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reasonsforhope · 4 months

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On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, what began as a fringe experiment has quickly become central to the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. To Justin Tyler Jr., it is home.

Mr. Tyler, 41, lives in Community First! Village, which aims to be a model of permanent affordable housing for people who are chronically homeless. In the fall of 2022, he joined nearly 400 residents of the village, moving into one of its typical digs: a 200-square-foot, one-room tiny house furnished with a kitchenette, a bed and a recliner.

The village is a self-contained, 51-acre community in a sparsely populated area just outside Austin. Stepping onto its grounds feels like entering another realm.

Eclectic tiny homes are clustered around shared outdoor kitchens, and neat rows of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes line looping cul-de-sacs.

There are chicken coops, two vegetable gardens, a convenience store, art and jewelry studios, a medical clinic and a chapel.

Roads run throughout, but residents mainly get around on foot or on an eight-passenger golf cart that makes regular stops around the property.

Mr. Tyler chose a home with a cobalt-blue door and a small patio in the oldest part of the village, where residents’ cactus and rock gardens created a “funky, hippie vibe” that appealed to him. He arrived in rough shape, struggling with alcoholism, his feet inflamed by gout, with severe back pain from nearly 10 years of sleeping in public parks, in vehicles and on street benches.

At first, he kept to himself. He locked his door and slept. He visited the clinic and started taking medication. After a month or so, he ventured out to meet his neighbors.

“For a while there, I just didn’t want to be seen and known,” he said. “Now I prefer it.”

Between communal meals and movie screenings, Mr. Tyler also works at the village, preparing homes for the dozen or more people who move there each month.

In the next few years, Community First is poised to grow to nearly 2,000 homes across three locations, which would make it by far the nation’s largest project of this kind, big enough to permanently house about half of Austin’s chronically homeless population.

Tiny-home villages for people who have been homeless have existed on a small scale for several decades, but have recently become a popular approach to addressing surging homelessness. Since 2019, the number of these villages across the country has nearly quadrupled, to 124 from 34, with dozens more coming, according to a census by Yetimoni Kpeebi, a researcher at Missouri State University.

Mandy Chapman Semple, a consultant who has helped cities like Houston transform their homelessness systems, said the growth of these villages reflects a need to replace inexpensive housing that was once widely available in the form of mobile home parks and single room occupancy units, and is rapidly being lost. But she said they are a highly imperfect solution.

“I think where we’re challenged is that ‘tiny home’ has taken on a spectrum of definitions,” said Chapman Semple. Many of those definitions fall short of housing standards, often lacking basic amenities like heat and indoor plumbing, which she said limits their ability to meet the needs of the population they intend to serve.

But Community First is pushing the tiny home model to a much larger scale. While most of its homes lack bathrooms and kitchens, its leaders see that as a necessary trade-off to be able to creatively and affordably house the growing number of people living on Austin’s streets. And unlike most other villages, many of which provide temporary emergency shelter in structures that can resemble tool sheds, Community First has been thoughtfully designed with homey spaces where people with some of the highest needs can stay for good. No other tiny home village has attempted to permanently house as many people.

Austin’s homelessness rate has been rapidly worsening, and the city’s response has whipped back and forth... In October [2023], the official estimate put the number of people living without shelter at 5,530, a 125 percent increase from two years earlier. Some of that rise is the result of better outreach, but officials acknowledged that more people have become homeless. City leaders vowed to build more housing, but that effort has been slowed by construction delays and resistance from residents.

Meanwhile, outside the city limits, Community First has been building fast. [Note from below the read more: It's outside city limits because the lack of zoning laws keeps more well-off Austin residents from blocking the project, as they did earlier attempts to build inside the city.] In a mere eight years, this once-modest project has grown into a sprawling community that the city is turning to as a desperately needed source of affordable housing. The village has now drawn hundreds of millions of dollars from public and private sources and given rise to similar initiatives across the country.

This rapid growth has come despite significant challenges. And some question whether a community on the outskirts of town with relaxed housing standards is a suitable way to meet the needs of people coming out of chronic homelessness. The next few years will be a test of whether these issues will be addressed or amplified as the village expands to five times its current size.

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024. Article continues below (at length!)

