#hopeful things

[monstrous-femme]

I think sometimes, if not often, the reason we numb ourselves to our feelings is that we know if we allowed ourselves to fully feel them, things couldn't go on the way they've been.

* A little over a year ago, I realized I had to leave my job.

I didn't want to. I had stumbled into the job I was in, and had no idea how to get a different one that would pay a living wage. I had loved that job once. It was a big part of my identity. I'd sacrificed things for it.

And I couldn't go on.

Burnout was starting to affect my health, both physical and mental. It was affecting my relationships. By the time the weekend started, I was already dreading the upcoming week. Leaving meant having to make things change. I didn't have the energy. I didn't know how to do it. But once I'd fully let myself feel the feeling, I couldn't go on the way I had.

What followed was one of the hardest years of my life. I worked temp jobs. Things got easier, then harder, than much harder, then easier again. I kept thinking I'd reached the end and then more things would come up. I worried a lot.

And it wasn't just the one change. Once the job changed, other things in my life started changing too. Old trauma came to the surface. My relationships changed. I experienced huge loss of identity, and the ways I tried to fill that hole didn't always feel authentic to me. I tried out lots of different things. Some worked. Others didn't. Many worked, but in different ways or timelines than I expected. Nobody could tell me how it was going to go, or when things would get easier, or if they ever would.

But they did.

I will always think of 2023 as one of the hardest years of my life, but it was also the year I started going to open mics and sharing my poetry. It was the year my wife and I started going on dates again. I rekindled one of my closest friendships. It was the year I started taking walks, the year I was hired to teach collage classes (me! a paid art teacher, at least on second saturdays!), the year I wrote 3 drafts of a poetry collection. The year I went to two beach parties in one day. The year I got to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.

Today, in early 2024, I went on a walk after a few days of feeling under the weather. I bought myself a cup of tea and carried it in the hand not holding my umbrella. I listened to a new album by a band I like. And I kept looking at the trees, and feeling the wind on my skin, and the thing is, I couldn't stop smiling. Over and over, I smiled at the world that had once felt so impossible to live in.

I wasn't numb anymore, and it didn't hurt so much.

#idk man idk #hopeful things #if you read this to the end ily #this was such a weird year of my life but i'm glad to have lived it and made it to this spot #and if you're going through something similar and it's hard I hope this gives you hope

[lyrifaun]

Sometimes you get very tired and feel haunted and frustrated with most things. But then you pull in some enormous green beans from your garden and you sauté em with some slivered almonds, and butter, and garlic salt, and chopped onions. And you made a beautiful thing, and it’s warm and tasty and you’re proud of it and you might be okay actually.

#eventually. #feelsy things #but also #hopeful things #gardening #don’t mind me I’m just getting in my feelings #again

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

#i often wonder about how many things would be considered classic or high art had they only received the marketing #how many short films that were made for class could have been the most powerful thing you'd ever seen? if you'd seen them? #“you know the greatest films of all time were never made” etc etc #but like. these works of art ARE being made. it's just enjoyed by a smaller audience with equal impact though #i think about this one furry i used to follow on insta who had the coolest worldbuilding ever. it's been years. #thought prompted by that sketch of nimona from ten years ago that was just for a character design #posted to the creator's tumblr and now it's nominated for best animated feature film at the oscars #and by the genuine emotional reaction a fan comic made me feel. how much work had gone into it. how beautiful it was to me. #idk what to tag this but i hope whoever needs to hear it does #writing #writer #fandom #fandom culture #artist

[marypsue]

Keep seeing that post where OP starts like 'Thinking about...grieving the undead' and then adds on about like. Real life situations where people have not died but have left your life and you would have reason to grieve them.

All respect, that's an important concept, but that is not what I am thinking about when I read 'grieving the undead'.

