Today I Was Talking With My Mom About Why Seeing An Alligator Is Fundamental To My Mental Health. At

Today I was talking with my mom about why seeing an alligator is fundamental to my mental health. At first she laughed but I got her to listen and she gets it now. My psychiatrist and I call this the alligator litmus test, and it works really well for making decisions about my treatment. I bring this up because perhaps there is something in your life that you can use in a similar fashion.

I have severe major depressive disorder, and I treat this depression with medication. I've been on meds for about... seven years now, and sometimes we have to mess with them. But sometimes the emotional part of the depression is just super bad and there's something underneath that needs to be addressed. When we are figuring this out, my psychiatrist says to take one alligator and call her in the morning.

See, no matter how bad I'm feeling, seeing an alligator almost always cheers me up in the moment. (This works with other large crocodilians, too- they gotta be big, it doesn't work with caimans. I don't know why.) I can't look at their goofy toofers and beautiful eyes and bumpy hides and not be a little wowed by them. Millions of years of evolution have led to this amazing creature and they are completely unbothered by me. Almost all of the time, they make me feel happy. Or maybe I'll feel sad for some unspecified reason. Maybe I'll get worried about the ecosystem or something- but invariably, I will FEEL.

Unless, of course, it's my brain chemistry. If I can experience an alligator and not feel anything- not happy, not sad, just numb- there's something wrong and we should talk about adjusting my meds. Usually with a little tweaking I'm back to my very functional medicated baseline in quick order- instead of wasting time with coping skills and such alone when what I really need is brain chemicals, it's a much quicker way to communicate what's going on with me. At the same time, it also helps me know when the coping skills ARE likely to work without changing up my meds, or when there's something I need to work through with some help.

It's a pretty solid test. Might not work for anyone else on the planet, but it works great for me!

Today I Was Talking With My Mom About Why Seeing An Alligator Is Fundamental To My Mental Health. At

More Posts from Resources-and-reminders and Others

So A Free Tool Called GLAZE Has Been Developed That Allows Artists To Cloak Their Artwork So It Can't
So A Free Tool Called GLAZE Has Been Developed That Allows Artists To Cloak Their Artwork So It Can't

So a free tool called GLAZE has been developed that allows artists to cloak their artwork so it can't be mimicked by AI art tools.

AI art bros are big mad about it.

The Outbursts Of Everett True Was A Comic Strip That Ran In Papers From 1905 To 1927, Wherein The Aforementioned

The Outbursts of Everett True was a comic strip that ran in papers from 1905 to 1927, wherein the aforementioned Everett True regularly beat the everliving shit out of rude people as a warning to anyone else who might consider being rude. Men have not only been taking up too much room on public transport for about as long as public transport has existed, but the people around them have been irritated about it for at least a hundred years. The next time someone tries to claim that manspreading is a false phenomenon, please direct them to this strip so that Everett True can correct their misconceptions with an umbrella upside the head.

Get yourself a fabric store that will light your fabric on fire for you

No but legit I asked what the fiber content of something was and the guy didn’t know so he cut a chunk off and lit it on fire and felt the ashes and was like. Yeah this is mostly cotton with a lil bit of silk. And that was the moment I knew. This is it. This is the fabric store for me. Also that guy is marriage material. Not for me but damn some person is gonna be so happy with him.

i feel like counter-trolling is an essential skill that kids online aren’t learning and it’s kinda worrying

like back in my day, the day of online forums, learning how to trick someone in to getting themselves banned was an essential skill. if you could tell someone was a chud, you would ask them short, leading questions and watch them get frustrated and post longer and longer rants until they said something that would catch a mod’s attention and get them banned and/or at least publicly humiliated. 

and guess what? that’s the exact same tactics the alt-right use now. these people are exclusively acting in bad faith. every interaction these people post online is done with the intention of getting someone to respond to them so they can screenshot the massive paragraphs of text and laugh

so, what’s the solution?

dare ‘em to post dick pics.

don’t acknowledge the content of the stuff they post. if you see someone trying to engage you in bad faith just dare them to post pictures of their penis until they either get frustrated and leave or get frustrated and do it. either way they lose. 

this is the tactic used by the fans of a podcast (that i haven’t listened to) called the Chapo Trap House, and 4chan’s /pol/ users fucking HATE them. they hate Chapo Trap House and think they’re crazy because Chapo Trap House fans refuse to engage in meaningful debate and repeatedly demand dick pics. they get frustrated and leave. it works. 

THINGS I NEED TO FUCKING KNOW: Why every fuckin trans man or nb person I know who binds is like “oh binders are the worst, you can’t breathe in them, I know someone who broke a rib once”,

And meanwhile over in historical costuming, we are fucking eating, sleeping, swordfighting, riding horses, and feeling great like this:

THINGS I NEED TO FUCKING KNOW: Why Every Fuckin Trans Man Or Nb Person I Know Who Binds Is Like “oh

(credit: Jenny La Flamme, The Tudor Tailor, Verdaera)

Like is there NO overlap between people who want to bind and people who care about accurate 16th century clothing reconstruction techniques?

(I, okay, maybe it is kind of a niche interest, but…. REALLY? Anyone who’s made a boned binder, PLS SPEAK TO ME)

Keep reading

Biggest reframe of my artistic life was when somebody pointed out that putting down your own work in front of people who enjoy it is tantamount to insulting those people’s taste. Knocked the self deprecation right out of me

Truth is you will never go back to your old self, life is about redefining and relearning to live with all versions of yourself

alternatives to “i want to die”:

i want things to change

i want a different life

today was a shitty day/week

i don’t want to live like this

i want to be somewhere else in life

i’m not where i want to be yet

+ much more

11 months ago
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER
The Sign Of High Quality Is The Fact The Book Was Banned By The Government. Trash Literature NEVER EVER

The sign of high quality is the fact the book was banned by the government. Trash literature NEVER EVER had any troubles with the law.

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