The community versus Community First

For Alan Graham, the expansion of Community First is just the latest stage in a long-evolving project. In the late 1990s, Mr. Graham, then a real estate developer, attended a Catholic men’s retreat that deepened his faith and inspired him to get more involved with his church. Soon after, he began delivering meals as a church volunteer to people living on Austin’s streets.

In 1998, Mr. Graham, now 67, became a founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit that has since amassed a fleet of vehicles that make daily rounds to deliver food and clothing to Austin’s homeless...

Talking to people like Mr. Johnston [a homeless Austin resident who Graham had befriended], Mr. Graham came to feel that housing alone was not enough for people who had been chronically homeless, the official term for those who have been homeless for years or repeatedly and have physical or mental disabilities, including substance-use disorders. About a third of the homeless population fits this description, and they are often estranged from family and other networks.

In 2006, Mr. Graham pitched an idea to Austin’s mayor: Create an R.V. park for people coming out of chronic homelessness. It would have about 150 homes, supportive services and easy access to public transportation. Most importantly, it would help to replace the “profound, catastrophic loss of family” he believed was at the root of the problem with a close-knit and supportive community.

The City Council voted unanimously in 2008 to lease Mr. Graham a 17-acre plot of city-owned land to make his vision a reality. Getting the council members on board, he said, turned out to be the easy part.

When residents near the intended site learned of the plan, they were outraged. They feared the development would reduce their property values and invite crime. One meeting to discuss the plan with the neighborhood grew so heated that Mr. Graham was escorted to his car by the police. Not a single one of the 52 community members in attendance voted in favor of the project.

After plans for the city-owned lot fell apart and other proposed locations faced similar resistance, Mr. Graham gave up on trying to build the development within city limits.

In 2012, he instead acquired a plot of land in a part of Travis County just northeast of Austin. It was far from public transportation and other services, but it had one big advantage: The county’s lack of zoning laws limited the power of neighbors to stop it.

Mr. Graham raised $20 million and began to build. In late 2015, Mr. Johnston left the R.V. park he had been living in and became the second person to move into the new village. It grew rapidly. In just two years, Mr. Graham bought an adjacent property, nearly doubling the village’s size to 51 acres and making room for hundreds more residents.

And then in the fall of 2022, he broke ground on the largest expansion yet: Adding two more sites to the village, expanding it by 127 acres to include nearly 2,000 homes.

“No one ever really did what they first did, and no one’s ever done what they’re about to do,” said Mark Hilbelink, the director of Sunrise Navigation Center, Austin’s largest homeless-services provider. “So there’s a little bit of excitement but also probably a little bit of trepidation about, ‘How do we do this right?’”

What it takes to make a village

Since he moved into Community First eight years ago, Mr. Johnston has found the stability that eluded him for so long. Most mornings, he wakes up early in his R.V., feeds his scruffy adopted terrier, Amos, and walks a few minutes down a quiet road to the village garden, where neat rows of carrots, leeks, beets and arugula await his attention.

Mr. Johnston worked in fast-food restaurants for most of his life, but he learned how to garden at the village. He now works full time cultivating produce for a weekly market that is free to residents.

“Once I got here, I said, This is where I’m going to spend pretty much my entire life now,” Mr. Johnston said.

Everyone at the village pays rent, which averages about $385 a month. The tiny homes that make up two-thirds of the dwellings go for slightly lower, but have no indoor plumbing; their residents use communal bathhouses and kitchens. The rest of the units are R.V.s and manufactured homes with their own bathrooms and kitchens.

Like Mr. Johnston, many residents have jobs in the village, created to offer residents flexible opportunities to earn some income. Last year, they earned a combined $1.5 million working as gardeners, landscapers, custodians, artists, jewelry makers and more, paid out by Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Ute Dittemer, 66, faced a daily struggle for survival during a decade on the streets before moving into Community First five years ago with her husband. Now she supports herself by painting and molding figures out of clay at the village art house, augmented by her husband’s $800 monthly retirement income. A few years ago, a clay chess set she made sold for $10,000 at an auction. She used the money to buy her first car.

“I’m glad that we are not in a low-income-housing apartment complex,” she said. “We’ve got all this green out here, air to breathe.”

A small number of residents have jobs off-site, and a city bus makes hourly stops at the village 13 times a day to help people commute into town.

But about four out of five residents live on government benefits like disability or Social Security. Their incomes average $900 a month, making even tiny homes impossible to afford without help, Mr. Graham said.

