I’ve Seen Some People On Here Claiming That Voting Democrats In The Election Won’t Stop Republicans

I do actually care marginally about the guy in that reddit screenshot who voted for Trump and is now worried that he might lose his medicaid funding because I did not fucking stutter when I said healthcare is a human right but the people losing their internships and job offers to the hiring freeze are straight up hilarious.

A really important concept to grasp is that just doing to smallest thing you can will help.

Need to change and wash your sheets but you can’t being yourself to do it? Just change the pillowcases. Just make the bed. Just wiping off the crumbs is enough.

Need to read a paper and do a write up? Just read the paper. Just listen to the paper through a screen reader. Just skim the sections and the first line. Just read the abstract.

Need to clean a mountain of dirty dishes? Just clean the big things. Just soak the things that need to be soaked. Just gather all the dishes into the sink.

The real key here is that you might just get that one small thing done, but likely what will happen is you’ll finish it and realize ‘hey that wasn’t so bad, I’m already here, what else can I do?’ And you’ll end up finishing the task.

But again, even if you just do the one small thing, that’s worth celebrating, it’s worth being proud of, because it was hard, but you did it. Sleeping in dirty sheets is better than sleeping on dirty sheets with crumbs. Reading the abstract is better than reading nothing, and gathering the dishes is better than leaving them out.

Bro absolutely COOKED with this.

I was talking with my dad recently & we got on the topic of People Thinking They Can't Do Things, and like, he is at his core a well-intentioned person who genuinely wants the best for others, but he has definitely internalized some harmful ideas a la "anyone can do anything, the only thing stopping them is their own attitude". so I was like. I see where you're coming from, but let me tell you a story.

last year, I worked with 10 year olds- many of whom had never really spent time outdoors- in an outdoor education program where they came to spend a whole week doing shit outside in nature. the top two scariest experiences for these kids were 1) very tall metal tower, and 2) walking outside at night in the dark with no flashlights.

I tried a lot of different things to persuade them all to join me for each experience: I presented it with enthusiasm and passion, I did physical demonstrations and scientific explanations to help them understands how safe it was, I voiced my absolute commitment to their safety, I invited them to brainstorm ways to help each other and themselves feel safe, etc.

generally I always had at least 2-3 kids out of about 10 who opted out, or if they did join me, would spend the entire experience crying and freaking out. when it was over, they would conclude that even though they did not die- or even get hurt- it was so scary that it wasn't worth it and they never wanted to do it again.

then I changed the question I asked. instead of asking them to tell me whether they could do it or couldn't do it, I asked them to raise their hand for one of three options:

You can definitely do this.

It will be hard or scary or uncomfortable, but you can try to do this.

It will definitely be too hard, scary, or uncomfortable, and you cannot or should not try to do this.

suddenly, almost nobody was opting out of these experiences.

they would try, even if they were scared, because they know that being scared didn't necessarily mean that they couldn't do it at all. and more importantly, they knew that if they needed to stop, that was an option; they weren't trapped in their decision to try.

and the real takeaway here, for me, is in the nuance: people need to be able to challenge themselves and to be uncomfortable in order to grow, and people need to be able to opt out in order for opting in to be a safe option.

And if that's too much, take it breath by breath.

they dont want us to know this but the real cure to the agonies is to engage in shenanigans. tomfoolery even 

You're not immune to being the bully btw. You're not immune to being in the wrong

People don’t owe you their downtime! And I don’t mean this in a harsh way, but in a “quit breaking your own heart” way.

It’s so easy to see a friend “active” and reblogging on tumblr, or maybe making a status update on Facebook and feel hurt they haven’t replied to our messages.

Different things take different energy. And someone being “online” but not actively talking to you does not mean they no longer love or care about you.