. Sunscreen prevents wrinkles, too. :)
The man he introduces in the beginning of the video, Victor Frankl, was seriously awe inspiring. Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning is definitely worth reading if you haven't already. It's...
The man he introduces in the beginning of the video, Victor Frankl, was seriously awe inspiring. Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning is definitely worth reading if you haven't already. It's easily in my top 10 most influential books.
One of my favorite quotes of is the following which echos both stoic philosophy and taoism's wu wei:
“Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”
Also, I can totally echo the sentiment about the Blue Ridge Mountains. Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall is absolutely gorgeous.
Man's Search for Meaning is one of the hardest books I have ever read but also one of the most rewarding. I would highly recommend it as well. However, just be sure you're in the mood for a great...
Man's Search for Meaning is one of the hardest books I have ever read but also one of the most rewarding. I would highly recommend it as well. However, just be sure you're in the mood for a great deal of introspection and can emotionally handle stories about life (and death) in a concentration camp first.
Started talking about my feelings and letting myself vent them out or figure out how to deal with them way more often. Regret not having the confidence to do this earlier, but better late than...
Started talking about my feelings and letting myself vent them out or figure out how to deal with them way more often. Regret not having the confidence to do this earlier, but better late than never. Also, poetry!
I managed to get back into therapy this year, which I think counts. So far it's helping~ I also started a microblog this year focused on writing down at least one thing per day that made me happy....
I managed to get back into therapy this year, which I think counts. So far it's helping~
I also started a microblog this year focused on writing down at least one thing per day that made me happy. In the past my journals have led me to focus on all the bad things going on in my life, so this restriction stops me from doing that.
They can be big happy things, like doing really well on a standardized test that had been worrying me, but they can also be smaller happy things, like seeing three turtles on a log or eating some tasty pizza.
I do powerlifting. Not competitively though, I just try to lift a little more weight each week than I did the week before. I've done therapy, meds, hypnotism, but nothing has helped me like...
I do powerlifting. Not competitively though, I just try to lift a little more weight each week than I did the week before. I've done therapy, meds, hypnotism, but nothing has helped me like exercise. As Henry Rollins said, "The Iron never lies to you."
Some sports, video games, reading, friends. I can unicycle, and I recently picked up slackline and skateing. That latter one I should have started earlier, considering I regularly go iceskating,...
Some sports, video games, reading, friends.
I can unicycle, and I recently picked up slackline and skateing. That latter one I should have started earlier, considering I regularly go iceskating, but I didn't really have anyone to learn it with before.
For books I mostly read Practical Guide To Evil and Heretical Edge, both of which are free webfiction and ya'll should also read them.
The most important thing for me is to do things for myself. I make good food because it makes me happy to have a nice meal, I play games or watch shows I like because those things help me unwind,...
The most important thing for me is to do things for myself. I make good food because it makes me happy to have a nice meal, I play games or watch shows I like because those things help me unwind, I go on walks or hike (not frequently, unfortunately, due to transportation limitations) because it helps me relax and makes me healthier, etc.
Just recently I saw my dentist and had my teeth properly cleaned for the first time in years. I had some calculus buildup and staining on my teeth and I was feeling really self-conscious about it for quite a while, and I finally had it removed. For the first time in years, I actually feel comfortable smiling instead of worrying about the tartar at the base of my teeth.
When I wasn't so swamped with my work, I started working out for the first time in years, too (which I plan to get back into now that my work isn't quite as chaotic). I actually started feeling a bit better about my body, knowing that I was taking better care of it. Hell, with the combination of my change in diet and that bit of exercise, I lost 15 lbs over several months. It's not a lot, and I don't really need to lose weight given that I'm at a fairly healthy weight anyway and have a perfectly normal BMI, but it still feels good knowing that after suddenly jumping 40 lbs years ago, I'm not at risk of ending up like a lot of my family members. It's relieving more than anything.
Doing anything for yourself, even if it's just a bunch of little things, has a huge impact on your sense of self-worth, and that's an important piece of remaining mentally healthy. There's definitely a lot more to it than that, but it's still essential!
