#and then I learned about the digestive cycle so I stopped

[naturecalls111]

hs au first meet

#lawlu #monkey d luffy #trafalgar d water law #one piece #hs au #as a kid I used to think like luffy but my mom caught me taking a plate to the bathroom and took it out of my hand #‘what are you doing?!’ I was like umm… I need the bathroom? #she would make sure I stopped taking snacks to the bathroom #and then I learned about the digestive cycle so I stopped #if only Luffy was right..

[prettieinpink]

Hi lanny! Could you provide a guide on how to get into working out? 💗💖

GUIDE TO STARTING TO WORK OUT

hi lele 💝☀️ hope this guide helps you w your journey!!

The first step to working out is setting goals related to exercise, not physical appearance. Avoid things like fat loss, muscle gain, smaller waist, bigger glutes and so on. 

While you can make this a separate goal, the reason why I don’t want you to associate it with exercise is that we then allow the way our body looks to dictate whether we believe the exercise we’re doing is good enough. 

Exercise and body aesthetics are two different things. Exercise is a means of nourishing our body, soul and mind, while body aesthetics is how ‘good’ our body looks. 

On that topic, I want you to stop focusing on your physical appearance when starting to exercise and I want you to start implementing a new mindset shift about your body. Instead of seeing your body as something to look at, appreciate it for what it can do. 

For example, your hands create meals, hug your loved ones and help you with essential tasks. Your legs help you to get around, especially to your favourite places. Your stomach helps with digesting all the yummy food you eat. 

Some goal ideas:

Lift 15kg+ 

Be able to do a plank for more than 5 minutes

Learn how to do a push-up

Be able to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes 

Gain more stamina and exercise for longer 

Moving on, set a time each day in which you prioritise exercise. This can be for however long you want and the times can vary daily. 

So, during this period, you are not allowed to do anything else other than exercise. It doesn’t even have to be a specific exercise either, if you’re feeling lazy and laps walking around the house is what feels best, do it. 

However, avoid obsessing over working out and losing yourself to exercise. This kills motivation, in exercise starts to feel like another obligation in the day and not a privilege. 

Now, you have to choose what exercise is right for you. I don’t believe you’re limited to one exercise, if you want you can have more than 1. 

Gym – Perfect for a mix of strength and cardio, however not the best option if you want to exercise for free.

Yoga – Tones muscles while also being a mindful experience. Low low-impact, but recommend doing it after cardio. 

Cycling – Tones the legs and the glutes, but cycling may not be the best idea depending on where you live. 

running/jogging – Strengthens muscles and bones, however, if you don’t have flat areas, may not be the best idea. 

Pilates – Improves flexibility and tone, while still being low impact (still may be challenging).

Weightlifting – Makes you stronger and boosts your metabolism, best done at the gym. 

There are plenty of ways to exercise that I haven’t mentioned here, but these are just ideas so you can research the ones that suit you best.

I recommend talking to a doctor if you haven’t done exercise in a long time, as that can open up the possibility of injury. 

Then, once we have our goals, times and what we’re doing, we need to exercise. Implementing exercise in your life is best done slowly. 

Start with simple, and smaller versions of workouts, even if you think you can do more. Do this for about a week, then try to extend yourself with something harder. If it is too hard, don’t be afraid to go back a step. 

Make it fun, create a motivating exercise playlist or watch your favourite TV show while doing it. 

However, the main thing about exercising is that every day you are not always going to feel like it, but that is when we have to discipline ourselves, talk to the mirror and say; ‘Me exercising is a privilege, I get to nourish my body because I love and respect it so much’. 

This was the best way I disciplined myself into working out. Treating it like a privilege and something that is very benefical, rather than a painstakingly challenging activity.

Or, instead, you can visualise what you would look and feel like if you continue like this for the next 5 years.

#becoming that girl #green juice girl #clean girl #wellness #wellness era #wellbeing #healthy girl #healthy living #strength #exercise #exercices #gym #prettieinpink #pink pilates princess #pink pilates girl #wonyoungism #pilates aesthetic #workout motivation #health is wealth

[nicolesainz]

Foolish One (MM7)

A/N: I am back with a short one shot. And it won’t be the happiest of ones I’ve written. Mason’s departure from Chelsea hurt me very much. I was crying for days and I still can’t digest it. I hope nothing but the best for him at Man United. He deserves it.

Warnings: Angst

Mason Mount x Y/N-Chilwell reader

Summary: Ben’s sister is shocked to learn about her crushes departure from the team. She’s not ready to say goodbye. Her brother encourages to speak up to Mason and tell her what she actually feels. How will Mason react?

After what felt like an eternity, I was on time to pick up Ben from training at Cobham. There was so much traffic today, everyone literally storming to the training center for some breaking news that the team is about to reveal.

I get out of the car and ring Ben. It goes to voicemail. I call him a s second time and still the same. What's going on? I stop at the third time, then I move on to texting. I keep spamming him, because I get more worried as minutes go by.

I finally get a reply after all the failed attempts of reaching him. And it was probably the weirdest reply I had evert gotten from my brother.

"Come inside the center, please. Now." If I was next to Ben at the moment, I feel like he would have yelled his answer at me.

I rush to get inside, trying to avoid all the reporters and cameras that are televising the possible news. And why does Ben need me there? What is happening?

I quietly open the door and see half of the squad surrounding the currently blonde haired Mason. The center felt empty as a lot of players had departed from the club earlier this month. A lot of my friends and Ben's teammates weren't there. That still was a shock to me.

I see Ben shushing me once he notices my presence and tells me to listen closely to what Mason is about to say. Mason eyes weirdly Ben but he keeps on going with his speech. By the second I get even more anxious about his reveal.

"I will be unfortunately leaving Chelsea" he says in the lowest manner possible, trying to hide the shame and denial that his voice is filled with.

I start shaking after the words escape his mouth. This feels surreal and like a terrifying nightmare. I want to wake up and have Mason take every single one of those words bad, saying it's just a bad prank.

Reece is in a devastating state, trying to process what he just heard. His best friend was leaving their childhood club. After all those years they wouldn't play along, but against each other.

"Please tell me this is a sick joke" I don't hold back and Mason turns to face me. His teary eyes drop to the floor, unable to look at me. He puts his hand on his mouth, wanting to hold back a sob.

"Which team is it going to be?" my brother barely wants to know. He doesn't care but knowing he may have to play against his friend, breaks his heart, just at the thought.

"Manchester United" Mason doesn't even want to admit that this is actually happening. He will be going to the biggest rivals of Chelsea. He will have to attend Stamford Bridge, not as their player, but a rival. A threat.

I refuse to listen furthermore to that nonsense, so I just ran off from the room and go outside once again. The atmosphere feels very suffocating.

I can hear someone walking behind me trying to catch me from leaving this center and asking someone else to pick up Ben.

"Y/N, hold on, please. Do not leave" Azpilicueta grabs my arm, before I manage to open my car door. I can't resist so I leave the handle and look at him.

"Why is he doing this?" my words come out as a whisper and with my lower lip quivering.

"Because that is how life works. One door closes and another opens. It's the cycle of life." he tries to comfort me with a smile and I instantly feel better. During those years that my brother became a member of the Chelsea squad, I have grown closer with Azpi, even though he is a very low key personality and is completely different to the others, like Kai, Ben, Mason and Reece.

"It hurts Azpi. He said he would stay. What changed his mind? Why was he willing to leave the club?"

"This season has been a big hit for us. Not the best one the team has had. We had to face many obstacles. Many injuries. A lot of players thought that a move would be good for them. Take Jorgi, for example, he is doing better now at Arsenal. Our environment became hostile, even for us the players."

"I know. I am so sorry for the season you guys had. I hated seeing Ben coming home being a constant downer and not being able to cheer him up the slightest. I just believed you'd stick together."

"Family members take different paths sometimes. The children leave home in order to evolve and look out for what they have been missing. And parents move on to seek for another source of excitement in life."

"Wait, what do you mean? What about the parents?" I look down at Azpi's hands, holding mine firmly. A few tears fall on the knuckles of my hand and I notice that something is about to happen.

"Please don't" the words gag my throat, get stuck in my throat as I realise what he is about to say.

