tomakeanoffer | Friday SUrvival

I'm honestly not sure what to say this week. I'm still trying to wake up a little and remember how to be a person, but know that I adore you all and am happy you are still here and surviving.

~

This post is for:
• being excited about the things you've done this week
• asking for help if you need it
• venting about anything that might need to be flailed over.
• showing off something cool you've done/made/experienced this week.
• being generally enthused and excited about things that have happened.
• just being thrilled that you survived.

Come drop into the comments and let us know how you're doing and how things have gone. While I may not respond to every comment myself, all of you are free to respond to each other and get encouragement, help or whatever else it is you need. If you want to vent without advice being given, please say so and if you want cheering or tips or anything, let us know that too.

I do ask that if you have any triggering topics, that you mention them in the subject line or first line of your comment. This is just so people can make informed decisions on what to read and keep everyone okay. <3 Thank you so much.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cosmolinguist

I wrote a very difficult essay and did the exam for my most confusing, least accessible class. I am now very nearly halfway through my degree.

From:

dreamerinsilico

I'm proud of myself for reacting predominantly to yesterday's events with anger rather than guilt/inadequacy. And that I managed to turn that angry energy into actions and useful emotional introspection rather than stewing in it.

And I'm glad that I'm managing to self-edit as I write this comment to keep myself from dumping on Last Time This Shit Happened Me, who didn't handle it as well but couldn't have reasonably been expected to, because that's how healing/progress works.

From:

mraoulee

I'm just about all set for my commission, wrote an essay for Jamie Sands and took an incredibly silly series of pictures with my sibling. GOOD WEEK.

From:

mraoulee

HECK YES GO YOU

From:

yhlee

I survived my first book tour and am really, really looking forward to flying home today and saying hi to my husband and daughter and my purry plump catten. :3

From:

kendiefox

Heck yeah! That's awesome and so are you!

From:

kendiefox

\o/ woo!

From:

kendiefox

progress ftw! *high five*

From:

kendiefox

You did it! And very soon you will be home!

From:

kendiefox

I continue to reach for positivity. Even when it's hard.

From:

donutsweeper

I have a donut!!

From:

mraoulee

Fantastic! I hope you have an amazing, restful weekend.

From:

kendiefox

great success!

From:

tomakeanoffer

Go you! That is awesome and I cheer on all progress.

From:

tomakeanoffer

<333 GO you!

From:

tomakeanoffer

Woooosh! :D:D:D You are awesome! <3333

From:

tomakeanoffer

You survived! That is so great and I am so happy you get to go home and rest.

From:

tomakeanoffer

Man, I understand how hard that is but you are doing ti and that is awesome.

From:

tomakeanoffer

Omnomnom donut.

From:

kendiefox

There is color in the world, there is still light, I just need to keep looking for it and keep putting what I can out there.

From:

finch

Yay for having that done!

From:

finch

Seeing that in yourself and rechannelling is hard! Go you!

From:

finch

That seems appropriate given your name. XD

From:

finch

That's so important. <3 Well done.

From:

finch

Hooray for going home after doing the thing!

From:

finch

Excellent week!

From:

finch

I am continuing to make progress on Project Reclosetification and slowly assembling thoughts about setting submission goals for poetry.

From:

kendiefox

pro-gress! pro-gress! *cheers you on*

From:

dhampyresa

- i am sick and my shoulder is acting up DO NOT WANT
+ Made some art
+ Offered to make art of brightly coloured futuristic outlaws for anyone who wants it, no need to have ever talked to me before or anything.

From:

thefairymelusine

I had a house guest for five days, and was much more social than I usually am. I went into a reference library three out of five weekdays and worked on PhD applications, and applied for a writing residency, and applied for other things.

I have still been feeling anxious and stuck and out of place, and sometimes those were really hard, hence the list above.

From:

teaotter

I have figured out where I screwed up my food this week (dough conditioners in my breakfast burrito wrappers, ugh) and have gotten my brain to work in the mornings again.

I had a character-generation conversation with one of the players for my rpg! We got a lot settled, and with luck, I will be finally starting my new game soon!!

My cat goes in for dental cleaning on Monday. I've never had to take a cat in for this before. They tell me she'll be fine, but I know I'm going to be so worried from the time I drop her off until I get to pick her back up. So I've made plans for my partners to take care of me that day.

From:

flamingsword

Ooh! Art!

What is your shoulder doing? I am a massage therapist, I can make good recommendations.

From:

flamingsword

Way to go for adulting! This shit is way harder than it looks.

From:

flamingsword

Kitteh will be fine. They get anti anxiety meds to keep them from biting the techs, so the cat-faced heretic will be less worried than you are.

Yay for having people to spread the care around!

From:

flamingsword

Mom is doing so much better! My anxiety is going down! My depressive episode is not as bad as it could be because I'm on meds that goddamn work!

My body is doing a new and exciting terrible thing, so that part makes me want to shake my body til it quits doing that but that may have unpleasant side effects. :\

From:

badfalcon

I resolved a major ongoing query with work, identified both internal and external people who could provide help with the issue. I also wrote a commendation for a colleague who went over and above to find me names of people who could help. And I made notes on things to say in my appraisal next week

From:

alatefeline

Content Advisory: moving, roommate problems, financial shenanigans, break-up, family

I am Still Moving.

I am also still *making progress*.

I have a new apartment. I have a new bed! It is in boxes except for the mattress airing out, but it is there. I could stop *now* and I would have a marginally livable space for the next month and much inconvenient paperwork left to do but not anythign that would result in Nonexistent Housing. I need+want to *keep going* for resutls that improve on 'just barely livable'; but I'm also takig time to try to be Not A Total Wreck, because I definitely hit that point last night after the work-weel and the streessful workday and the stressful conversations and the dark-rainy-cold-loud street and the furniture-related task when I was already falling asleep and the unexpected extra-stressful social interaction on top of that.

But there are lots of good things. And one of them is this post. <3

From:

renfys

I am so far ahead of my word count goal. It's awesome. And yesterday it was just me and the kid in doing the shopping which was nice. I like it when I get him to myself.

From:

dhampyresa

I busted my shoulder about 10 months ago by taking a bad fall and then swimming (3km or so) on top of that, before it began to hurt. I had to wear a shoulder brace for two weeks daily, and then did some PT until three months ago. Apparently what I was diagnosed with is called "Rotator cuff tear" in English? /is French

I'm doing much better now, but it does still hurt. If you have any advice, I will gladly take it!

From:

flamingsword

Rotator cuff tears can get painful, so you have my sympathies.

As to advice, if you have stopped doing your physical therapy exercises, slowly add those back to your weekly schedule until it hurts less. Most of the time, it is recommended that you keep doing those exercises permanently to keep the injury from becoming worse as the muscle loses strength. If you were taught to stretch your muscles to the point of pain, never do that again. They used to have a backwards understanding of the nerve signalling during stretching.

For old connective tissue tears, I recommend ten minutes of heat on the muscles and then ten minutes using a cold gel pack (refrigerator cold, not frozen) and repeating for a few cycles. The heat will relax the muscle and the cold will soothe any inflammation. If you try it and your body does not like it, I don't recommend repeating it. A significant fraction of people don't respond well to changes in temperature. I hope you are one of the lucky ones.