im sure theres a word denoting the divide btwn what you believe as a citizen of civic society and what you believe as an animal with anger synapses. as a civic citizen i do not believe in the death penalty nor do i think anyone deserves to die for being stupid on twitter. as an ape,

The Addams Family // New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family

IS SHE VAPING WITH HER PUSSY?!?!

(via @they-bite)

Official Pussy Post

I was talking to my therapist about some anxiety symptoms --- "In my mind, I know I'm going to be perfectly okay, but my body doesn't listen and reacts anyway" --- and she recommended TIPP as strategies to keep in my toolbox of dealing with distress in the moment. I really appreciate having more than one option to try in moments of overwhelm!

Transcription below:

My writing abilities when I have an entire free day: twelve words. Take it or leave it

My writing abilities when I have to be somewhere in fifteen minutes: I got six thousand more in the pocket

original character in chinese wuxia style of 旋风博文

EYES POP OUT OF SKULL HOLY SHIT

Another one picked out by the Patreon

The thing neurotypicals tend not to understand about the ADHD brain is that it really only has two gears

I turn to the chalkboard and carefully write out

WORKIN' HARD

HARDLY WORKIN'

Much like a cars transmission getting stuck between gears the adhd brain can also access a secret mode called HORKLY WARDIN' that feels bad

Arrow Dynamic

erinbabnikphotography

One of the pitfalls I've been struggling with over the last three years while focusing on recovering from ADHD burnout is trying to find stimuli that are enriching and not just distracting because distracting stimuli might feel like it's keeping me from being bored, but really it's just keeping me numb enough so I don't have to process being bored or any of my emotions.

And that's not great when you're trying to heal trauma.

The problem is, I'm not finding a lot of things enriching at the moment. A lot of the things I've been relying on to keep my brain quiet since 2020 now feel overstimulating and are actively making me agitated rather than numb. Which I suppose is progress? It means I'm processing things and actually aware of them again instead of perceiving everything as background static.

It's just an odd predicament to be in. I don't think I've been this 'aware' of my own brain in a long time and on the one hand, cool. Great. Probably a good thing. On the other, aaaaah. Why is it so noisy in here?

As someone who also has ADHD, how did you figure out you were in burnout and it wasn’t just bad? I’m a bookkeeper who works in a CPA’s office, and we just got done with tax season. And my brain isn’t coming back online and it’s scaring me a little.

My therapist helped me realize it after I spiraled into a 3-year major depressive episode that made me suicidal every time I tried to write. (not great when you write for a living.)

Everyone will experience it differently, and you can find some good things to look out for online. (WebMD actually has a brief rundown of it and a few things to look out for)

For me, it started out as extreme fatigue and feeling overstimulated constantly, even when I was doing nothing. Nothing helped me feel relaxed, though with hindsight, that's because I didn't actually give my brain a break.

What I did was jump from one task to another or from one overstimulating distraction to another, thinking I just needed to 'take my mind off things' when what I needed was to take some time off to actually rest and do things that brought me joy, not just things that kept me busy and distracted from my emotions.

Hence why my brain dumped napalm on what was left of my mental health.

After a while, all the hacks and coping strategies I had for my executive dysfunction stopped working, and I was struggling to do everything because I just couldn't figure out what to prioritize. It was like being numb but also on fire at the same time.

I've since clawed my way back to some semblance of mental health, but I'm now very aware of avoiding overwork and prioritizing rest and mental enrichment over keeping myself distracted. If I find myself being task-avoidant, I pause and ask myself why.

Is it simply a low-reward task that I find boring? Or is it causing me some form of distress that I'm not registering because I'm not yet at the point of a total meltdown? If so, why? And what can I do about it? Is it something I can ask for help with?

If you're worried about being burned out, chances are you're already feeling it, and your brain is waving a little flag that says, "Hey, we need a break."

And if it's not yet full-on burnout, your brain is still saying, "Hey, we need a break," and it's better to listen to it than ignore it. Which is easier said than done, I know, but it's vital skill to develop.

If you're up for some reading/listening, a book that really helped me was Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.

this is purely for fun and I've certainly been guilty of a few of these things myself in my years of fic writing. don't be weird in the notes and don't use this as an excuse to insult someone's writing.

People have this weird belief that if you're critical of a system or tradition, then it must be because you failed to live up to that system or tradition. The idea of having a principled stance, regardless of whether or not *you* personally benefit from society accepting that stance, is foreign to so many people. And this belief is really fucking important for and beneficial to the elites of this country. If you can get the masses to equate criticizing you and the institutions you control with abject personal failure, congratulations, you've just made yourself immune to accountability

Also, as a failure of the education system: we need to spend more time listening to the people our systems leave behind. "Well of course you're critical of this; you failed" should not be a conversation-ender even if it is true.

Even if I didn’t have a solid plan, in the back of my head, I always assumed I’d kill myself.

Now I’m an adult and people my age have their lives in order and I’m stuck here, confused, because I never planned to be alive and I’m so far behind.

I feel like I’ll never catch up.

Hey all.

I want to make an addition to this. I made this post a long time ago.

I’m currently back in university, and I’ve made so much progress with my trauma. I’m in a loving relationship.

Things can and will get better. It’s not too late.

Nothing is perfect by any means. But I’m happy I’m still here and didn’t kill myself. I hope you get to that point, too 💕

The addition is important! I see the original post circulating a lot, but the addition is important!

New addition two years later. I’m still going strong!

I’m getting married. I’m still in that loving relationship.

I’ve learned that there’s no real timeline. It’s okay. And while it sucks that I lost time, there’s still so much for me to experience and enjoy.

Newest addition. 7 years after the original post!

I got married last month! My dog is laying on me snoring. I’ve learned to have healthy friendships and relationships. I’ve learned that I’m not alone and that even when things are hard, I’m going to be okay.

None of us ever catch up to where we might have been if things had been different (for the better), but we’re always ahead of where we might have been if things had been different (for the worse).

Jonathan, between meals probably: “Are you sure I’m meant to eat an entire garlic bulb as a palate cleanser?”

The locals, sweating, trying their best to low-key vampire-proof this boy: “Yes. Absolutely. Very traditional.”

There’s a Powered By The Apocalypse game called Soth, where PCs are small-town cultists competing for the favor of their dark god and trying to conceal the awful crimes they commit.

…what if you played the opposite? A game where you live with your friends and family under the shadow of unbeatable, unknowable evil. All you have to keep yourself and any visitors safe is your courage, your wits, and your traditions. Welcome to the vampire’s doorstep.