“Essentially 100 percent of the people that move into this village will have to be subsidized for the rest of their lives,” he said.

For about $25,000 a year, Mr. Graham’s organization subsidizes one person’s housing at the village. (Services like primary health care and addiction counseling are provided by other organizations.) So far, that has been paid for entirely by private donations and in small part from collecting rent.

This would not be possible, Mr. Graham said, without a highly successful fund-raising operation that taps big Austin philanthropists. To build the next two expansions, Mr. Graham set a $225 million fund-raising goal, about $150 million of which has already been obtained from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the founder of the Patrón Spirits Company, Hill Country Bible Church and others.

Support goes beyond monetary donations. A large land grant came from the philanthropic arm of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin-based cinema chain, donated an outdoor amphitheater for movie screenings. Top architectural firms competed for the chance to design energy-efficient tiny homes free of charge. And every week, hundreds of volunteers come to help with landscaping and gardening or to serve free meals.

Around 55 residents, including 15 children, live in the village as “missionals” — unpaid neighbors generally motivated by their Christian faith to be part of the community.

All missionals undergo a monthslong “discernment process” before they can move in. They pay to live in R.V.s and manufactured homes distinguished by an “M” in the front window. Their presence in the community is meant to guard against the pitfalls of concentrated poverty and trauma.

“Missionals are our guardian angels,” said Blair Racine, a 69-year-old resident with a white beard that hangs to his chest. “They’re people we can always call. They’re always there for us.”

After moving into the village in 2018, Mr. Racine spent two years isolated in his R.V. because of a painful eye condition. But after an effective treatment, he became so social that he was nicknamed the Mayor. Missional residents drive him to get his medication once a week, he said. To their children he is Uncle Blair.

Though the village is open to people of any religious background, it is run by Christians, and public spaces are adorned with paintings of Jesus on the cross and other biblical scenes. The application to live in the community outlines a set of “core values” that refer to God and the Bible. But Mr. Graham said there is no proselytizing and people do not have to be sober or seek treatment to live there.

Mr. Graham lives in a 399-square-foot manufactured home in the middle of the village with his wife, Tricia Graham, who works as the community’s “head of neighbor care.” He said they do not have any illusions about solving the underlying mental-health and substance-use problems many residents live with, and that is not their goal.

“This is absolutely not nirvana,” Mr. Graham said. “And we want people to understand the beauty and the complexity of what we do. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on the face of the planet than right here in the middle of this, but you’re not fixing these things.” ...

From an experiment to a model

Community First has already inspired spinoffs, with some tweaks. In 2018, Nate Schlueter, who previously worked with the village’s jobs program, opened Eden Village in his hometown, Springfield, Mo. Unlike in Community First, every home in Eden Village is identical and has its own bathroom and kitchen. Mr. Schlueter’s model has spread to 12 different cities with every village limited to 50 homes or fewer.

“Not every city is Austin, Texas,” Mr. Schlueter said. “We don’t want to build a large-scale village. And if the root cause of homelessness is a loss of family, and community is something that can duplicate that safety net to some extent, to have smaller villages to me seemed like a stronger community safety net. Everybody would know each other.”

The rapid growth of Community First has challenged that ideal. In recent years, some of the original missional residents and staff members have left, finding it harder to support the number of people moving into the village. Steven Hebbard, who lived and worked at the village since its inception, left in 2019 when he said it shifted from a “tiny-town dynamic” where he knew everyone’s name to something that felt more like a city, straining the supportive culture that helped people succeed.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes said more staff members had recently been hired to help new residents adjust, but Mr. Graham noted that there was a limit to what any housing provider could do without violating people’s privacy and autonomy.

Despite these concerns, the organization, which had been run entirely on private money, has recently drawn public support. In January 2023, Travis County gave Mobile Loaves and Fishes $35 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to build 640 units as part of its expansion.

Then four months later came a significant surprise: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the use of federal housing vouchers, which subsidize part or all of a low-income resident’s rent, for the village’s tiny homes. This will make running the village much more financially sustainable, Mr. Graham said, and may make it a more replicable blueprint for other places.

“That’s a big deal for us, and it’s a big deal on a national basis,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s a recognition that this model, managed the way that this model is, has a role in the system.”