#your brother is a vampire. he's sitting across the table from you chatting with your mother about her day #and he's dead and he's gone and he's never coming back. #he laughs the same and he talks the same but his arm is cold when he grabs you in a headlock and your dog won't be in the same room with hi #he'll still hang around watching TV with you and give you wedgies and make stupid jokes #but you can't tell him about the bullies at school anymore because this thing with your brother's face will just find them and kill them. #and not even stupid fucking Jason deserves what the monster in your dead brother's skin would do to him. #your brother is dead and lost and right there in arm's reach and gone forever with no hope of ever getting him back. #i'm sure there are corollaries to be written about like ghosts and zombies but this is the one i'm personally hung up on recently

[daftmooncretin]

spock’s room decor is actually fucking bonkers. The weapons??? the big red velvet curtain??? like ok phantom of the opera go crazy.

for reference jim’s room has some photos and a plant so we can surmise this is uniquely a spock being a dramatic weirdo thing

#spock baby im sorry but it looks like the backdrop of one of those alpha male podcasts #nurse chapel is stronger then me because if i saw this frat boy ass decor i would have immediately gotten the ick and left #the lack of coherent design is so funny #ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW TO CURTAIN IS COVERING THE SHELVES WHICH IS SUCH A SMALL THING BUT IT MAKES ME SO MAD WHY SPOCK WHY #i hope bones never saw this room because he would have a fucking field day #star trek #star trek tos #spirk #jim kirk #spock #tos

[corviiids]

my top bit of advice going into the new year: compliment people. especially strangers. literally everyone you interact with if you can. when you buy coffee in the morning compliment the barista's tattoos. when you're chatting with a coworker tell them that by the way you like their outfit. always find something they've chosen to do on purpose. nail polish, jewellery, tattoos, hair colour/style, statement accessory, outfit, etc are all good bets. things people hope will be noticed. things that aren't too personal so it doesn't make them uncomfortable (eg probably not their physical features). i've gotten into the habit of scanning everyone i talk to for something about them that i think is cool so i can tell them. it's a great habit because it makes me notice people and realise just how many neat little details there are in people's presentation of themselves that might pass me by if i wasn't paying attention. and it brings out so much joy. you'd be surprised how much it disarms people to receive an unexpected compliment from someone they don't know. it is the most sincere smile you will see all day long. it feels nice to make people happy but it also means you win the social interaction. establish dominance by complimenting a stranger's earrings and disappearing into the fog

#rookposting #the little 'oh!' followed by a big grin is now my highlight in every interaction i have with a stranger #you can always spot the things people hope will be noticed and you have no idea how happy it makes people when it gets noticed #i find it's always better to compliment things they did deliberately vs complimenting stuff like their voice or their face or other things #that are inherent or they cant change because that can make people uncomfortable for one thing to hear that from a stranger #but it's also just less meaningful imo because they didnt do that on purpose

[dissidient]

#music #hopeful things #i love this song sm it is like a gentle hug #warm and comforting #Spotify

[ispyspookymansion]

BOO!

oh sorry….come in…..hello…welcome to my halloween party ^_^ feel free to take a piece of candy and a goodie bag before you go okay? have a fun (and nostalgic) halloween season!!

#seems like many people related to this i hope some of yall click the og post now <3 #originally this post said i dont need therapy i need to be 8 years old at halloween again #kora.txt #gritting my teeth white knuckle gripping the edge of the table. Yeah No Its Fine. #the things i will never experience again haunt me… #8 is arbitrary. anything before like. 15. would work.

[theoldaeroplane]

worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.

#writing #art #music #games #things i have to remind myself of daily #anyway ive found those things you're worried about sharing are often the most powerful things you CAN share #i hope you write #<- i would like to replace that tag with something that is less conversational #it makes reblogs awkward #anyway good morning. i have so many things to do today but instead i am crafting a memorial to my partner's best friend in my fanfiction.

[snarkspawn]

based ofc on this

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fanart #astarion ancunin #bg3 astarion #astarion #stuff and things #userpharawee #I'm back! hi :D #just a quick silly thing to try and get back into the groove after two weeks hhh #wHY do I always feel like I forgot how to draw after not drawing for a while uGH. anyway. #how have you guys been? I hope 2024 is treating you well so far ♥︎

[elizabro]

please consider how you engage with aaron bushnell's death. you may react to it as you will, but it's crucial to remember that his death was specifically a call to action. it was not meant solely to shock but to draw attention to a vast moral hypocrisy: that to many, a soldier dying in a campaign backed by the U.S. government is noble, even if the soldier kills innocents to do so, even if the cause is morally bankrupt--but this? this is insanity. a man taking his own life, on his own terms, in an attempt to help others while hurting nobody else, is somehow less rational and more horrifying than the mass killing of civilians.

of course aaron's death was horrific. but as he said beforehand, it is realistically no more horrific than what's happening in gaza. if we can't stomach this, then why can we stomach children being bombed? thousands being starved? for all that self immolation is, it brings death in a matter of minutes. it is a fraction of the amount of pain, fear, and grief that people in gaza are experiencing. it's just that we are able to quantify it. and this tiny, quantifiable sliver of horror is still so unbelievably awful. how can anyone bear to think about anything else when this horror is happening a millionfold in palestine? this is the question aaron bushnell was asking. and he wanted you to face it, head-on, watching him burn to death.