If you have to deal with people a lot, Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a lifesaver. It's basically a method to help you stay calm/focused, manage whatever gets lobbed at you, get your needs met,...
If you have to deal with people a lot, Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a lifesaver. It's basically a method to help you stay calm/focused, manage whatever gets lobbed at you, get your needs met, and protect your important relationships. I learned in an intensive outpatient therapy program this year. I think it should be taught in public school from Kindergarten through high school. People would get along SO much better.
In addition to going for walks/meditating, I think just taking care of yourself is really important. Just stuff like hygiene, taking breaks regularly, doing stuff specifically for you. Daily routine is also really healthy, although it's definitely something I struggle with.
This was a good reminder that I need to get a shower sometime today, haha. Showers almost always make me feel better, but it can be hard to remember when I'm glued to a computer screen.
Drinking water is another one; I got out of the habit, but I used to track my water intake in my FitBit app, and it subtly prompted me to drink more.
I agree with all of the above. In addition, even if you're just hanging around at home, get dressed in real clothes after that shower. I find that pajama pants and an old t-shirt -- while comfortable -- are not conducive to productivity and feeling healthy (for lack of a better word).
I sometimes struggle to find the balance between a good healthy routine and a routine that when it gets thrown off leads to feeling bad about myself. Have you ever run into that?
Exercise and creation. I love the natural high of exercise. I also think that creating something gives the same sort of natural high, but is not often recognized these days.
It is so easy to buy finished things, consume packaged ideas, spectate instead of do... There's also a strong culture of self depreciation that saps away the creative glow if a first attempt is not "perfect." When I teach art to kids that are in the 11-13 age range they become a lot more inhibited. The brain has developed enough to become aware of layers of excellence, but not enough to independently understand perspective (the outlook, not the drawing technique. ) A lot of people decide at that point that they're not "good" at art. Or that they don't understand it.
I recommend making something when you're feeling down. A card. A poem. A new dish, an exercise routine, a stimulating conversation, a silly song, a soap on a rope...
It's surprisingly addictive. ;)
I forgot to include this in my post, but I started learning embroidery because I knew that creating things again would feel good.
I like crafts and suchlike because there's often lots of different steps involved; learning techniques, coming up with and developing the ideas, making the project. If I get bogged down in one aspect or too tired to continue I can switch to another for a little bit.
Plus, having a physical object at the end is very satisfying. :)
Very long hikes in the woods :)
Unfortunately I found a deer-tick on me and the antibiotics they put me on make me very sensitive to sunlight (uggggh sunscreen)... and of course it's raining all weekend :p
Do deer ticks turn people into vampires? I had no idea.
I run. I read. I write. All these things keep me grounded. Whether that keeps me mentally healthy is a paid professional's job to evaluate.
Yeaaaah, lyme disease is all sorts of terrible and I live smack dab in the middle of one of those red splotches (hint: I can drive to the titular Lyme in less than an hour)
Ticks are the one living being that I pathologically need to kill in the most sadistic ways possible, because nothing else will kill them. I once took a hammer to a tick because I had no fire to burn it with and water is UNRELIABLE.
Your experience just reaffirms my hatred.
You reminded me of when I was growing up and I would sometimes find ticks on our horses that had been attached for several months and had swollen to the same size as the tip of my thumb. They got so big that their bodies had turned white and their legs were basically useless (example). We didn't need to do anything to kill these ones; the phrase "victim of your own success" comes to mind.
I regret clicking that example. Ew. :(
+1 for Ew tag.
Maybe just a general NSFW tag?
My husband got Lyme disease last year and never even saw the tick that bit him.
I used to live in NH and MA when I was younger and yeah. I got one on me when I was 5 and it was pretty freaky. Fortunately Hawaii has no deer ticks and there is no threat of lyme disease here! Instead we have centipedes and scorpions...
Yay another 808 person! There are the small red ticks here though...
Cool! I just moved here from Japan a year ago and it's been awesome so far, it really is as beautiful as they say and everybody I've met so far has been extremely nice. I grew up with my parents moving every few years so I'm looking forward to finally staying in one place for a while. The 808 state is amazing :D
But I didn't know we had ticks. Do they carry any diseases?