Usually, the government considers homes without indoor plumbing to be substandard, but, in this case, it made an exception by applying the housing standards it uses for single-room-occupancy units. The village still did not meet the required ratio of bathrooms per person, but at the request of Travis County and the City of Austin’s housing officials, who cited Austin’s “severe lack of affordable housing” that made it impossible for some homeless people with vouchers to find anywhere else to live, HUD waived its usual requirements.

In the waiver, a HUD staffer wrote that Mr. Graham told HUD officials over the phone that the proportion of in-unit bathrooms “has not been an issue.” But in conversations with The Times, other homeless-service providers in Austin and some village residents said the lack of in-unit bathrooms is one of the biggest problems people have with living there. It also makes the villages less accessible to people with certain disabilities and health issues that are relatively common among the chronically homeless....

Mr. Graham said that with a doctor’s note, people could secure an R.V. or manufactured home at the village, although those are in short supply and have a long waiting list. He said the village’s use of tiny homes allowed them to build at a fraction of the usual cost when few other options existed, and helps ensure residents aren’t isolated in their units, reinforcing the village’s communal ethos.

“If somebody wants to live in a tiny home they ought to have the choice,” Mr. Graham said, “and if they are poor we ought to respect their civil right to live in that place and be subsidized to live there.” But he conceded that for some people, “this might not be the model.”

“Nobody can be everything for everyone,” he said.

By the spring of 2025, Mr. Graham hopes to begin moving people into the next phase of the village, across the street from the current property. The darker visions some once predicted of an impoverished community on the outskirts of town overtaken by drugs and violence have not come to pass. Instead, the village has permanently housed hundreds of people and earned the approval and financial backing of the city, the county and the federal government. But for the model to truly meet the scale of the challenge in Austin and beyond, Chapman Semple said, the compromises that led to Community First in its current incarnation will have to be reckoned with.

“We can build smaller villages that can be fully integrated into the community, that can have access to amenities within the community that we all need to live, including jobs and groceries,” Chapman Semple said. “If it’s a wonderful model then we should be embracing and fighting for its inclusion within our community.”

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024

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femmefatalevibe · 6 months

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Hi, do u have any tips for building a thicker skin and not getting hurt easily? I've only just realized recently that I'm very sensitive, if someone talks a little rudely to me or says something rude to me, I get hurt and anxious. It's so weird because I usually do not care about what other people do or think about me. But I can't handle being treated rudely or criticism. I just have the urge to stop talking, runaway or leave if a person is even a tiny bit rude to me. help.

Hi love! I would say it's all about cultivating emotional resilience. Like any muscle, you need to train your mind to remain calmer under pressure or stressful situations. Here are some ways I think are helpful to build this skillset:

Step into difficult conversations as two people vs. a project/problem/situation. Depersonalize any criticism by objectifying the criticism of a certain behavior, action, etc. Think of it as its own entity – like an object that can float away in the wind.

Internalize that a lot of criticism/rudeness is a form of projection and says more about the other person's inner turmoil than your demeanor or character. Offering non-constructive criticism is self-destructive. Case closed.

Look inward and make it a priority to truly get to know yourself. What are your core values? Desires? Goals? How do you want to present yourself to the world? What are your likes? Dislikes? Fears? Self-knowledge gives you a blueprint of how to move forward.

Reverse your "what ifs." Instead of wondering what could go wrong by leaning into criticism and difficult situations, consider "what's the worst that can happen?" Once you ask yourself and answer this question honestly, you realize that most of the time your fear is disproportional to the likely outcome.

Consider learning to sit/be present in the discomfort to be an act of self-care. You're becoming emotionally stronger and proving to yourself that you can hold your own in any situation. Stick up for yourself but know when to silently bow out for your own sake vs run away due to perceived personal incompetence.

Hope this helps xx

#emotional regulation #emotional intelligence #emotional strength #mental wellbeing #self concept #self confidence #self esteem #social anxiety #mental strength #emotional support #social support #femmefatalevibe #q/a

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cleverclovers · 3 months

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Here are resources for if you're like me, living below the poverty line, with or without disabilities

Everyone is allowed to exist, to take up space, to have and eat food, to have housing and warmth and medical care. the USA does NOT make this easy. It should, but it prioritizes companies and the wealthy over it's citizens.