"I will be going to Spain. I didn't want you to find out through the media. Not from your brother either. No one in the team knows yet. I am so sorry, mi increíble amiga"

I couldn't hold back my tears. A waterfall escaped my eyes and uncontrollable sobs were all I could utter. I was losing all my friends and now what was like a second father to me. Cesar wrapped his arms around me and gave me what was probably our last hug. This was very painful to handle.

"As much as it pains me, I want the best for you. You have been my favourite since day one. Thank you for always being by my side Azpi. I owe you my life. I am going to miss you terribly."

As I lay my head on his shoulder, I open my teary eyes to be faced with a saddened look on Mason's face, a few meters away from me and Cesar. He doesn't want to intervene, so he just waits patiently.

Azpi noticed his presence and gestured with his free hand to come our way. Mason doesn't know what to say on what he is currently seeing in front of his eyes. He knows this is between me and Cesar.

After Azpi made his way back to the center, it was just me and Mason. Mason and me.

"So that is it? You are leaving? For good?"

"I am so sorry, Y/N. I was left with no choice. Chelsea had become my toxic trait. And I hers. It was inevitable." he snips, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his jumper.

"So I won't be able to root for you? Wear your jersey? Chant about your brilliance?" Confessions were about to be made and at this point I didn't care. I had to get them out of my chest.

"Wait? You have my jersey?" he was so shocked by that and honestly I don't know how he hadn't noticed?

"Why do you think I still attended the games even after my brother's injury? Why do you think I travelled to Qatar? Why do you think I call you starboy?"

"What are you implying, Y/N? Because this could either break my heart or bring it back to life."

"I love you Mason. And my brother may think it is a silly crush but I love you. I look back and see all the missed opportunities of wanting to confess this to you, but my priority was to make sure you were alright and my feelings came second. And now it's gone."

"Who told you it's gone? Did you really think Ben willingly wanted you here today? I told him to alert you. I would hate myself if you found out from someone else rather than the man who has been madly obsessed with you from the moment you stepped into Stamford Bridge."

Madly obsessed? Where does this come from? Does Mason actually...

"I know very well you have been attending the games. Even when Ben is away, I always spot your smile in the crowd. It what motivates me. Even in the ten minutes I may play, your brightness is my source of happiness. God, the effort I made to tell you how much I love you but we were never alone and I thought you just saw me as your brother's teammate."

His words shattered my heart and built it back in seconds. It felt like my favourite dream to have Mason confess his love to me. For him to actually notice all my little hints and signs of support and appreciation.

"Then why are you leaving? Why do you let all this slip away from you? Everyone knows what a capable player you are. Can't you..." my voice starts breaking and tears blur my vision once again.

My cheeks dry up because of Mason's jumper. He is currently holding me tighter than anything else, as if I was going to turn into dust soon. The kind of hug I have been wanting him to give me since day one.

"I would love for you to come cheer for me at my games with United. I will give you a ticket for the family box. I don't know what I will do if you're not in the same room as me, your presence giving me strength." he offers to me and as tempting as it sounds, how will I ever tell my brother? how can I attend Chelsea v United games? which side will I support?

"I would really love to, but what about Ben? What if the teams play against? Would I support the man I love or my own blood? Would I even be able to cheer if you scored a goal against Chelsea?" Mason's eyes are bloodshot red and very dark. I hate seeing him hurt like this.

"Even if you give me a short glance, I will know that you support me as well. You don't have to cheer. Just look at me."

Mason's fingers under my chin, force me to look him deeply in the eyes. My heart is beating extremely fast, it may even kill me in the moment. How did we end up like this? confessing to each other the very last day?

In soft movements, his lips come close to mine and I can feel sparks flying as I can finally taste him against me. He is very tender and sweet, cupping my face with both of his soft hands. If I could replace oxygen with Mason's kisses, I would choose that over and over again.

A small moan escapes my lips, and I can feel a smile shaping on his lips, still not removing himself from me, pushing my body deeper onto my car's door. His hands move to hold my waist firmly as he refuses to let me go. I fear that someone may be looking us and especially my brother, but all I can think about right now is how my dream has come true. And my worst nightmare.

"I can't let you go." he mumbles underneath the kiss, his hands roaming all over my body, keeping me in close proximity.

"Don't do this now." I take a breath and stop from kissing him. Why is this happening now? Why did this had to happen now? The day that he is leaving Chelsea for good.

"I need you with me. I can't do this without you." he hold my hands firmly and so tight afraid I may slip away. When in reality, he is the one letting me go. Or, letting go.

"You already are Mason. I will be here for you, but I can't be with you." and with a final kiss, I say my final goodbye to my beloved footballer and sweetest human alive.

#mason mount fanfic #mason mount x reader #mason mount fluff #mason mount #man united

[icebrooding]

I'm having some rambly thoughts about Isgarren and Commander because I feel so many certain kinds of ways over this dialogue

Isgarren: You brought the world to the brink of ruin. Do you realize, if you hadn't killed Zhaitan... <Character name>: Do you not see what the Elder Dragons destroyed with every cycle? The lives they ruined. <Character name>: You didn't witness the terror they wrought firsthand. You hid.

Because of this dialogue.

Mabon: Isgarren is fearful of intervening with the dragons. When Sidony stopped him that night... Mabon: Mm. I remember that morning, I think. Flickers of sunrise... The carnage, revealed. Zhaitan's call. Mabon: Thankful that I don't remember the loss. I feel it, but I don't remember their faces... Should I? Mabon: Isgarren possesses an...urgency that I can't place yet. We are too weak to fight a dragon, he says, yet we fortify... Mabon: It's as if he's both wounded and killing time... Maybe I'm projecting.

And the dialogue when you talk to Isgarren himself:

"We didn't age well. And we lived a very difficult experience... Of all my thousands of years of self-reflection, I barely spent my adolescence among them. I parted from the horde after..." >...After? "We once tried to fell the dragons. The Elder Races of Tyria. The Seer doyen, Sidony, cried for war. But...just before we were to aid the mursaat in their attack on Zhaitan... Sidony decided against." "The mursaat never forgave us, and I empathized with that. They were turned to bone scraps and bile... But they would hunt us for thousands of years after. A few hundred of them, for all of us."

Just... the Commander is right to feel like Isgarren was just allowing the world below to rot and suffer at the hands of the Elder Dragons; but the Commander also doesn't know Isgarren's history. And Isgarren very much has seen the terror the dragons brought.

Isgarren wanted to go after the Mursaat and Forgotten, to help them when they faced Zhaitan. And he was made to stand down. His dialogue implies that he left the Seers not long after Zhaitan completely destroyed those who actually went to face him.

He must have known. He must have seen, because he describes it in a visceral way when he needn't have to. He knew the aftermath of this dragon tearing apart two powerful races, culling them to fractions of what they were.

And it scared him.

The fact that Mabon uses the word 'wounded' to describe what he thinks Isgarren comes across as, makes me think Isgarren was carrying a lot of guilt. Maybe not for himself, per-se, but in a vein similar to Mabon's own thoughts of Sidony:

Mabon: I was reading about Sidony in the archive—leader of the Seers during the rise against the dragons. Mabon: When he decided to pull back from the assault on Zhaitan... I wonder if he knew the consequences that would evoke? Mabon: Even if that choice was likely the wiser one... We still feel the ripples of that decision. Mabon: Most likely, we'd be dead. Maybe the mursaat wouldn't have fled, though. The Seers wouldn't have declared war.

It could have been Isgarren was feeling wounded over the fact that, perhaps, if the Seers had gone through with it, the outcome could have been different. Maybe less would have died. Maybe Zhaitan would have been killed. It wasn't likely, but it was a possibility.

And instead what they have at that point is every mursaat still alive thirsty for his blood, and likely Mabon's too, for betrayal. What they still have is an Elder Dragon that's shown them what happens when you try to fight back.

And at some point, he must have learned that the Elder Dragons were necessary to be kept alive for the magical balance of Tyria. And I think, like the Commander did, like everyone else did, it took a lot to digest and grasp.

So then they're at a point where, yeah, maybe the Ward and the Wizards might have been able to taken down the Elder Dragons... but they couldn't. They shouldn't.

And Isgarren is so old, thousands of years, that of course it was going to affect his perception of life. Mortal life, in particular. The world below could be torn apart by the dragons, but it would shape into something new. That had to be the way of things, and they had to accept that. As long as the world kept on going, that's what matters.

