I’m really sick of seeing posts that make me feel like I need to apologise or feel guilty for my mental health.

So here’s some reminders:

• Your mental health will literally consume you at times, you do not need to feel guilty for this unless you are causing others physical pain.
• If someone cannot ‘deal’ with you they are allowed to walk away - it’ll be better for you both in the long run if they’re not willing to understand you.
• The only people other than yourself that you owe anything are those you provide for. You do not provide for an employer. (I say this with a kind heart, please look after your babies, fur or otherwise)
• Sometimes working isn’t possible. That’s absolutely fine. Working isn’t your life’s purpose. Take some time off, quit, find another way to make money.
• Worrying about money does not create money. Either stop worrying about it (easier said than done) until you’re mentally well enough to deal with it or ask for help with it. (Asking for assistance with money before you have to actually ask for money is a very adult thing to do).
• You are allowed to be upset with people who fail to help you. Especially if those people would expect you to be there for them. This isn’t fair and they are using you.
• Laying in bed is literally a coping mechanism. Don’t allow someone to make you feel bad for feeling safe.
• Having a safe space is necessary. Having multiple safe spaces is a blessing. Use them whenever you need them.
• Drinking water is important. Eating is important. Find a reason to do them, not because someone on the internet screamed in your face. (Buy a nice water bottle, buy a plate with a cute character on it and make it a goal to see the characters face).

Whatever you need to do, do it.

Cut people out. Eat pizza for a week. Don’t have a shower today. Watch movies all day. Go for a walk at 2am. Smoke. Drink. Eat meat. Spend 4 hours on TikTok.

FORGIVE YOURSELF!!

Forgive yourself for having a mental illness because that’s what it is, we all hate the term, but it’s an illness like any other and therefore we need to start accepting the symptoms of it.

Taking it one day at a time and trying not to “fortune-tell” what the future holds for me.

Via thehappyquoters.

me, typing into google: can a blog replace therapy

I don’t know if I’m the only one but I kind of have a problem that a lot of queer/mentally ill/neurodivergent characters or at least coded characters happen to be villains (examples: scar from lion king being queer coded or leatherface from texas chainsaw being autistic coded) and I especially have a problem with people making this seem cool or like it’s good representation(unless you are queer/mentally ill/neurodivergent yourself and project on a character like this or something I am not really speaking to you) because honestly for me it’s a major LGBT+phobic or ableist dog whistle. Like “oh yeah the evil dude or psycho killer might be queer/mentally ill/neurodivergent yasss this totally doesn’t feed in to the fact that queer/mentally ill/neurodivergent people are demonized and seen as bad or dangerous almost every day of their lives /s”

Can I just say this to anyone who struggles with bulimia or binge eating. This damn book is BRILLIANT. I’ve gone from binging 5000 calories every other day for months on end to not binging in nearly a month!

It’s by Kathryn Hansen, a recovered bulimic, and basically the book is about seeing binge eating as a habit, not as a symptom. It sees binging not as the result of emotional stresses or anxiety or being sad but rather binge eating comes from the urge to binge. Once you get rid of the urge then you don’t binge. 

It explains the concept of neuroplasticity which is where your brain physically changes based on the choices that you make and it explains that urges to binge come from the ‘lower’ part of the brain where survival instincts are but the choice not to binge and separating the urge from who you really are and what you want comes from the prefrontal cortex, the 'higher’ region of the brain.

It talks about not identifying with binge urges at all, not emotionally reacting to them and trying to fight them back, instead listen to the urges with detachment knowing they don’t come from your 'real self’ and eventually the urge will fade if you don’t give it attention.

Doing this repeatedly will re-wire your brain so that your survival instincts don’t recognise binge eating as necessary for survival anymore and the urges will eventually stop. It sounds really simple in theory and in practice it is hard to separate yourself from the urges but it is actually possible and it’s helped me so much, I’d really really recommend it for anyone who’s struggling with binging.