There are resources you can use if you're making less than 30% of the median income in your area in most places. You can find out what it is via google, by looking up your county's social services website. Not social security, social services.

If you're relying exclusively on SSA programs like Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you ARE below that income level.

If you have a disability that keeps you from working, like severe anxiety, depression, a severe mental impairment or a light sensitive/stress sensitive medical condition like a seizure disorder or a heart issue, or most kinds of movement issues that bar you from meeting requirements like being able to lift over 50 pounds, you can talk to your doctor, get documentation, and apply for that assistance. There is no shame in applying. Just remember you should think about what you can do on your *worst* days, not on a good day. Exclusively think about your worst days when you're asking your doctor or applying for assistance, because those worst days are what are keeping you from working, or losing employment opportunities.

You can apply for SSA online, but be prepared for an in person interview, and assessment by a doctor of their choosing. If you're denied, get a lawyer. They can help you appeal and they get paid only when you get approved, so they're highly motivated to get you approved.

Things that are available to you if you're under that median income, regardless of whether you're on an SSA:

Department of (vocational) Rehabilitation-- It might go by another name in your state, but they can help you get testing for neuro divergent conditions like ADHD or Autism, address physical limitations, and help you find education, therapies to allow you to work around your issues, and help you find employment that meets your needs. This is available to you if you've been out of the workforce for a long time, as well, for whatever reason. Whether you were a home maker, or you were serving time.

Ticket to Work--A program available through social security. You can apply for this if you've been on social security for a while, and you feel like you're ready to reenter the work force. You will be given a list of companies that work with social security, and you're likely to work fewer hours or under the minimum wage. Your social security may be lowered based on your income with the program, so that's something to keep in mind.

Unemployment (through your social services branch), available if you've lost your job via firing, generally not if you've quit, to my knowledge. You have to prove you're actively seeking employment, and check in a few times a week or a few times a month based on your situation and location. Be prepared with printed out proof of your applications being turned in. Put it in a binder with plastic sleeves, use dividers to mark batch dates. The more professional you make it look the better.

Disability leave income-- This is dependent on your employer, in a lot of places, but it could be available to you. You can, and should, seek medical assistance if you're injured on or off the job to the point where it's severely impairing your work. If it's to a point where you're unable to work with accommodations, but it's recoverable, apply for disability. If it's not recoverable, apply for social security

Section 8 housing-- Available through HUD (Housing and urban development), usually a lottery or a waitlist. You have to make sure you pay attention to when applications open, and have proof of income available. Have your proof of income ready, wherever your income comes from.

Low income housing--Available in a case by case basis, first come first serve, and they generally prioritize disabled people, elderly, and families, especially families with young children or single incomes. The HUD.gov website has an interactive map that will show you it's locations, and the locations of housing that is taxpayer funded, or other forms of low income assisted programs. You apply for these on an individual building basis, and waitlists can be months to years long depending on your chosen location's population density (In san francisco, for instance, a waitlist for a low income place can be eight or more years long) You'll also need to have proof of income ready.

Charities for low income people are available to help you with deposits and first months rent, or rent for a month when you're in a pinch (One month per each 12 month period) in most urban locations. 211 can help you find these resources

Medicaid--Apply through your social services office, or social security if you're receiving it. Social services will require yearly renewal, social security will keep it up to date for you.

SNAP benefits-- You apply through social services, and you need to have all your documents ready. Proof of income, your rent information, formal or informal (either through a formal landlord or an agreement between you and your roommate or parents) as well as proof of bills and residency. If you have social security this is now available to you in most places. Use it

Cash aid--Not available to people who have social security, but it IS available to people on unemployment, disability leave, or who are generally under employed. You apply for this through social services when you're applying for SNAP.

Reduced public transit fare, or gas cards--Available in limited locations, usually urban. You should look up whether it's available in your area, and whether you have to apply through your medical insurance provider, through the transit authority office, or through your social services case worker. It's different everywhere. If you struggle with transportation, it's vital you apply.

Utility assistance--Either through the provider, or through your city. You should be prepared to offer your proof of income, whether it's social security, or SNAP, or sometimes even proof of public medical, as well as proof of residency (your lease and or official government mail, like the DMV, or financial mail like a bank statement or a utility bill)

Phone or internet assistance--Via the Federal Communications Act. Applications are only available until February 7, 2024, but your internet provider may put the cut off for turning in proof of acceptance as today (February 6, 2024), and this program will likely only be available until April. You can receive either internet assistance (up to 30 dollars), or a free cell phone with data up to one gig. You cannot get both.