Focus on the outside threats, while the world remakes itself from the inside. It's the lot they have, no choice but pragmatism. Saving the world from the Elder Dragons would mean ripping it apart at the seams. The world had to suffer in order for itself to continue to exist.

So, while the Commander is justified in finding this mentality horrific, in being upset and outraged that someone so powerful never intervened in the suffering of those below, they are fundamentally wrong that Isgarren has never seen what the dragons have done to the people of Tyria.

Because, ironically, if Isgarren never had, then none of this would have existed.

If the elder races had not chosen to confront Zhaitan, the Mursaat would not have been nearly wiped out. The tensions with the Seers would not have built. The war would have never happened. Isgarren wouldn't have left the Seers. He wouldn't have met Mabon, or at least their relationship would never have been what it became in reality. He likely wouldn't have had the drive to conceptualise the Wizards and the Astral Ward.

Zhaitan's destruction, as it always would throughout history, molded so much of the world. And its impact on Isgarren led him to where he is now.

So I think, this is a time when the Commander is, albeit not without reason, the unfair party. Assuming that Isgarren does not comprehend the suffering of those below. But that's because that's what would make sense to them; they can't fathom leaving people to hurt, especially if they understand the pain themselves. And if Isgarren is supposed to be a hero, is supposed to care for Tyria and want to protect it, but ignores the biggest threat it has looming over them, then he must not actually understand the gravity of the situation.

When really, Isgarren's life has been shaped by their destruction, learned that it was a necessary evil, and has had thousands of years to come to terms with it.

#text #gw2 #isgarren #i am an isgarren defender and apologist smfh #soto spoilers

[revengeismygender]

I can’t stop thinking about the extremely misleading post that was circulating last week about the train derailment in Ohio and the amount of people who believed it whole cloth and went into a panic (understandably — the post was terrifying if you hadn’t heard about the crash previously). I’m not trying to shit on OP who has dealt with enough and apologized/admitted that the post was misleading or the people who got scared, I’m just disturbed by the amount of people (some of whom lived in Ohio!!) unaware of something that had been in the news for a week+ at that point.

And I want to be clear, I’m not blaming anyone for not having the spoons to engage in the 24-hour disaster news cycle where you’re bombarded with bad news every second of every day. I can’t do that either. But people, you have to stop getting your news from Twitter and tumblr. You just do. SO,

here are some low spoons ways to know wtf is going on.

*disclaimer* none of these sources are perfect or without bias and I’m not claiming they are. Every news organization is influenced by who owns it, the government it exists under, etc. also, this is a very US focused list bc I am in the US. Other people please feel free to add helpful resources from your country.

NPR’s Up First podcast: this podcast is literally like 10 mins long and just runs through essential US and international headlines.

NY Times The Daily: this one is a little longer (25-ish mins) and hones in on a theme, though it does touch on other news.

Vox’s Today Explained: this podcast runs through the highlights of what happened that day in about 20 mins.

CNN/Daily Beast Cheat Sheet: read through top headlines of the day covering a variety of topics. There are links to articles if you want to know more but you get a blurb about each regardless.

NY Times Morning Newsletter: this comes to your email and is free unlike other Times content. Though there are links to articles that are behind a paywall, all you really need to get started is the headlines and blurbs in the newsletter itself and you can always start googling from there if you feel the need.

USA Today Short List: similar to the NY Times morning newsletter but this one comes in the evening. No paywall, easily digestible headlines and highlight blurbs.

I’m not saying you need to have google alerts turned on for every single news source. I’m not saying you need to camp out in front of cable news for 8 hours a day like your grandpa, or even watch it twice a day like your dad. I’m not saying you can’t learn some piece of world news from a Destiel meme every now and then.

But engaging for 10-15 mins a day with the basics of what’s going on in the world is very helpful in that at the very least it stops you from panicking about a “media blackout about the worst disaster since Chernobyl” since you will have seen it in 5 news sources already and know that it couldn’t possibly be true.

#news #US news #reality vs unreality #Ohio train derailment

[blonditarot]

This doesn’t have a title but it’s about strict diets so beware the people that could be triggered by this. I warned you.

But again I’m not a doctor, dietitian or a personal trainer. I’m just someone that’ve been there, done that and has learned some things. I’m just here to share my knowledge with you, because very few people talk about this and I think if someone has the power or knowledge to help people, they should stand up and do something

I mean they don’t even mention this at schools

What I’m sad about is the fact that there are people out there that go on those terrible diets. I’ve just seen a girl that doesn’t eat more than a one year old baby

That’s awful. And here’s why

If you do this you’re not loosing weight, it’s not caring about your health. You’re killing yourself. I mean literally. There’s something called basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the amount of calories you have to eat to sustain your body’s basic functions (breathing, digesting, keeping your body a the 36,6 degrees or daydreaming about your crush). It’s usually 1 600 Kcal - 1 800 Kcal for men and around 1 500 Kcal for women, but those can differ depending on many factors. But there’s one thing that never changes. If you will less calories than your BMR, your body will start shutting down. Slowly.

Your brain will do everything to keep itself alive. If you’ll stop giving enough energy to your body, it’s going to draw it from the fat tissue. If fat tissue isn’t enough, it’s going to switch to the next tissue that stores a lot of energy, which are your muscles. Then if there will be not enough muscle mass, your body will start to draw it’s energy from your organs. Your body will eat itself, your heart, your liver, even your brain will shrink. Not right away but eventually you might experience brain fog, forgetfulness and in severe cases memory loss.

Loosing weight is not worth destroying your body like that. Especially when some of the damages of low calorie diets are irreversible.

And here’s a warning

If someone is trying to sell you a diet that is below your BMR, run. They don’t care about your health or how you feel, they just want your money. Because they are hoping that once you loose weight, you will gain all of it back and that’s usually the case, your body will be exhausted and will crave for food, you won’t be able to stop eating. And once you gain it all back, you might want to loose it again, their diet worked the first time so you go and buy another strict diet program from them. The cycle repeats itself. That’s how they make money off of people

#fitness #weight loss diet #weight loss #strict diets #i wanna lose weight #i need to lose so much weight #low cal diet

[daportalpractitioner]

venus in aries • february 20 - march 16, 2023

venus starts a nu cycle thru the zodiac on february 20, 2023 when she goes into fast + fiery aries. during this time, we're going to be making sure that our values reflect who we really are. venus is a receiver while aries is a go-getter, which is why her potential is very much compromised when it's in aries. we can get caught up in chasing relationships and desires that end up running away from us because of the amount of control and force involved. with this transit, we learn that we attract people that reflect our character when we stop chasing and just show up in that energy. because this transit starts off within the same hour of us having a nu moon in pisces, this energy is giving nu beginnings and fresh starts when it comes to becoming "her".

our styles are definitely changing, giving us the confidence that we need to feel hot and sexy. i don't care if your stretch marks are showing, wear dat mini skirt!!! it's time to redefine what being a woman is to you. these days, there's a lot of content about what being a woman "should" look like, but why don't we show the world what being a woman COULD look like in our own font? the return of the dark feminine is here + she's no longer allowing herself to dim her light to make herself digestible to the masses. our roles in our relationships are being highlighted in order to make sure that we aren't being too selfish + actually being collaborative in our connections.

when it comes to finances, abundance comes when you shoot your shot and stop letting fear win over your desired reality. make that first move without chasing. get risky widdit. you should be proud and confident in the your craft if it's really aligned with you. you really never know sht until you try! also, our funds are related to how we treat our bodies and how well we prioritize our health. get into the health + wellness game, babe!

* if you would like to book a cosmic sesh with me, you can do so thru my website <3 MWAH

how to alchemize with venus in aries:

stop denying that breakup that needs to happen

get grounded in your vision

make a pinterest moodboard that reflects your nu style

show up as YOU in your relationships

make that identity switch

work on your confidence - it'll set you free!!

go out + put yourself out there in real life (intentionally)

#flygrlalchemy #venus in aries #aries venus #astrology #tropical astrology #astro notes #astrology predictions #astrology readings #astro #astrology observations #astro observations #astro community #astrology community #astrology forecast #astro forecast #astrology notes #birth chart #astrology transits #fga astrology forecast #astroblr #spirituality #pisces season #february 2023 #cosmic report

[spicesweet]

any tips for someone who wants to stop counting cals and ⭐vng in 2024? (so happy you're back 💙)

first of all, ty, I'm happy to be back too 🤍

in my case, quitting counting calories worked because my entire mindset around what food really is has changed.