I've been seeing people make fanart. minimalist graphics to sell on t-shirts. to commodify his death, to mythologize it not a day afterwards, is not only in poor taste but a hindrance to his message. the answer is not commodification, nor is it defeatism, nor is it rejoicing in his death. if you want to honor aaron's legacy, take action. channel your horror and your outrage into making a material change. this wasn't about him. this was about palestine. remember that it was always about palestine.

#aaron bushnell #I didn't want to make another post about this but #watching that video changed me irrevocably. #there have been many instances during this genocide that I've felt that way. and today is another one of those days. #I have been radicalized permanently by these events. #people speak to aaron's death as a result of hopelessness #but I see it as him having profound hope. he had hope that his death would change things. #and it is up to those still alive to ensure that happens. #free palestine

[bluebeesknees]

❤️‍🩹

#getting that spontaneous haircut was definitely the worst thing that happened yup #putting my faves into anime bandages™️ and hoping for the best #i hc he has trouble speaking for a while after qwq #satosugu #jjk #jjk fanart #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #suguru geto #gojo #geto #my art #bluebeesart #art #art on tumblr #sketch #doodle #geto suguru

[ash-and-starlight]

taking the crumbs of venetian agna qel’a chewing biting gnashing on them until there aren’t even bones left and then spitting out. carnevale northern water tribe style

#id in alt text #plus lil zukkini kissini bonus bc this year carnival fell the day before valentine's day #aaand posting it at almost midnight so we get the Perfect meeting point of the two dates #not bc i drew everything in a rabid frenzy & finished it NOW #anyway venetian carnival in the nwt. hi. is this thing on can anyone hear me. #and when i start talking about the marriage to the sea ceremony- [gunshot] #ough i wish i had more time to draw more masks in sakha-venice fusion style but alas. only had time & brain space for the blorbos 😔 #hope this is enough to send the Vision Wavelenghts #yue #sokka #katara #zuko #zukka #my art

[oicuperp]

in the fight club. straight up "fighting it". and by "it", haha, well. let's justr say. Myself

#is this thing on #hope im the first one to do this or i'll cry . #sid.txt #fight club #fight club 1999 #the narrator #fight club narrator #narrator fight club

[freitag1607]

1.05 / Battle of the Labyrinth

#I FEEL SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS #percy jackson #pjo tv show #percy jackson and the olympians #pjotv #percabeth #pjo #screaming crying #mine #100 #500 #1k #5k #im in the middle of packing and this sent me frantically looking for my copies of pjo #anyway #i feel so insane i feel like im gonna die can anyone hear me. CAN ANYONE HEAR ME #annabeth has been so disconnected from the mortal world and just so fundamentally unable to enjoy her childhood #it makes me want to sob like seriously #i hope her and percy go on so many movie dates. like #not even just her and percy i hope percy tells grover and word spreads around camp and movie nights just become a thing at camp #because all these babies deserve it #god im gonna die. im seriously gonna die #WE KNOW THERE'S AN ORIENTATION VIDEO #SO THEY HAVE A PROJECTOR AND A SCREEN #MOVIE NIGHTS COULD HAPPEN!!! #okay bye. i'm going to go scream about percabeth some more

[stuckinapril]

Even in the midst of the new year’s excitement, I genuinely can’t stop being haunted by thoughts of Palestine. We have the privilege of celebrating the new year, making resolutions, looking forward to the blessings in the year ahead—but many Palestinian children didn’t get that privilege. Hundreds upon hundreds of children far younger than me have died in the past 3 months; won’t get the luxury of sharing in this flurry of excitement and joy. Many more are biding their time, not knowing when their last day is. Tonight will mark a new beginning, but I hope it also heralds a year of far more people advocating for Palestine, sharing the atrocities that have been committed in Palestine, boycotting brands supporting Palestinian genocide, and just all around finally coming to terms with the fact that Palestinian genocide SHOULD be their concern—even if they’re not being directly affected by it. More people need to be aware that educating themselves on this should not be a choice, but a responsibility and a must.

#i cant stop thinking about this. i do truly hope things will change #palestine #Israel #gaza