Food banks. So many food banks. You have to google where they are in your area, and they may not have a lot of the things you would normally eat. A lot of it is the food people think is 'ugly' or is bordering on stale or about to hit it's expiration date, but food is food, and food close to it's expiration date can still be eaten up to two weeks after the date in a lot of cases. It's best to look up what can be eaten past it's expiration, but it's possible in a lot of situations. You just have to get really creative with what they give you. You can use these once a month, and be prepared to be honest about how many people you're feeding. If there are multiple unrelated adults in a household, you have to go separately. (I don't personally use them because I have allergies and cross contamination can be a real problem with this option. They may not have kosher or halal food, especially if it's through a christian church, and they're not likely to have meat) Some food banks will deliver if you have mobility or transportation issues.

Pet food banks--The ASPCA has these listed on their website. You can use them once monthly for pet food, clean up supplies, or pet toys. It's based on what they have available, it's not always going to be a lot, and they recommend you try other sources first, or have a back up plan. But if you need to cover a gap, it's an option. Some places have delivery as an option.

If there's a program I don't have listed, it's likely I don't know about it, and I encourage you to add it to the list. Enlighten me. Maybe there's something you know about that I don't, and it's something I can use.

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about programs or resources for unhoused people. I have been unhoused, but in that period I did not know to look for resources, and that was more than twelve years ago, now.

#poverty #poverty resources #social support #social security #social services #food insecurity #housing insecurity #section 8 #low income #unemployment #underemployed #disabled #vocational rehabilitation

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furiousgoldfish · 1 year

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In a humane world, when someone gets upset or pained, it’s normal to drop everything and deal with the upset. The upset immediately prioritizes over any ‘chores’ or ‘tasks’, because it would be inhumane to make someone who is upset, do labour, potentially get more upset. The feelings of anxiety, worry, pain, concern, restlessness, they’re dealt with for as long as they last. We as a society find it unacceptable for the world to go on, if there’s a severely distressed person being ignored and forced to ‘focus’ on everybody else’s problems. And the distress is allowed for as long as it’s not soothed. For as long as the person needs it to calm down.

So if we you get upset, know that it matters, that it prioritizes over everything else. Even if your distress is long lasting. Even if it takes days, weeks or years to calm. You’re not wrong to drop everything and look only for ways to soothe, resources and support to get more calm. Before you do anything else. You’re not meant to ignore your own distress and struggle in order to make the world go on. And people should not want a severely distressed person to push it back and pretend for the sake of easiness and normalcy. You’re supposed to be prioritized and soother when distressed. No matter how long that might last.

#anxiety #psychological trauma #emotional trauma #abuse aftermath #being upset for long time and ignoring it and making it worse #self care #social support

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r-wn · 4 months

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" I'm here for you " -said the soul that died 23 times alone and no one showing up for

#breakdown #struggle #heartbreak #sad thoughts #mentally tired #emotions #emotionally drained #mentally drained #self deprecating humor #text #quote #mine #help #mental breakdown #self sabotage #self destruction #social support

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ineedfairypee · 3 months

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If it’s uncomfortable for hear about imagine how it feels to experience it

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just-a-blog-for-polls · 6 months

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If you like, you can specify in the reblogs on whether you turn to your friends or family or just share it online, etc.

#plz reblog #polls #social relations #social support #help #emotions #psychology

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omegaphilosophia · 2 days

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The Philosophy of Strength

The philosophy of strength delves into the nature, significance, and implications of strength as a concept in various domains, including ethics, psychology, and metaphysics. It explores different dimensions of strength, ranging from physical prowess to moral fortitude, and examines how strength influences individual behavior, societal values, and philosophical perspectives. Here are some key aspects of the philosophy of strength:

Physical Strength: This aspect of the philosophy of strength focuses on the attributes and capabilities associated with physical power and fitness. It considers questions about the nature of physical strength, its importance in human evolution and survival, and its role in sports, martial arts, and physical culture.

Moral Strength: Moral strength encompasses virtues such as courage, resilience, integrity, and determination. The philosophy of strength examines the ethical principles and values that underpin moral strength, as well as the challenges and dilemmas individuals face in cultivating and exercising moral courage in the face of adversity and temptation.