I'm reading SO much more on nutrition than I used to, and there are so many studies showing that our focus on calorie quantity is extremely misinformed and is actually a strategy by the food industry to keep responsibility over obesity and food-related health issues on the consumer rather than on the industry.

that made me understand that it is the quality, not the quantity of food that really matters, and that made counting calories useless: I don't need to really do math if I understand the food in front of me and how nutritious it is or isn't and how my body will go through it.

I think understanding nutrition and our body's relationship with food in a biological and chemical level is way more useful and important than doing this sick little math routine. this is still a fairly recent development for me, but it is already showing overwhelmingly positive results in my daily life.

now, it's been a long time since I quit trying to starve myself into skinniness, and for multiple reasons. first one being: it doesn't work.

well, I mean, sure, if I were to actually starve myself, it would make me lose some kilos, sure. but I don't think most people understand really how impossible it is to maintain that. only very few people have the circumstances that allow them to keep starving for a long time in order to maintain it, and the effects of that are so devastating for the body that it stops making sense to me. even in my most self-destructive phase, I wasn't trying to kill myself, I wanted to live, live the life I dreamed of. I didn't want to be a weak and stinky and hollowed shade of a person, I wanted to be pretty and small. that's still my thing. I don't want my teeth and hair to fall off, I don't want my digestive system to turn on itself, I don't want bad breath and eyesight, I just want to feel good about my body, no matter what.

and all those considerations would be if starving for that long of a period was possible for me, which it never was. I never lived alone, I only started to have food autonomy (deciding what I ate + cooking what I ate) around 7 years ago, and I've always had responsibilities and, yk, a life that required energy. plus, I've never been in a situation where food wasn't available for me, and I was never able to trick my brain into believing it.

and what happens when you have food available and you want to stay away from it is that your brain will turn on you. your brain doesn't give two fucks that you want to starve for cosmetic reasons: its job is to keep you alive no matter what. if your brain knows you can eat but are choosing not to, the second it becomes too hungry to handle your basic needs, it will do whatever it takes for you to eat, and if it has to turn on you, it will. if it has to give you cravings, it will, if it has to start a stream of self-hating thoughts to get you to give up, it will. if it has to break you, it will.

(does that sound familiar for anyone who has a frequent or chronic binge eating issue?)

understanding that + understanding more about the food industry, health, nutrition and biology made me realize that this would be a vicious cycle of pain and struggle followed by frustration and even more pain, and it would result in nothing.

the urges haven't gone away, of course. I still think of starving myself as nice. I still love hunger pains. I find it exciting and sweet. I still see it as a "tool" that makes me calm down when I'm having a very hard time. it still gives me a sense of control and discipline.

but so does keeping my diet, exercising every single day, learning about nutrition and health. that also makes me feel like I'm in charge, like I'm the person I want to be already, even if my size is not the one I want. and with this type of discipline and struggle, I actually see results. not the "I didn't eat for 3 days so I'm dehydrated and that makes it look like I've lost weight and got smaller but if I put a single peanut in my mouth I'll be worse than before" results (again, familiar, anyone?), but the kind of day-to-day progress, the quiet and surprising type.

some motivation I've gathered for myself: when I was one month into my diet+exercise regime, I started to hear from my husband how much my body had changed. within two months, I went to a pool party where my friend said I was the one with the best body out of all of us, that I was in great shape. in three months, my older clothes started to drop from my frame. this had NEVER happened before, not in the decade and so that I tried to waste my body away. not a single fucking time.

I'm not saying that shifting into this lifestyle is easy (it literally took me my whole life to start it lol) but it's what makes sense to me now. it's what makes me resilient and proud and it's what makes me happy even if I'm still obsessive and still technically clinically ill. but at least I'm over that issue. yk?

I hope this helps you, sorry I wrote so much, I literally can't shut the fuck up about this subject HAHAHA 🤍✨

#love letters #flowerlog

[elenjaxx]

Burnout, Nagoski sisters

I started reading some books about healing and understanding the shady parts of our brains. Here is one of them -Burnout, by the Nagoski Sisters-,with what seems to be a summary and my opinions. I hope this helps you to decide if you want to read further. Enjoy your readings!

(en español debajo)

Above all, this book explains the primary causes of emotional exhaustion, which is one of the most impactful health crises of this century. The most important idea is that we struggle to break the cycle of stress. Thus, the book proposes mediums to control the stress cycles or, the other way around, how to avoid being controlled by them.  

Try to Close the Stress Cycle. 

This chapter explains that stress is a survival tool: the hormones released help you to run fast and regulate your body. Just by a simple hyperventilation your body is looking for an extra boost of oxygen to run away. However, nowadays it is easy to stay in stress mode and sadly maintaining that mode starts health issues: cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine or mental. The author thus proposes two solutions: exercise and creative expression. The former tricks your body into thinking it doesn’t need to use the flight or fight response because the extra energy was already spent on exercising. The latter helps to dispel the mental fog. Other vital options are, as the author says, “hugs and laughter”. 

2. Fight Stress by Building your Resilience.

The author reintroduces the key to happiness that Martin Selignman suggested: giving meaning to your life. There are no right or wrong meanings, but there must always be something. As a consequence, sometimes we find meaning in helping others, though that sacrifices our own individuality. Nagoski explains this as the Human Giver Syndrome, and believes that women usually suffer from it the most. The conclusion she arrives to is that we cannot let others punish us for finding our own meaning rather than falling into said syndrome.

3. Emotional Exhaustion Leads to Burnout. 

If your own demands and expectations can be emotionally exhausting, expectations by your family and friends brings this feeling to the edge. Emotional exhaustion leads to depersonalization and a decreased sense of accomplishment. The tunnel works here as a metaphor. When you see no end, you become exhausted and stop in the middle of the journey.

4. Rest Helps you Avoid Exhaustion.

Nagoski believes that the saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is outdated, since it leads you to exhaustion. Thus, she suggests, above all, good sleep. However, there are other ways to be productive while resting, that is: cleaning, running errands or cooking. The general idea is to do something different. For example, the author wrote this book to rest from writing fiction. Finally, she insists that sleep is crucial, for the benefits of exercise grow while sleeping, as well as the information learned that day is processed while we rest. 

5. Fight Unrealistic Expectations With Facts. 

Exhaustion is connected to our expectations. Describing huge challenges as easy will definitely drain you, so we must define our expectations accordingly and not undermine our challenges.

6. The Bikini Industrial Complex.

This is the name that the author gives to the expectations towards women, such as body ideals. The author argues with the idea of BMI to measure health and presents The Lancet’s study, which found out that overweight individuals had lower health issues than underweight people. 

7. We All Need People in Our Lives

Nagoski believes that seeing independence as success is in fact a big mistake: we are not going to perform our best if we are lonely and isolated. However, we cannot allow ourselves to be surrounded by others that depend on our abilities either. The perfect balance is a bit of both. Besides, the author explains that connections provide support, opportunities and new information. However, it is more important the quality of those connections than the quantity. 

8. Use Positive Reappraisal

To tackle stress you have to develop a strong understanding of the difference between stress and stressors, the latter being what you can actually control. Stressors can be dimmed if we schedule activities post work, for instance, such as going to the gym. Moreover, positive reappraisal could counteract stressors, such as reframing a difficult situation to find positive opportunities. All in all, seeking facts and truths is the ideal way to manage stressors.

 9. Use Planful Problem-Solving

It involves analyzing a situation filled with stressors and identifying how you can solve them or lessen frustration. Above all, a plan to prevent the impact of stressors. However, the author insists that we have to recognize struggle and remember that there is always personal growth.

10. Practice Self-Compassion

Although some self-criticism can help you improve, it can quickly sift into toxicity. It seems a good idea to personalize that toxicity as someone else that isn’t you: you can give it a name, traits and quirks, but recognize it is not yourself. That distance sparks the first steps towards healing, which always has a conclusion, a final meaning. In other words, self compassion will give you strength and will allow you to be joyful. Happiness is unsustainable because it is momentary, whereas joy stays strong if we feel gratitude towards our life.

My thoughts about this reading: 

Positive:

>The reading is easy: its grammar and vocabulary are on a medium level, which is ideal for non english natives, teens or basically people who don’t want to melt their brains in a leisure activity.