12/5/2020 Morning

Went to bed 12am

Woke up: 12 pm

Nightmares: 2

Sleep intervals: ~1.5 hours

Meds: yes but late

Breakfast: no

Lunch: small ✨

Got out of bed: yes ✨ but only to get things

Showered: no

Washed face: no

Brush teeth: no

Got dressed: no

Fever: 100F

Someone I opened up to about my mental illness called me crazy and said I belonged in an asylum and that “it’s okay because you’re my nutjob,”. And it made me really upset because I opened up to him about things I’m self-conscious about. Because after a while, he made me feel comfortable enough to. And now I don’t anymore. Having mental illness/illnesses does not make you “crazy”. Some days I’m fine! But there are times where I struggle for no conceivable reason other than my brain being my brain. I know I don’t really have to say that here, but wow. I just can’t believe the stigma from someone who had previously made me feel like it was okay to open up to him about it. And NOW that my walls went down, he criticized me. Honestly, the very first thought that came to mind was “negging”. I’m pretty sure that’s what he was doing. And idk if it was because he wanted me to keep coming back to him because he wants me to think no one else will accept me…. or if he genuinely wants to push me away. Either way, I may have mental illness, but I know my self-worth. I’ve been working on my self-worth all year, and I REFUSE to let anyone take that away from me again. I know that I’m not a bad person; I don’t hurt people, I don’t desire to hurt people. I don’t cause anybody any harm. I’ve caused harm on myself in the belief that I was “defective”. But I would never hurt someone else. And I don’t care if he doesn’t know that, and I’m not going to try to prove that to him. I’m done with him. I’ve slowly built my adolescent and adult life on not taking disrespect from anyone, and now that I’m wiser to that, I just don’t do it. I don’t let people in my life who disrespect me. I don’t need it. I just needed to vent about this, because I won’t lie, it does bother me. But I have people in my life that do accept me for who I am and genuinely understand me and where I’m coming from. I just wish that people like this, who CLAIM to understand, mind you – I wish they would open their eyes.

12/4/2020 night

Organized: yes 🌙

Washed face: no

Showered: no

Brushed teeth: no

Pajamas: no

Meds: no

Ate: no

Fever: 100.4 F

Okok, remember that one tumblr post about having a plastic bag full of plastic bags in your house, where the OP attributed it to being part of their specific culture, and then everyone commented “X solidarity!” or that their families had one of those too? And it became very clear that this is a pretty universal thing to do and not specific to a small group? We need to look at popular posts about mental illnesses the same way. If 80k people are commenting like “OMG does this mean I have Y” or w/e it is MUCH MORE LIKELY that the post is describing a very common experience, and not an exclusive symptom of a specific illness.

This rant brought to you by a post that claims that daydreaming means you have ADHD

alter personalities described by fern 🤡

(i am a very reliable source i am basically the motherboard of the system)

😌 gracie (host): soft. very much a caregiver. cant take care of self tho 🤡 good and nice. constantly trying to better herself.

😳 fern: very cool 😎 the coolest ever 😎😎 hip and rad and very stylish 😎😎😎

🤔 saf: truly an enigma. soft and sweet and full of hurt. has a habit of internalizing and bottling up feelings. keeps secrets.

🙃 em: ill.

🥰 isabelle: baby. so sweet and soft and silly and dumb in the most endearing way possible. can’t stay mad at her.

🥺 willa: even more baby than isabelle. baby^100. soft and small and just wants naps and snacks and snuggles.

Mental Illness needs to be considered a Neurodivergency

I don’t know how this will go over but it needs to be said.

Mental illness needs to be considered a neurodivergency.

By definition, neurodivergency is a term that covers conditions that rewire and legitimately change how your brain works, affecting your everyday life and how you process the world.

That is mental illness.

When I first heard the term, I was so excited because I could finally tell people that I was “neurodivergent” instead of “mentally ill” because of the stigmas that surround the term “mentally ill“. It made me feel comfortable with myself. It made me feel more welcome, knowing I was part of a group of a whole bunch of people who had created a comfortable word for who we were.

Then, I found out that mental illness is not considered “neurodivergent” even though it perfectly fits the description. Apparently, it doesn’t count because you “aren’t born with it”. Which is not true at all, and the idea that you can ONLY mental illness from an event is- in itself a stigma.

I actually cried when I found this out. I cried for about thirty minutes. Because suddenly, the security I felt was gone. I kept thinking over and over again- “What am I? What am I supposed to be? And what about all those people who have it 100x worse than me? Where do they belong? They need to belong somewhere and they aren’t. They’re still being left out. They’re still being ostracized. They’re being locked up because they’re seen as defective. Nobody wants them.”

