[MAGAZINE] Rosé For W Korea (May 2021 Issue)

Workbooks to improve executive functioning

Since the post I made last night about improving executive functioning was so popular, I figured I should pull these out of my comments and give them their own post, in case it's helpful for people.

I have worked with the publishers of all of the books linked below and can vouch for their psychology books. The publisher of most of them, New Harbinger, is an extremely credible evidence-based psychology publisher.

Obvious disclaimer that everyone's brain is different and what works for someone else may not work for you.

Is there evidence that executive functioning can be improved? Yes. This book appears to be a very thorough overview of the field, and contains both advocates and detractors of cognitive training, for a balanced perspective. From the table of contents, I would really recommend jumping straight to Part 3: Developmental Perspectives for executive functioning (EF) writ large.

Certain therapy modalities are specifically designed for skill-building in areas like impulsivity, decision-making, emotional regulation, and cognitive flexibility, all of which are EF skills or very dependent on EF skills. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is probably the best field to look at for these - skill-building in those areas is its core goal.

Some DBT workbooks:

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Teens

There are also a lot of workbooks for ADHD that are sometimes more broad but also can help with executive functioning:

The Adult ADHD and Anxiety Workbook: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Skills to Manage Stress, Find Focus, and Reclaim Your Life

The CBT Workbook for Adult ADHD: Evidence-Based Exercises to Improve Your Focus, Productivity, and Wellbeing

The Neurodivergence Skills Workbook for Autism and ADHD

General executive functioning workbooks:

The Executive Functioning Workbook for Teens

Executive Functioning Workbook for Adults: Exercises to Help You Get Organized, Stay Focused, and Achieve Your Goals

Hope these are helpful to someone!!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

slut era (overthinking, ruined sleep schedule, constant feeling of loneliness and existential emptiness)

“Cringe culture is dead” isn’t just about letting 15 year olds cosplay MHA (but is also an issue). It’s about letting 50 year olds dance at clubs even if they’re “bad at it”, it’s about letting 10 year old’s wear random bits of clothes to make an outfit that’s “weird”, it’s about letting adult men experiment with artsy makeup looks even when they’re “messy”, it’s about letting teens scream music even if they “sound bad”.

“Cringe culture is dead” means letting people learn new hobbies at any age, experiment with their identity at any time, expressing themselves in ways outside the norm just as much as it means let 20 year olds play roblox. 

Cringe culture is just social norms being forced on people rebelling against societies value consensus, it’s keeping people in brackets that are easier to market to. 

Let cringe culture be dead in every aspect of life outside online spaces.

One thing I love about Cemetery Boys is that Julian explains he doesn’t talk in Spanish because that was the language he spoke with his dad and when his dad died, Spanish became to intimate to speak with others. Later, he starts speaking Spanish here and there but only to Yadriel or in reference to Yadriel. As readers we can easily trace when Julian started falling for Yadriel by noticing when he uses Spanish to communicate. (I mean we can track it in other ways because our boy Julian is not into subtlety) From the moment Julian thought he was dying and answered all of Yadriel’s questions in Spanish to “¿Me dejas robarte un beso?” to  “Mi querido!”(We will not talk about his desperate cries). It took me more than a minute to understand the significance of Julian suddenly speaking in Spanish, but when I did I had tears in my eyes. This beautiful idiot, how dare he do this to me.

People love the trope of characters speaking in their native languages to their cherished ones and I never really understood what the big deal was until freaking now. I’ve never seen characters in books speak lovingly to each other in Spanish before and I feel robbed. Somehow, I’ve been living too long in a country that regards Spanish as a vulgar language(you must assimilate and that means not speaking your native tongue) and I forgot how beautiful and romantic Spanish can be. 

Anyways, I want to see more of this. Two idiots tenderly speaking to each other in Spanish while their loved ones stare at them dumbfounded.

Me: *pouting cuz I want a gf*

Also me: *does absolutely nothing to find said gf*

Pussy in my mouth deficiency

I’m still not over Cemetery Boys thank you for asking.

So I just had to draw my favorite scene of when Yadriel and Julian steal the car. XD