I had a TENs machine. I also have endometriosis (after suffering for over 20 years found a surgeon willing to do surgery, gods bless her for giving me a chance to live). When I was still with my ex I used it as a simulator to try to show him what my pain felt like. He was on the floor screaming and couldn’t straighten his legs or stand up because of the pain and I was just standing there chilling and hadn’t even hit the lowest threshold of my normal everyday pain limit, let alone the pain I felt when I had my period. I was like now do you understand why I’m exhausted and depressed all the time and hate my life?

I’m a really fast reader and I had a slowish day at work yesterday. I read The Colour of Magic start to finish yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. I’m almost finished with The Light Fantastic now.

I think I’ve got about 5 reads in ;) I tend to find books I like and reread them way too many times. I’ve got about 9 or 10 reads of The Witcher novels and am trying to resist pulling them out again.

Yes, I’m not sure why they deleted their comment, it was still a good suggestion and I appreciate it.

I forgot I read this series! I absolutely loved the first half, by the last half I just felt like I was only finishing it because I had invested too much time in it. I hated the way the women characters developed at the end, it felt very “men writing women”. It was so gross. I also hated how dialogue heavy the last few books were, the plotline dragged hard.

I have read the Hobbit! I was so excited for the movies and when the first one came out I almost cried in the theater. I made myself watch the second one but never did watch the third one. The book is good enough.

Depends. I’ve realized that people aren’t really looking for an answer beyond being acknowledged, so “hey”, “hey, how are you?” or a simple return of the greeting lets them know that you hear them and are completing the social contract. If they follow up or if it’s asked in a context where I think they want an answer sometimes I just say “here” or “breathing” and that gets the point across.

Hey you, you’re finally awake…

Yeah that’s my answer. Life is just so empty when no one loves you and you have no one to love. I’m incredibly grateful that I have a decent job and a roof over my head and food in my fridge and my life is better than it was a few years ago but except for my 2 amazing cats I have absolutely no one to love or love me and that hurts. I just want a hug and someone to tell me about their day while we eat dinner.

Yeah, part of me is like “the government can’t have my fingerprints” but I work a job that requires criminal background checks so I’ve been fingerprinted and run through police and FBI databases more times than I can honestly remember… They’ve got my fingerprints. They all have my fingerprints. It’s a little late to start worrying about it.

I work in EMS. I was transporting a patient to the hospital one time for a minor complaint and was making small talk in the back of the ambulance. She mentioned wishing she could go on a vacation and I said something about how that sounded amazing and I hadn’t had a vacation in years. I asked where she would want to go. She started listing off psych hospitals and debating with herself which ones she wanted to go to for her “vacation”. Personally, I was thinking about hiking in the woods or swimming in the ocean, but I guess some people want to be locked in a psych ward.

“that’s why I say hey man nice shot”

I don’t buy organic. It’s expensive either way.

Great point.

Healthy food costs a small fortune. Many of us work so much we have no time or energy left for dedicated exercise. It feels like just leaving the house costs money, so people aren’t doing activities that would get them out moving naturally. And socialization and feeling a part of your community, which is super important for mental well-being, is so difficult in today’s world.

Disclaimer: I’m not a parent, and I will never have biological children of my own.

You weren’t born learning to read or write either.

It’s a combination of education from people around you, other sources such as books or the internet, and experts like their pediatrician, and a lot of figuring it out as you go along. There’s no one right way to parent, but there are a lot of wrong ways to parent.

Having a happier, less stressful environment. It’s hard having to pay bills and keep a roof over my head, but no one is screaming at me about stupid shit and I feel safe in my home now. I’d rather work OT every week forever than live with my parents again.

Being able to exist on my own schedule and not having to worry about other people. Being able to set my own rules and standards for my home. I can eat when I want, shower when I want, and come and go as I please without having to answer to my parents or work around my family’s schedule. I’m a very clean person and hate messes, but my mom is a neat freak, and I can decide to leave dishes for tomorrow or throw clothing on the floor without someone screaming at me. I can also decide to eat dinner in my living room. The first year after I moved out I ate meals sitting in bed so much simply because it was the first time in my life I was allowed to have food in my bedroom. Now I don’t ever eat in bed because I don’t care, but I can if I want. There’s no rule saying I can’t.

I’m an American. I’d never criticize the NHS.

The UK healthcare system has problems. We have problems.

The UK has free healthcare. We have problems.

This hits. I used to love hiking. I used to hike all the time. It’s free. But I have to drive there. That takes fuel. And the more I drive my car, the more likely it is that something on it will break. I can’t afford a repair bill right now, and I can’t afford to be without a car. I have a one hour commute to work with no public transportation available, and I have zero friends or family to help me, so if I’m without a car, I can’t get to work, now I lose my job, I can’t pay rent and lose my home, and I’m homeless.

All I want to do is go back to hiking to relieve some of the anxiety of life, but just thinking about it sends me into a doom spiral of “what if something happens and you ruin your life because you wanted to go walk in the woods”.

Drugs, alcohol, hypoglycemia, being postictal from a seizure, mental health emergencies, etc.

All these things can make someone confused and/or violent, although to be clear MOST people in these categories aren’t violent. If you’re confused and all of a sudden there’s strange people around you, fight or flight is going to kick in.

And some people are just assholes.

I work in EMS. I’ve been slapped, kicked, hit, groped, punched, pushed, and had people try to bite me. We have to be on our toes constantly, because you have no idea who is going to decide that today is their day to get violent. I’ve had a sweet little demented grandma who was just chilling suddenly make a fist and go “I just really want to punch you”.

Don’t you love that feeling of having an absolute shit 0100-0159 and then watching the clock reset to 0100 again? I worked last fall when the clocks changed and a couple of us had just cleared calls at the hospital and we were standing around our ambulances talking. I happened to pull my phone out and watched the time tick from 0159-0100 and I was like “hey guys, that shitty hour we just had? We get to do it all over again!”