Society doesn’t want the mentally ill because they’re seen as freaks. And now the mentally ill can’t even belong in a group that has the same similar troubles with the neurotypical world because they weren’t all “born with it” and “you can treat/cure it”

Someone said this on a neurodivergency website. It was like a slap across the face. Like we’re less important because you can “treat” it (which I will argue that we aren’t treating anything. Shock therapy is not “treating”.)

I am not neurotypical. But apparently, I’m not allowed to say that I’m neurodivergent.

Psychology is always changing so hopefully this will change. Maybe one day, people who are mentally ill will be seen and accepted somewhere.

For now, I’m going to keep bringing this issue up. Because it needs to change. The term is so beautiful and it is needed. But it needs to apply to what it describes: people who are not neurotypical. That includes those with mental conditions.

Nightmare
by cedalodon

Follow Marinette, Alya and Adrien walk right into their nightmares. Old and new ones.

Words: 677, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 7 of The Hunter and the Hunted

• Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug
• Rating: Mature
• Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
• Categories: F/M
• Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire, Nora Césaire, Anansi, Nathalie Sancoeur
• Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
• Additional Tags: Panic Attacks, Giant Spiders, Possession, Mind Control, Minor Character Death

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27896842

Eat on a schedule? Remember to eat? You fool I have adhd

Great, I just had a negative thought spiral triggered by a comment saying explaining why the “purity police” tries to replace the fandom term “squick” with “trigger”, which was so one-sidedly focused on “trigger” only that it sounded to me like they thought ONLY “purity police” used “trigger”.

I know the difference between “squick” and “trigger”.

“Squick” is something that makes me so uncomfortable I really don’t want to read the story that uses it, so I scroll on, or close the tab, and move on, and that’s that.

“Trigger“ for me is something that causes negative thought spirals often involving crying fits, and mental images of being verbally attacked by groups of people mocking me and telling me I’m complete trash and stuff to the effect that real humans don’t feel the way I do; that I’m defective and should not exist. Which makes “anti-anti” stuff like “anybody who claims they don’t love darkfic is just lying to seem morally superior” or “anybody who doesn’t love Reylo is just immature trash” is really toxic schlock to me.

fuck it

alter nicknames 💬

🌸 gracie (host): g, gwacie, big g (fern is the only one who calls me this smh)

🌿 fern: big green, green, greenie, ‘big meanie’ (called once by isabelle and then never again), hulk, plant mom, f in chat

☀️ safia: saf, saffy

🧸 isabelle: is, iz-biz, isa-boo

🎀 em: none

🐳 willa: willa-bug, willa-boo, willa-bear

Nightmare
by cedalodon

Follow Marinette, Alya and Adrien walk right into their nightmares. Old and new ones.

Words: 677, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 7 of The Hunter and the Hunted

• Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug
• Rating: Mature
• Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
• Categories: F/M
• Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire, Nora Césaire, Anansi, Nathalie Sancoeur
• Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
• Additional Tags: Panic Attacks, Giant Spiders, Possession, Mind Control, Minor Character Death

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27896842

tw: medication, tw: mental illness

i started on a new medication today. it’s supposed to help with my depression and my adhd, and i have high hopes! perhaps this is just wishful thinking or the placebo effect, but i do feel a slight increase in my awakeness… we’ll see where the day takes me.

wish me luck!

How you feel is valid. You don’t have to be happy all the time. You don’t have to feel positive, and you don’t have to immediately banish any uncomfortable emotions. We’re human beings and we’re meant to feel the full spectrum of emotions and it’s okay to feel something other than happy. 

Taking medications that help you is good. Using mobility aids or other assistive devices that help you is good. Respecting your own limits to maintain your health is good.

Be proud of yourself for taking the steps you need to take care of yourself, and ignore anyone who doesn’t understand the importance of this.

Affirmations:

I’m okay, I got this, I have the situation under control

I’m worthy and valuable regardless of my mental state

People love and respect me

I am smart and creative and I have good ideas

I give off good vibes, I’m fun, and people like being around me

I have cool hobbies and interests

I am resilient (boyyyyy am I!)

I know how to calm and ground myself

I’m strong as fuck

I have so much love inside me, and I give it freely, and that makes me happy

Life is in constant flux but that fact is oddly comforting

I am whole

I am unique

✨✨✨