>It is refreshing to see therapy tricks in these types of books. The final chapter compresses the most important information because it actually provides you with a tool that works for everybody.

Negative:

>The other tools provided seem to be taken out of an Instagram set of tips. Everybody knows that doing exercise and sleeping is important, but when you are depressed, those things hold no meaning. I would have put the final chapter at the beginning, for it is the first step towards healing, not the last. 

>I would have loved to read about more burnout from trauma. I think the body image is an important stressor indeed, but I also believe there are more traumas the readers want to identify with. Family expectations are mentioned but, for instance, the gifted kid burnout is never explored. Body image is focused on women, which indeed makes it worse for sure, but being a contemporary book as this is, I think it should have delved into the marvel male body image too if the author wanted to expand its audience. 

I generally liked it and would recommend it, but this book is something you should read from libraries before deciding if it is important enough for you to buy it, for not all tips seem mind blowing. 

What do you think? If you have read the book or listened to one of their talks, do you want to share something? If you didn't would you explore their ideas?

He empezado a leer algunos libros para limpiar la cabecita de suciedad y entenderme mejor. Este es uno de ellos -Burnout, by the Nagoski Sisters-, con lo que creo que es un resumen y mis opiniones. Espero que esto te ayude a decidir si quieres leer más. Disfruta de tus lecturas!

“Cenizas Mentales”, Emily Nagoski: resumen

En términos generales, este libro explica las causas principales de una de las mayores crisis en la salud general: el agotamiento emocional. La idea más importante es lo difícil que nos resulta romper los bucles de estrés. Por eso, este libro propone ideas para controlar esos bucles de estrés y también nos indica cómo hacer lo contrario: no dejar que nos controlen.

Procura Romper los Bucles de Estrés. 

El capítulo presenta el estrés como una herramienta de supervivencia: las hormonas que se utilizan en el estrés permiten al cuerpo correr rápido y prepararse para un ataque. Con una simple hiperventilación, el cuerpo busca un extra de oxígeno para salir huyendo. Sin embargo, actualmente es bastante sencillo quedarse atrapados en el estrés, provocando problemas de salud relacionados con el corazón, el tracto digestivo, problemas endocrinos o mentales. Por lo tanto, la autora propone dos soluciones: el ejercicio y la creatividad. El primero engaña al cuerpo para que piense que los beneficios del estrés no son necesarios, ya que se han agotado en el ejercicio físico. El último es una forma de aclarar la mente. Otras opciones importantes según la autora son “abrazos y risas”. 

2. Desarrolla Resiliencia para Combatir el Estrés

La autora nos introduce a las ideas sobre la felicidad de Martin Selignman, quien proponía que la clave estaba en buscar un significado a la vida. Insistía en que no hay buenos o malos significados, pero que siempre tiene que haber algo. Como consecuencia, muchos encontramos ese significado ayudando a los demás, pero esto acaba sepultando nuestras propias necesidades. Nagoski tacha esto del Síndrome del Humano Entregado, y opina que las mujeres son quienes más lo sufren. Por último, llega a la conclusión de que no podemos dejar que otros nos castiguen por buscar ese significado para nuestra vida, y que tampoco podemos encerrarnos en este síndrome para evitar el castigo de los demás. 

3. El Cansancio Emocional solo Deja Cenizas en tu Cabeza.

Si ya de por sí tus propias exigencias y expectativas son emocionalmente agotadoras, las expectativas de tus relaciones sociales te van a llevar al límite. El cansancio emocional provoca una despersonalización y una sensación de que todos tus logros son en vano. La autora aquí utiliza la metáfora del túnel: cuando no ves el final del camino, te cansas y te paras a la mitad del trayecto. 

4. Descansar Evita ese Agotamiento.

Nagoski cree que “lo que no te mata te hace más fuerte” es un dicho ya anticuado, porque lo que hace es llevarte hasta el agotamiento. Por ello, sugiere solucionarlo con buenas horas de sueño. Sin embargo, hay otras formas de ser productivos y descansar: limpiar, hacer recados, cocinar. La idea general aquí es que debemos hacer algo diferente a lo que nos estresa. Por ejemplo, la autora escribió este libro como descanso de escribir ficción. Finalmente, vuelve a insistir en la importancia del sueño, ya que los beneficios del ejercicio funcionan mientras dormimos, así como la información recibida durante el día se procesa en el inconsciente. 

5. Utiliza la Verdad contra Las Altas Expectativas.

El agotamiento está conectado a tus expectativas. Describir grandes retos como simples actividades va a exprimirte, así que debemos definir nuestras expectativas acorde al reto que se nos presenta, y no hacerlo más pequeño de lo que es.  

6. El Bikini Capitalista.

Así describe la autora a las expectativas sobre el cuerpo de la mujer. Nagoski está en contra del IMC como herramienta para medir la salud y como argumento nos presenta el estudio de The Lancet, el cual prueba que las personas con sobrepeso tienen menos riesgos de salud que las personas en infrapeso. 

7. Todos Necesitamos a Alguien.

Nagoski piensa que ver la independencia como sinónimo del éxito es en realidad un craso error: no vamos a hacerlo mejor por estar alejados y solos. Sin embargo, tampoco podemos rodearnos de otros que dependan de nuestras habilidades. El equilibrio perfecto está en tener un poco de ambos. Además, la autora indica que las relaciones nos proveen de apoyo, oportunidades y nueva información. Sin embargo, lo más importante es la calidad de esas relaciones, no la cantidad.  

8. Sé Realista con el Problema.

Para luchar contra el estrés, lo primero que tenemos que hacer es diferenciarlo de los factores estresantes, que son lo que podemos controlar. Estos factores pueden hacerse más pequeños si planeamos actividades después del trabajo, como ir al gimnasio. Además, ser realistas con el problema nos ayuda a reevaluar la situación para encontrar los puntos positivos. Después de todo, buscar la verdad y los hechos es lo ideal para controlar esos factores estresantes. 

9. Haz un Plan para Resolver el Problema.

Debemos analizar los factores estresantes e identificar las formas de resolverlos o al menos no dejar que nos frustren tanto. En otras palabras, reconocer que los problemas existen y  que siempre hay espacio en ellos para el crecimiento personal. 

10. Trátate con Cariño.

Aunque algo de crítica personal puede ayudarte a mejorar, rápidamente se puede convertir en toxicidad. Sería una buena idea personalizarla, darle una voz y unos gestos, para entender que esa toxicidad no somos nosotros, sino un ser externo. Al marcar esa distancia también abrimos camino a la curación cuyo final es encontrar esa definición personal. En otras palabras, al tratarnos con cariño, encontramos la fuerza y las ganas de disfrutar. La felicidad es temporal, pero el disfrute sigue en pie mientras agradezcamos lo que tenemos. 

Mi opinión: 

Positiva:

>La lectura es sencilla: la gramática y el vocabulario tienen un nivel intermedio, ideal para no nativos del idioma, adolescentes o básicamente gente que no quiere fundir sus neuronas en una actividad relajante.

>Es un soplo de aire fresco ver consejos de terapia reales en este tipo de libros. El capítulo final tiene la información más importante del libro, ya que facilita una herramienta que funciona para todo el mundo. 

Negativa:

>Las otras herramientas parecen una lista de consejos de Instagram. Todo el mundo sabe que el ejercicio y el sueño son importantes pero, bajo un trastorno depresivo, estos no tienen significado alguno. Yo hubiera puesto el capítulo final al principio, porque es el primer paso para curarse, no el último. 

>Me hubiera encantado leer más sobre el trauma. Creo que los ideales físicos son factores estresantes importantes, pero opinio que hay más traumas con los que el lector se puede identificar. Por ejemplo, se mencionan las expectativas familiares o de trabajo, pero no se explora la figura del estudiante brillante fracasado. Además, la imagen corporal se focaliza en las mujeres y, aunque opino que lo tienen peor y es realmente importante hablar de ello, para ser un libro contemporáneo le falta hablar de la figura imposible que Marvel vende a los cuerpos masculinos, si quiere expandir su audiencia. 

En términos generales me gusta y recomiendo su lectura, pero creo que este libro debe leerse primero en una biblioteca antes de decidir si para ti es lo suficientemente importante como para comprarlo. 

¿Qué opinas tú? Si te has leído el libro o escuchado alguna de las charlas de las autoras, ¿quieres compartir algo? Si no lo has hecho, ¿explorarías sus ideas?

