The Transformative Power Of Forgiveness - Positive Reflection Of The Week

The Transformative Power of Forgiveness: A Practice For Healing & Liberation – Article by Shahwana Forgiveness is a profound and transformative practice that can bring healing, liberation, and peace into our lives. It’s a process of letting go of resentment, anger, and the desire for revenge, and it can have a profound impact on our mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. In this…

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smth about secrets, acceptance, and relief

open for better quality | no reposts | ID under the cut

[Image description: A four page comic of Kaveh and Alhaitham. In the spur of the moment, Alhaitham confesses something to Kaveh. Kaveh is surprised for a moment, but soon notices Alhaitham is tense and trembling from the sheer emotion. He gently holds his hands and talks to him. Alhaitham listens quietly and stares at his hands in Kaveh's. When he calms down, he leans onto Kaveh's shoulder.]

i read a fic recently and let me just say something

sensory tools do not need to be removed to “fully be present”

sensory tools do not mean you are not “living in the moment properly”

sensory tools make the moment tolerable so that you can live in the moment properly

i loved this fic otherwise, but this one comment left a rather sour taste in my mouth.

it was a violent slap to the face as someone sitting here day in and day out with their own headset on to dampen the noise of everyday life.

you can have alhaitham remove his headset. that’s not the issue.

this issue is making him out to be thoughtless and uncaring of others. an abnormality. that robot of a man blocking out the world because everything and everyone is needless and an annoyance.

this reflects right back on us.

alhaitham can fully enjoy an evening out with his friends with his headset. he does not need to take them off. know why? because if he did, it would all just be sound noise sound overwhelm pain get me out of here

again, i dare say, it makes the evening tolerable. so that he can be fully present, mentally and physically.

fuck right off with that ableist mindset

hm yeah the more I think about it the funnier it is that I came out of adhd testing with a diagnosis but not an adhd diagnosis they just looked at all the numbers and said "yeah there's definitely something wrong with your brain" and that's basically all my diagnosis is

.

Wait, I'm confused... do you like the Fence novels or no? Because your first review sounded positive and happy with the fun humor, and then every other thing I've seen from you about them is most pointing out the (very prominent, very not-good) flaws with them.

fair question! I had a Journey with the Fence novels and it was hellish. First, please keep in mind that I am unhealthily fixated on Fence and that does impact things all along the way.

When Striking Distance was announced, I was as excited as anyone, though wary because Pacat was handing it off to someone else to write. Still, I was hopeful--and more hopeful after reading In Other Lands because, despite the disturbing sexism that squicked me tf out, I really enjoyed that book! And so I was very eager to get my hands on Striking Distance. So I went on an absolute quest to get an ARC...and I did! It took a lot of dead ends and desperate tries, but remember that I'm insane. So I got my hands on an advanced copy by emailing the editor assigned to the book (who has since left the position). And as is custom with ARCs, he asked me to send my review when it went live.

Reading Striking Distance was such an experience dude. I wanted to love it as much as I loved the comics--remember that at this point, we only had up to issue 12 and the characterization therein. I love the OG 12 issues, and they'll always hold more sway in my understanding of the characters, but when reading SD, it was very clear that I'd read the entire comic completely fucking wrong. Remember my unhealthy obsession? Yeah. Trying to come to terms with Fence being something so opposite of everything I really loved about it and the fact that my reading of it was so wrong was really hard--like mental breakdowns level of hard. I wish I was joking. But I tried to force myself to love the reality of Fence anyway, despite kind of hating the novel, which I absolutely would not admit to myself because disliking any part of Fence felt like SUCH a betrayal to it, and I really really really didn't want to hate the characters I'd spent so much time bringing to life in my mind, because selfishly I didn't want to have to divorce my idea of the characters from canon, I just wanted to be able to love the canon characters and add onto them a little the way I'd been able to with the comics up until that point. So especially right after reading Striking Distance, I was insistent on liking it, and even as I slowly started to acknowledge that there were parts of it that made me want to scratch off my skin they made me so uncomfortable (see: the steak scene), I was really hell-bent on understating my dislike/criticism of it.