No, they don't carry strange diseases. They're just nasty little blood suckers. (Could it be that I'm biased?) There aren't a lot of them and you find them in areas with farm animals.
I'm going to be in Honolulu in August for Amazing Comic Con. Let me know if you want to do lunch or something!
You should be wearing sunscreen anyway. 30 spf is plenty. They're not all awful, you just have to find one you don't hate. Sunscreen prevents wrinkles, too. :)
Deer ticks can be prevented with DEET.
The man he introduces in the beginning of the video, Victor Frankl, was seriously awe inspiring. Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning is definitely worth reading if you haven't already. It's easily in my top 10 most influential books.
One of my favorite quotes of is the following which echos both stoic philosophy and taoism's wu wei:
“Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”
Also, I can totally echo the sentiment about the Blue Ridge Mountains. Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall is absolutely gorgeous.
Man's Search for Meaning is one of the hardest books I have ever read but also one of the most rewarding. I would highly recommend it as well. However, just be sure you're in the mood for a great deal of introspection and can emotionally handle stories about life (and death) in a concentration camp first.
Started talking about my feelings and letting myself vent them out or figure out how to deal with them way more often. Regret not having the confidence to do this earlier, but better late than never. Also, poetry!
I managed to get back into therapy this year, which I think counts. So far it's helping~
I also started a microblog this year focused on writing down at least one thing per day that made me happy. In the past my journals have led me to focus on all the bad things going on in my life, so this restriction stops me from doing that.
They can be big happy things, like doing really well on a standardized test that had been worrying me, but they can also be smaller happy things, like seeing three turtles on a log or eating some tasty pizza.
I talk to myself, mind you not in public. I don't want people to think I'm crazy now, do I.
<. <
So that's my problem...
I do powerlifting. Not competitively though, I just try to lift a little more weight each week than I did the week before. I've done therapy, meds, hypnotism, but nothing has helped me like exercise. As Henry Rollins said, "The Iron never lies to you."
Some sports, video games, reading, friends.
I can unicycle, and I recently picked up slackline and skateing. That latter one I should have started earlier, considering I regularly go iceskating, but I didn't really have anyone to learn it with before.
For books I mostly read Practical Guide To Evil and Heretical Edge, both of which are free webfiction and ya'll should also read them.
Vidya games are Dota and Warframe mainly nowdays.
Disconnect. Once or twice a year I go into the mountains with no network service, it's incredibly refreshing.
Showers, Youtube, and denying all emotions besides happy
Sleep. I find being well rested helps a lot.
Also love playing video games.
The most important thing for me is to do things for myself. I make good food because it makes me happy to have a nice meal, I play games or watch shows I like because those things help me unwind, I go on walks or hike (not frequently, unfortunately, due to transportation limitations) because it helps me relax and makes me healthier, etc.
Just recently I saw my dentist and had my teeth properly cleaned for the first time in years. I had some calculus buildup and staining on my teeth and I was feeling really self-conscious about it for quite a while, and I finally had it removed. For the first time in years, I actually feel comfortable smiling instead of worrying about the tartar at the base of my teeth.
When I wasn't so swamped with my work, I started working out for the first time in years, too (which I plan to get back into now that my work isn't quite as chaotic). I actually started feeling a bit better about my body, knowing that I was taking better care of it. Hell, with the combination of my change in diet and that bit of exercise, I lost 15 lbs over several months. It's not a lot, and I don't really need to lose weight given that I'm at a fairly healthy weight anyway and have a perfectly normal BMI, but it still feels good knowing that after suddenly jumping 40 lbs years ago, I'm not at risk of ending up like a lot of my family members. It's relieving more than anything.
Doing anything for yourself, even if it's just a bunch of little things, has a huge impact on your sense of self-worth, and that's an important piece of remaining mentally healthy. There's definitely a lot more to it than that, but it's still essential!
If you have to deal with people a lot, Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a lifesaver. It's basically a method to help you stay calm/focused, manage whatever gets lobbed at you, get your needs met, and protect your important relationships. I learned in an intensive outpatient therapy program this year. I think it should be taught in public school from Kindergarten through high school. People would get along SO much better.