#burnout #amelia nagoski #emily nagoski #mental health #salud mental #agotamiento #book blog #books and reading #book review #reseña #lectura #biblioteca

[baeleigh]

I am angry and so I'm ranting about the recent tragedy in the US so here's your heads up if you don't want to read on

The US' decisions on what they ban is fucking insane.

A book written about the holocaust depicting what the authors father went through as a survivor, depicted in a fashion digestible for children to learn vital history. Banned, probably so that the children of america don't realise that the decisions their government continues to make (ie banning books, limiting what history you can and cant learn and the continual stripping of rights given to those who they see as 'different') are decisions overly similar to another historical government featured in books such as maus. Its the Nazis, im referencing the Nazis.

But guns? Fully automatic rifles? How could they take them away, what about the 2nd amendment? Each time a mass shooting happens the same pattern repeats;

people die,

the question how the fuck are we allowing this to continue? Is asked,

the president makes a speech saying how sad a loss of life is,

the same phrases are thrown around 'we need to look at mental health' its too soon to do anything, let people mourn',

pro gun lobbyists spout bullshit about how gun control doesn't work and that the answer is instead more people having guns.

And then nothing happens, and the cycle repeats. No matter how many kids get shot. KIDS! CHILDREN ARE BEING FUCKING MURDERED but nooooo, 'you cant take our guns'.

If you are one of the people who believe that there shouldnt be gun control, dont respond to this, because as far as i see it you're giving every school shooter, every mass shooting fucktard a big kiss and a high five.

This isnt about you and your hobby (because thats what it is, a fucking hobby) this is about stopping children from being butchered in schools. The worst thing kids should have to deal with at school is bullies and bad grades, not being fucking gunned down.

'But Bailey, you're an Australian, it doesn't concern you' some gun toting moron might say. Yes i am, so listen when i say: cunt, kids are dying it doesn't matter where I'm from i don't want kids to get shot and neither should you, fuckhead

Those kids didn't have to die, and i can not even begin to imagine what their families are dealing with. If i lost my little brother i don't know what I'd do, its outside my scope of imagination. But these families, like so many before are dealing with it first hand and it breaks my heart knowing nothing will change.

#TW talk about US mass shooting #texas

[electricpoolshark]

I got hit with an overwhelming confluence of melancholy and nostalgia this afternoon because of art. My art, specifically. I feel so... guilty isn't quite the right word, but it's the closest I have right now. I feel so guilty sometimes about my art because I'm a gifter, right? I love giving and making things to make people smile (feel is more accurate with some things, but always to a welcome end, if that makes sense).

There's some difficulty with that in regards to how I make art. I don't do fanfic- I wrote a few, sure, but I get this sense of fear writing other people's characters, especially ones perceived as keystones. It's not enjoyable for me. I write my own stories, but they're almost all related to Aeln, which, I can't share with the broad spectrum of people because it's niche and also spoileriffic for the rest of the people that would be interested.

And, generally, I don't write fluff. I'm not against fluff. I love fluff. It's fun and enjoyable and sometimes I just want to read something sweet and fun. But my writing, I don't tend towards easily digestible work. (My music is more on the softer end when I create, but I'll argue that that's at least an equal gamble on sharing, in part due to some of the personal nature of music that shows differently in prose, and in part due to the unpredictability of listening to your friend bang out a middling cover of some indie song you heard twice on TikTok. But I'm sensitive to sound, so ymmv.)

And that's where my lament comes in. I want to be able to make things for my loved ones to help... ease the pain of living? Celebrate the little joys of life? All of the above and more? And I can't send complex dishes and can barely send baked goods in the mail (if we count home cooking as Art), which seems the simplest solution. I don't want to make something for someone that takes up unwelcome space. I don't want my stories to become a chore to make me, the gift giver, happy.

Do I want to tell stories that get people thinking? Absolutely. I want people to dig deep into my work and enjoy theorizing and the depths about which I personally think about my work. But there is that guilt that I can't send a sketch to brighten someone's day. (I know everyone has the capability to draw. My point with that is more that I don't have the physical time to learn to draw to the level I want to because I work, do grad school, exercise, write, cook, etc. I don't mentally have the energy right now, and I'm enjoying the physical crafts I do occasionally make time for. Drawing is just something I can't bring myself to do poorly, but I want encouragement in my art. It's a vicious cycle.)

I think this is yet another branch of feeling like I'm not doing enough. It's not on anyone else, really, aside from maybe genetics. My mom and I both struggle with stopping and resting until the machine that is our bodies decides it's on break. I want to do everything I want to do, you know?

All of this to say, I really do love to the point of creation but I feel like such an acquired taste sometimes.

Maybe it's the autism. Maybe I just need to stop being so precious about inspiration and write more. Maybe I need to start writing poetry again. Maybe I need to blog my thoughts out more. God knows I can't keep a diary to save my life. Maybe I need to work on my non-Aeln WIP, even if it's sad.

Unlike my stories, I don't have a witty or poignant line with which to end this. I spent my lunch break mourning the past instead of celebrating the present or preparing for the future. I think that amounts to something. I wish I knew what

#shark talks #vent #sort of at least #definitely a set of observations for sure #rambling on and on is a character trait i give my OCs sometimes but rarely do I do it outside of text #in part because my brain and my mouth are set to different speeds and the remote is nonexistent #bonus points if you read the whole thing #the answer is i'm ok i'm also feeling particularly strongly #and i have homework i don't want to do

[tarnishedxknight]

Meta Topic: Noah’s Chronic Nethicite Poisoning

{out of dalmasca} I wanted to take the time to detail my interpretation of Noah with regard to the nethicite poisoning that he suffers from as a result of exposure in Landis as a youth. The majority of this information is headcanons, with a few bits of canon thrown in, but I always try to make things as realistic and believable in conjunction with canon as possible. Consider all of this information as true for Noah in his threads unless otherwise stated. Noah is... not a well man, heh. It’s actually amazing that he has been able to accomplish all that he has with the daily list of issues he faces.

{ PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS }

Amber eyes: The most immediately visible physical sign that Noah has nethicite poisoning is the fact that the irises of his eyes are an orange/amber color and they glow slightly. His eyes were naturally blue before being poisoned, the same as Basch’s, but because of his exposure during the fall of Landis, Mist has collected in his eyes, giving the appearance of amber eye color. And Mist, the magical fog-like substance that results from nethicite combustion, glows with an orange light, so that’s where it comes from. Noah’s eyes actually do glow in the dark. Faintly, but they do. I’ll go more into the magical symptoms Noah has a bit later.

Sterility: Something else I’ll continue to discuss in the “magical” section of symptoms is the fact that nethicite poisoning (supposedly) sterilized Noah. Nethicite poisoning and the effects of Mist on the body share many symptoms with radiation poisoning, for example hair falling out, shedding skin, teeth falling out, or becoming sterile. Nethicite will actually set off a Geiger counter in modern or MCU AUs, so who’s to say it does not share some of the same properties? Not everyone has the same symptoms and it depends upon duration and acuteness of exposure, but all these symptoms are possible. Noah... believed he was sterile, for he really should have been, only to father Larsa with Amoretta Solidor. 

Organ damage: Just like the symptoms of radiation poisoning mentioned above, nethicite poisoning can also result in organ damage. At any given time, Noah could have painful digestive issues, problems with his eyesight, muscle or bone aches, or he could suffer from respiratory ailments. Noah has a chronic cough, and it is not altogether uncommon for him to cough up small amounts of blood at times. The Mist in his body is constantly working to repair the damage to his organs even as it is also simultaneously causing it, leaving his body in a constant state of cycling health issues. For the most part, however, he gets by with his lung ailments. Actually, all that coughing over the years has resulted in him having an increased lung capacity.

Slower metabolism: Nethicite poisoning dramatically slows down the body’s metabolism. Because of this, Noah has a decreased need for food and water, something that has come in very handy for him over the years while training hard to rise to the level of Judge Magister, and while fighting in numerous wars and battles. When others have to stop for hydration or nutrition, he can keep going. Noah only needs to eat one large, decent meal every 2 days or so, and to drink water maybe once a day. He can eat and drink more, but he has to be careful not to gain weight too quickly, unless he’s trying to build muscle.