So when I went to write my review for Striking Distance to send to the really nice editor who sent me the ARC, I didn't want to betray Fence, I hadn't really processed my issues with it (and was--and honestly still am to an extent--worried that I was just being an entitled baby because my stupid fanfictions/interpretations were so fucking wrong), I didn't want to upset or hurt the feelings of the man who did me this HUGE favor, and because I wanted a chance to get an early copy of a possible sequel (because hating the novels didn't lesson my Need for early access to them. i know I'm unwell about fence jdhfa), I pulled out all the nicest thoughts I had about Striking Distance, exaggerated them and stretched them and sugar-coated everything else to provide a review that was nice and non-hostile.

Obviously, the longer I sat with Striking Distance and processed some things about it and about me, the more I started picking apart all the aspects that I hated and found I was able to produce reasons for each piece I disliked and was also able to pinpoint in the OG comics where I got all the pieces of the stories and characters I loved. So I did have to divorce my idea of Fence from canon if I wanted to keep loving Fence. And when I decided to keep loving Fence for all the reasons I used to instead of feel sick looking at/thinking about the franchise and characters, I was sort of free of the things holding me back from speaking about the things I didn't like, and so I started to analyze and essay and post about the novels and my untangled, truthful thoughts about them.

So I don't like the novels--there are maybe 3-4 things total that passed the vibe-check for me in both novels. I never liked the novels, and I lied about liking Striking Distance...but I was lying to myself about that one as much as anyone. And I haven't changed that review because, at the time, that was where my feelings were about it. So up it stays.

Here’s my fun little list of some of the places I've explained my dislike of the novels if you're curious, but yeah these are the real thoughts, the SD review was a carefully crafted lie <3

My full review of Disarmed

Autism representation in Seiji

Seiji in general

Eugene

Eugesse as a concept in Disarmed

Eugesse interactions in Disarmed

Nick's bisexuality

Coach Williams and sexual harassment

Understanding OCD: Beyond Cleanliness and Perfection

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complex mental health condition often oversimplified. Beyond the common themes like contamination or perfectionism, there exists a spectrum of obsessions and compulsions.

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Oh going over salaries and cost of living in class today three weeks out from graduation knowing I need to take a break from work for my mental health but also knowing there’s no way I could afford to move out without consistent income. There are knives in my skin.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Nurturing Your Wellbeing From Within - Positive Reflection Of The Week

Understanding the Emotional Connection and the Role of Energy in Breast Health – Article by Shahwana In the fast-paced world we live in today, it’s easy to overlook how stress and pent-up emotions can affect our health. For women, this is especially crucial, as we carry the weight of various life experiences in our breasts, from childhood to womanhood. It’s essential to be aware of the lumps that…

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Childhood Trauma and its Effects on Adults

Childhood trauma can have profound and lasting effects on individuals as they grow into adulthood. The experiences and events that occur during childhood shape our development and can significantly impact our emotional, psychological, and physical well-being later in life. In this article, we will explore the effects of childhood trauma on adults, the potential long-lasting consequences, and the…

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heyo everyone, i need your help!

for my senior thesis course, i have created a survey for young adults ages 18-25 to fill out and talk about their experiences with social media, mental/emotional health, and also letter writing. if you are able to take 10-15 minutes to fill it out it would be super appreciated (reblogging is great too)!

thanks for reading!

Link to survey

damn. having c-ptsd is fucked up huh

That is not how drug addiction works, Catherine.

a great thing about fiction is that it's not real. which means you can indulge in concepts that are fun and interesting to explore and make art about within the context of a fictional work that you in real life would never condone due to how morally objectionable they are. you know, if you can distinguish fiction and reality.

what i'm saying is i can romanticise the murder and the self-destructiveness and unhealthy relationship that my OCs have going on and have fun doing it, because it's sexy and evil men tickle my brain, while also condemning any degree of the same in real-life situations.

Idk i think media showing, perhaps even postively framing, morally bad things has its right to exist because adults (at the very least) should have the media literacy to tell apart fiction from reality and not be influenced to do the bad things shown.

Positive mood ruined by other people’s stupidity

TW ED

If you’re considering starting to give in to your ED thoughts, do everything you can to avoid that. For so many reasons. Please seek help.