Emotional Strength: Emotional strength pertains to the ability to cope with and overcome emotional challenges, such as stress, grief, fear, and trauma. It involves resilience, self-awareness, and emotional regulation, as well as the capacity to find meaning and growth in the face of life's struggles and hardships.

Intellectual Strength: Intellectual strength involves cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and intellectual curiosity. It encompasses the pursuit of knowledge, the ability to think independently and analytically, and the willingness to question assumptions and explore new ideas.

Spiritual Strength: Spiritual strength relates to inner resilience, inner peace, and a sense of purpose and connection to something greater than oneself. It involves practices such as meditation, mindfulness, and self-reflection, as well as the cultivation of virtues such as compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude.

Social Strength: Social strength refers to the capacity of individuals and communities to build and maintain supportive relationships, networks, and social connections. It involves empathy, cooperation, trust, and mutual aid, as well as the ability to navigate and resolve conflicts in interpersonal and collective settings.

Existential Strength: Existential strength concerns grappling with questions of meaning, identity, and mortality in the face of life's uncertainties and existential dilemmas. It involves confronting existential anxieties, finding meaning and purpose in one's life, and embracing the freedom and responsibility of being human.

Metaphysical Strength: Metaphysical strength explores the ontological and cosmological dimensions of strength, contemplating the nature of power, agency, and causality in the universe. It considers philosophical perspectives on strength as a fundamental aspect of reality and the implications for human existence and understanding.

In summary, the philosophy of strength encompasses a broad range of physical, moral, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, existential, and metaphysical dimensions. It explores the nature of strength as a multifaceted concept and its significance in shaping human experience, values, and aspirations.

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tevvyline · 8 days

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You can pick one or more details when thinking about a past event.

Thinking about a past event can be interesting. For example, after someone says something to you, you can think about why they said it to you. Before thinking about a past event, you can pick one or more details. For example, some details are time range, colour (red, green, all colours), reasons (why?), names (people, places), actions (your actions, other people's actions), and shapes (rectangular, circular, square-like). The time range can be specific points in a 12 or 24 hour clock range or dates. The time range can also be other details. For example, if you do not know the specific point of the 12 or 24 clock range or date of when you heard your own cat make an object fall in your house, you can pick the detail "action" (What were you doing? What were other people in your house doing?), to give a time for that past event.

#tevvyline #idea #ideas #thought #thoughts #social idea #social ideas #social thought #social thoughts #thinking #support #social support #social

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wisterianwoman · 1 month

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How to Regulate Your Nervous System for a Balanced Life

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gnotknormal · 2 months

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Do you run a social group, online or in person, and you care about accessibility for people with neurodivergence or anxiety?

As a person with anxiety and neurodivergence myself, I find a lot of social events just are not accessible to me. Currently your three choices are often;

In person meets

Scheduled video/voice chats

Discord servers or Facebook groups

They each have their own accessibility issues, and I find that often people presume that ONE of those choices will work for you - when in my opinion, quite often due to the increased energy and time it takes to meet our own needs and advocate for ourselves, none of these choices really ARE achievable. For those of us who struggle with new experiences and places (in person meets) and problems such as auditory processing and difficulties with technology (video/voice chats), we often feel like the only viable choice is the 3rd option. Discord servers, Facebook groups and other online spaces. And in these spaces the chat is ongoing and persistent with a lot of challenges that I don't see people talking about.

We really do miss out so much from these experiences. I recently saw a post of an answer by ms-demeanor (sorry didn't want to be annoying and tag) about the basics of making friends and Discord servers really throw a spanner in the works for how humans naturally make friends.

(I won't repeat the post but I will link it somewhere just ask if you need it)

Basically the problem with Discord servers etc is that there is no end time, no log off. It's either CoNsTAnTLy inTERAcT or MISS OUT. Which is particularly dificult for those of us with neurodivergence and anxiety. Often being in a Discord server feels so lonely because you are adamantly aware that you're not part of THE GROUP - which is often young people who have more free time and the capacity to be online more often. No shade on those young people but it does add to the isolation felt by those of us who cannot commit like this.

Don't get me wrong, I've found a good few servers where there are lot of those low stakes interactions that could lead to friendships. But that's not the point.