Chronic fatigue: The downside of having a slower metabolism is that Noah tires very easily. He’s overcome some of this with training and learning how to push through his fatigue to find his second, third, or tenth wind, heh, but it’s still a problem. He’s gotten very good at faking not seeming exhausted, tired, sleepy, dazed, etc., but he can only pretend for so long before he needs to rest. As a result, he needs about 10-12 hours of sleep a day to be perfectly rested as opposed to most other people needing about 6-8 hours. He... rarely ever gets that much sleep, though.

Fast “healing”: Mist is a very volatile, active, and seemingly almost curiously sentient medium. Whenever Noah becomes injured, the Mist inside his body will begin to repair him. But... it is an imperfect process. Imagine trying to repair a shattered ceramic item... with masking tape. Yeah, that’s not going to work very well, heh. The result is something that might be in the same shape and might hold together for some time, but its structural integrity will suffer and it can only handle so much stress before it’ll break again. The same is true when Noah is injured. The Mist will quickly do a half-assed job of “healing” him, and that might save his life by temporarily reforming organs and stopping blood flow, but he will need to rest to heal completely naturally or he’ll need potions, spells, or some other kind of magical help to fully heal his injuries.

{ MENTAL SYMPTOMS }

Increased risk of insanity long-term: It is canon that nethicite exposure negatively affects the brain/mind. Chronic sufferers may experience altered perception, delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, or a detachment from reality the longer their condition persists. I personally think that Noah was beginning to experience some of these symptoms by the end of the game.

Increased volatility and intensity of emotions: Nethicite poisoning takes emotions that are already there and amplifies them. It also causes extreme and frequent mood swings. Noah was already a very intense person to begin with, just by his own nature, and his condition doesn’t help matters any. He has the tendency to suddenly fly off the handle about something, which isn’t good in his line of work. He’s had to fight very hard to control outbursts of rage and sadness over the years. Sometimes... he’s not able to help it.

Increased aggression: One of the major symptoms of nethicite poisoning is increased aggression. This can manifest in a desire to hurt others, to break things and destroy property, or to lash out violently or verbally. Again, Noah has had to discipline himself very well to control his temper and Mist-enhanced desires to become violent outside of a battle setting.

Confusion, decreased clarity/focus, and memory loss: Sometimes Noah becomes disoriented for seemingly no reason. He might forget what he came into a room for, forget the date, repeat himself without realizing it, struggle with basic math for longer than he should, things like that. These little lapses in memory and mental clarity are due to Mist collecting in his brain. As it moves around and the distribution of it in different parts of his brain changes, it affects his cognitive abilities.

{ MAGICAL SYMPTOMS }

For my own personal fictional fantasy worlds that I’ve developed for my novels, the magic of sorcerers, healers, priests, etc. tends to collect in parts of the body that contain the most nerve density. In other words, the most capacity for feeling, pain, and/or pleasure. So, in the brain, the eyes, the mouth, the reproductive organs, and the hands. This is why magical is often given power and direction by speaking certain words, making hand gestures, or by having a direct line of sight between you and your intended target. This could also hold true for Noah, whose eyes are clearly a collection point for Mist within his body based on their orange glow. It makes sense, given the symptoms he suffers from, and... for another unfortunate symptom mentioned briefly above, sterility.

Noah expected himself to be sterile due to his poisoning and so did Amoretta. The fact that he isn’t, or at least that he isn’t completely or all the time, is curious. He may have been completely sterile for a number of years after his initial exposure, the Mist accumulating in his reproductive organs having been the cause. But, over time and as he continues to live with the poisoning like a chronic illness, his body seems to adapt to it in some ways. It is possible that after a while, his body began to regenerate certain capacities like fertility despite his continued poisoned state.

{ REVENANT STATE }

All of the above symptoms are true for living Noah before he dies in any way. After he dies, he will wake up again as a revenant unless his body is irrevocably destroyed via decapitation, bifurcation, or burning. Depending on how intact the body is at the time of death and the level of Mist in the body, a person may rise as if they had never died in the first place... or as a mindless ghoul. In Noah’s case, he died from a blow to the back of his head when Cid threw him against a wall at the Pharos. It likely cracked his skull and caused traumatic brain injuries, resulting in his death. However, his body was almost fully intact, and he has high levels of Mist in his body, so he woke up again pretty much like his normal self. At least... visually...

Technically, Revenant!Noah is a form of undead, meaning that he’s no longer alive in the traditional sense but he’s still walking and talking and living his life. He doesn’t need to eat or drink in this state but he often chooses to simply for pleasure. He also becomes immortal, meaning unless his body is destroyed in on of the manners I mentioned earlier, he will go on living. Well, “living.” This is how he is some 5K+ years old in MCU AUs where he has been alive the entire time Basch and/or Ashelia were in stasis.

{ OTHER NOTES }

Issues with healing magic: My version of Noah cannot successfully magically heal anyone but himself. This is because he is not naturally capable of magic like those of Dynast King lines (Ashe for example), nor has he trained or studied magic to become proficient at it in some way (like Basch). So all of his magical ability stems entirely from the Mist within his body. That is what powers his spells. When he “heals,” he uses Mist to do it. This is okay if the person already has nethicite poisoning, but if they don’t, he actually might do more harm than good by essentially pumping Mist energy into the body of a healthy person. In contrast, if he heals himself magically, all he’s doing is concentrating the Mist that’s already in his body into a certain wounded area. This will cause him fatigue, but it would also help repair his body more quickly, at least in the short term.

Forms of Noah’s magic: My version of Noah manifests his magic mainly through offensive spells in battle, with some defensive and bolstering spells that affect himself. Offensive spells are often meant to cause harm or destruction, and so he doesn’t care that he’s using Mist to cast them. Defensive and bolstering magic, however, would cause harm or illness to someone else if he tried to cast it on them. But for himself, he can throw up shields, enhance his weapons or armor, make himself faster or stronger for a time, or give himself a little boost of energy if he is feeling fatigued.

Hope for recovery or being cured: In my canon for the FFXII world, nethicite poisoning can only be healed by someone whose magic stems from the Occuria. So, one of Dynast lineage like Ashelia could be capable of it if their magic happens to take a healing form and they can become strong enough to completely cure all the poisoning in someone’s body. Ashelia happens to be very innately powerful, even when unpracticed, and her magic naturally does take a healing form (in my canon, at least, because in the game I always made her a healer, heh). She accidentally cured Basch of his nethicite poisoning when she was only ten years old because she’d been so upset at his failing health that her tiny self wished so hard, her magic misfired. She ended up passing out from the effort, but when she woke, Basch was cured. From that moment on, she studied and practiced to perfect the arts of healing. So... in any AU where Noah has access to Ashelia, it would be possible for her to cure him as well. That is not to say that in a modern or MCU AU there isn’t some cutting-edge medical treatment that might be able to also cure him or to minimize his symptoms. I’m willing to leave that open to whatever fudgery might be needed in a given thread. XD

That’s all I can think of right now, but as I detail more, I’ll add to this post! =)

#{ out of dalmasca } ᵒᵒᶜ #{headcanons} #alt muse: noah #tw: physical health #tw: mental health #tw; medical issues

[eatwellnutrition]

Is Your Stress Stressing You Out?

Cortisol is a steroid hormone our adrenal glands produce. Cortisol and adrenaline are essential to regulating our blood sugar, fat storage, and mobilization of our metabolism. They drive our sexual desire and our hormone cycles and levels. In case of an emergency, they put you into fight mode to get you out of danger. Your adrenaline is working with Cortisol by raising your blood pressure and increasing heart rate and oxygenation. It is working to protect our bodies from infection and danger. Your body has an immediate immune response releasing inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Functions like digestion and reproduction get sidelined because those can be done later when you are out of danger. 

INFLAMMATION

Cortisol works to keep inflammation from getting out of hand. It is essential for our survival. We need Cortisol, just not every minute of every day. Our adrenal glands should naturally secrete cortisol in a rhythmic fashion. It goes up and down throughout our day. But when we are under chronic stress, it is ramped up all day. This is when problems start to arise. 

People ask me all the time if stress can really make them fat. And the answer is yes, it really can. It could be the reason you aren't losing that weight, even though you are following a strict diet, counting macros, and exercising. If you are experiencing a lot of stress from work or family, then performing a stressful workout, and stressing out about counting your macros, then you are just piling on more stress. 

CORTISOL

Cortisol tells your liver to convert stored energy into your bloodstream. Elevated blood glucose is good when you are being chased by a bear, but not when you are sitting at your desk stressing out to meet a work deadline or laying in bed fretting about your monstrous to-do list the next day. Now, your pancreas is releasing more insulin to control your blood sugar. Elevated insulin is telling your fat cells to open up wide for more. When this system is activated all day, every day, it starts to work against us. You start noticing the pounds climb on the scale, or maybe the scale just isn't coming down. 

If you are an adult living in this world you know someone who is experiencing chronic stress. Maybe it's you. We work too much. We squeeze too much into our schedule. We eat processed crap that's easy and convenient. We go to bed too late. We get up too early. We are tired, hungry, and overworked. 

So, what do we do? Here is the conversation I have with clients and the tips I am going to give you. These are easy and simple but will take practice and self-discipline. 

1. Start saying NO, to people, events, projects, and other things that you don't NEED. 

2. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier. 

3. Turn off the t.v, the computer, and your phone at least 1 hour before bed. 

4. Eat food that grows, not food in a package.

5. Stop drinking your calories and drink water. 

6. Cut down on your daily caffeine. 

These are key things I practice regularly, I am not perfect, and it has taken time, but I promise they yield good fruit. If you still need help book a FREE Clarity Call with me to learn about optimizing your health and nutrition.

#stress #cortisol #stress management #reduce stress #women health

[creampievampire]

i wish people realized that machine learning and VI, and AI are two completely different things and there is no such thing as an actual artificial intelligence currently in existence

so i am going to try to explain in a way thats easy to digest, bc tech bros have severely muddied the waters

VI means virtual intelligence. these programs that are stealing peoples art and writing and doing racist facial recognition are VIs. They function based on machine learning, which is detecting patterns in masses of data to come to logical, mathematical conclusions. these conclusions build a database of "intelligence" that it is programmed to draw from in order to do whatever it was made to do - like mash together popular art into a soulless image or spit out vaguely comprehensible scripts, etc.

the VI responsible for spitting out these things has absolutely zero understanding of the context or meaning of anything it creates. it does not know what a person is; all it knows is raw basic data and the patterns with which that data is commonly put together

this is not the same as AI

a true AI would be capable of not only learning based on data, as a VI does, but of understanding its meaning. it would not create a poem simply by cataloging data about syntax and themes and subject matter, and spit out an empty recreation of a persons soul; the AI would have a soul of its own. it would catalogue the data and then, as a human brain would, it would come to conclusions and garner meaning from it itself, and then it would create something new from its own perspective with its own critical thinking skills and life experience and opinions and feelings

the difference between a human brain and a computer is, and im simplifying here,top down vs bottom up processing

computers function exclusively on bottom up processing - this means they are given data and they are then able to process it to come to a conclusion

for example; a machine is fed a script for the entirety of the bee movie and, when the prompt "bears" is entered, it spits out a script for a sequel about barry b benson sueing bears for eating honey

now, human beings are capable of top down processing as well - this means we can process a piece of data and then expand on it by linking it to other concepts by running it through the extremely abstract filter of our own personal experience in order to create something new

for example; a person learns that beekeepers play an essential role in maintaining the bee population and promoting pollination. one day they see a vegan extremist post about how eating honey is animal cruelty and should be illegal. the person connects these two concepts and thinks, "what if a bee said that?" they write the script for the bee movie

do you see the vital difference here?

the person took two established pieces of data that are functionally unrelated and created a new concept. they took 1+1 and they ended up with 3

the computer took two established pieces of data and combined them to create a reproduction of the source material, with no new concept

now, could a person do what the computer did? yeah of course, i just demonstrated that. the human brain is capable of both types of processing

however, the computer could not do what the person did

this is the intrinsic difference between VI and AI, and what people misunderstand about self teaching machines and all of this stuff

weve all probably seen the post where a computer figured out how to make a stick figures walk cycle improve through trial and error, right? w the above methods it is reasonable that the computer can mathematically figure out how to make the figure walk better

but the figure will never stop walking and learn to sing

all of these art "AIs" will never be capable of what humans are because they simply do not have the capacity for creativity or independent thought

and until they do they are not AIs

theyre just computers

#ai #ai art discourse #long post #frog talks #also im not saying that computer bad #computers help artists for SURE lol #but they will never take our place

[wyattvsmusic]

Ka - Languish Arts / Woeful Studies ALBUM REVIEWS

Ka’s music always takes precious time to digest and fully appreciate as his lyrics often go over my head on the first listen. His coded bars may not always be understood if you’re not paying close enough attention. I think Ka is one of the only artists I listen to that when they drop an album, I like to just sit and listen with undivided attention so I can catch every lyric. When he dropped his 8th studio album, A Martyr’s Reward last year, it seemed like a departure from his previous couple of albums which all followed some sort of theme/narrative that parallel Ka’s life and upbringing, whether that be biblical stories, ancient Greek myths, or the code of a samurai. A Martyr’s Reward still sounded exactly like a Ka album but it even more stripped back and personal than usual, which is a lot for Ka as his standard sound is often slow and drumless and he draws from real life experiences in his lyrics. He looked back on his life and career instead of rapping about what he has witnessed. At this point in his career, it seems like Ka is trying to pass his wisdom on to his listeners through his life experiences and that is exactly what his two new albums do. Languish Arts and Woeful Studies were released simultaneously and they both show Ka using his knowledge to school the next generation of black youth about the cycle of poverty and crime that impoverished neighborhoods are often subject to. He also raps about learning about one’s roots and embracing them as he raps on Still Holding, “if you produce, learn your roots / stop naming our babies Toby.” As always, Ka’s writing is incredible and he’ll often slip in a bar that will go right over your head and will catch up to you after a few listens. Ka’s clever wordplay also never fails to impress. He opens up Woeful Studies by rapping “we ain’t innocent, we into dollars.” In terms of production, both albums sound like classic Ka with very minimal drums and slow loops while Ka has plenty of room to rap so the listener catches onto every single word. One beat that really stuck out to me was Unindulged with Chuck Strangers as that song had drums and was a little faster than usual. It’s still a slow beat but fast for Ka (think the same tempo as Iron Age). I loved the way Ka was flowing on it, bringing things back to the Grief Pedigree days. I feel like on every Ka album, there is always at least one instrumental where I am so amazed by how Ka found a pocket in a drumless loop to rap. A song like Touche is a perfect example of that as the instrumental is literally one vocal sound looped and it makes me wonder how Ka picks his beats. If I heard the instrumental before, I would not have pictured how a rapper could flow over it but Ka makes it seem effortless. As for the fact that these are two separate albums that sound very similar and cover similar topics, I am still not exactly sure what differentiates them and why they were not condensed into one album. I feel like the songs on either album could belong on the other one and not sound out of place. Both Languish Arts and Woeful Studies have short runtimes which make both albums replayable and show that Ka is one of the most consistent rappers and easily one of hip hop’s greatest wordsmiths in the history of the genre. 

Fav Tracks:

Languish Arts — Forgive Me, If Not True, Unindulged, Still Holding, Family Color

Woeful Studies — We Not Innocent, We Hurting, Reap, My Only Home

#Ka #Brownsville #Languish Arts #Woeful Studies

[c-ptsdrecovery]

Update

So you know how I had been feeling really down for the last month, and I was really worried about it? ...It turns out that when you take the med I’m on for RA, you’re supposed to also take folate supplements, ‘cause the med can leach the folate out of your body. And the doc who prescribed the med hadn’t put me on folate (even tho I had read something about that and suggested it to him!!). Surprise!: folate deficiency can cause depression. I started on over-the-counter folate (AKA Vitamin B-9) as soon as I learned I was supposed to, and started feeling better almost immediately. My mood has mostly gone back to where it was in September and October: IE, everything is just SO much easier to handle, my mood is much more stable, and I’m feeling hopeful for the future instead of depressed. So that’s great!

Gone thru some stressful stuff in the last couple of weeks, but I’m holding up okay. This despite having a gastritis (?) attack and my stomach being totally on the fritz since the day after Thanksgiving. But that’s clearing up some too, which is a big relief, because I had something like this my senior year of college and it really fucked me up, both physically and emotionally. Knowing that digestive distress and my anxiety fuel one another made it easier to handle and probably stopped it from cycling downward.

So basically, I’ve been through some stressful stuff lately, but I’m feeling okay, and I feel like I’m still on the upward trend, psychologically.