My suggestion for those of you who run social groups/interest groups or whatever and you want your neurodivergent and anxious members to feel included and to get involved is to run what I'm calling a Type In Chat social.

You pick a time as you would with an in person meet or video chat or seminar or whatever, but take the Discord server route. You have an hour or two for people to hop into a TEXT CHAT and talk about the theme or the interest or to just chat and have some of those less stressful, less pressure interactions in a situation where they can put the time aside with their sensory/anxious needs being met - for instance part of my stress with video chats is that I can't have background music or play on my phone to regulate my attention.

And then at the end of it everyone can say "goodbye, see you next time!".

Of course it isn't perfect, but this is a format that I personally haven't seen being used and I think it could really help a lot of people to feel involved and included without being put out or stressed by the struggles of the other options. I think we deserve this 4th option.

Lemme know what you folks think and please reblog if you think it sounds like a good idea to spread around. I'm going to start hosting some of these in my private Discord and see how it goes (though is a very small community so! We will see).

Have a great day folks, c ya.

#accessibility #gnot me #autism #actually autistic #asd #adhd #neurodivergence #social #social support #making friends #ideas

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mollyringle · 10 months

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In which I have had it with disingenuous advice lauding rugged individualism

We often hear that if you truly and deeply want to create something—writing, music, visual arts, a company, an invention, etc.—you will find a way to do it. You’ll squeeze out the time between your other obligations; the muse and the passion will help you along, and you will succeed! I have said things like this myself in the past, meaning to be inspirational and encouraging, as people generally intend to be when they say such things. But as I’ve gotten older and met more kinds of people and looked honestly at society, particularly here in the US, it has become painfully clear that the above is an incomplete story.

The whole truth has to include this part too:

There are many people whose wonderful creations we haven’t yet seen, and might never see, because these people are not getting enough support in terms of basic needs: health, finances, family, safety, access. For reasons beyond their control—expensive chronic health problems, disabilities, neurodiversity, families who cannot or will not help them, unstable housing situations, and more—they cannot merely grab the muse’s hand and be pulled along a prolifically creative path to success. Their vision may be exactly as wondrous and world-changing as anyone else’s, but we might never know, because circumstances block them from bringing it to fruition.

We don’t hear enough about these people. Given the way social media and news are designed, we hear frequently and voluminously from successful people with vast platforms, and next to nothing from those who fell through the cracks.

I don’t know of any easy solution. All the solutions need to be huge and systemic, and they go against the stubbornly individualistic American mindset that we cannot seem to shake (a problem shared by many other countries too).

But those of us who have at least enough daily stability, peace, health, and support to have struggled through our own issues and created something should pause and realize that, although our own struggles were indeed hard, other people’s are truly insurmountable, the way things stand. It’s disingenuous to claim, “Well, I managed it despite all these hardships, so anyone should be able to,” because in truth, we didn’t do it alone. It’s almost a certainty that we had someone willing to give us employment. Friends or relatives willing to help us now and then. People providing medical care for us. People keeping our utilities running smoothly. People interested enough in our idea that they contributed helpful feedback and even money. People who told others about us and boosted us up.

No one accomplishes feats of creation entirely by themselves from start to finish. It is one hundred percent a myth. Yet the “you can do anything,” “follow your dreams,” “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality continues to thrive and is still viewed as a fully workable plan. It is, I have come to believe, one of the most damaging and pernicious myths in our culture.

Dreams and creativity are vital, and yes, they are also personal and individual, and everyone deserves to be free to pursue them. For that to happen, however, our societies need to support everyone at a basic health and safety level. Everyone.

Vote accordingly. It’s all anyone can currently do. But in the meantime, look around at everything that has gone well in your life, all the tools and resources that have helped you get where you are, and recognize the often-invisible fellow humans behind each of those steps and each of those items. Send those folks a bit of gratitude, and try to turn your habitual thinking toward the realization that you are not alone—not a rugged pioneer, no matter what the American Dream has told you—and that no one else ought to feel alone either.

And I will keep saying it in short form and long till the end of my days: talk up the small creators you run across, those who actually need word-of-mouth hype. The big names are doing just fine without you posting about them. Give some bandwidth to those for whom a praise post would make their day and possibly even boost their finances.

#compassion #individualism #society #culture #social support #arts #inspiration

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