#omg this is so looong I am sorry!! I talked to much about them! haha

[little-puku]

🖼🧣❤️

🖼 - Which of these paintings does your oc relate to the most?

Kaede

He has 2 he likes a lot the first one been Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868) by Marie Denise Villers and Bouquet of Sunflowers by Claude Monet

The first one because for some reason it reminder him to how he view himself "always focusing on his work... on his studio by himself" (a bit of a bitter sweet memory) the second one because his favorite flowers are sunflowers and he is always drawing them, they bring him joy and makes him very happy

Gabi

He likes a lot the Young Woman Seated on a Sofa by Berthe Morisot

For some reason he likes the colours of the paint, how soft they look and the hat, if he is seen the paint with someone he will imitate a "old woman" voice saying something like "come here young one, sit with me h e h e, want some tea?"

Sugi

She is number one fan of Kaede so she will always love his work over someone else but she likes the A Cowherd at Valhermeil, Auvers-sur-Oise by Camille Pissarro the reason been that Kaede draws very pretty landscapes and it reminder her of a time where both used to travel as kids to the Moomoo farm. It also reminder her to her Day care center having a wide green space for The Pokémon she is in charge

🧣- What outfit would they wear on a cute coffee shop date?

Kaede

Lets said... the man has not much of clothing options and all of them always have some paint stain on it, he is always feeling cold so he wear long big clothes. His shoes options are his sleepers or sandals.... yes just 2.. If he is dating someone he will start to worry what to wear because he doesn't want to give a bad impression but his fashion sense is very bad so he will ask for advice. He will always try his best to looks decent!

Gabi

He will try to be casual about the clothes choose, will bring a tote bag because gotta carry stuff if you need it, tennis and shorts he will might go for a change wearing pants or jeans but his always to go are "short" it makes him feel more confortable

Sugi

She loves dates with friends or her partner, she will always go for a dress! she might wear long stocking if the dress is to short but she will want to look as cute as possible, she will also bring a small gift for the person she will go out that day to make their day special

❤️ - What does your ocs dream date look like?

Kaede

Kaede is a romantic soul, so he will always try to do his best for the date to be the best and perfect, he will shower you with compliments and silly lil things how amazing you are, he might get you something cute to wear like an accesorie or something if you are up to that. His date ideas include, going to a fair, go with him! he will be super happy! like you see this man tired all the time? BAM!! suddenly a burst of energy! he will tell you about the place, the games, the food about everything! he will try to win you those fair toys (might not look like it but he is pretty good at those so have for sure you will bring home one of those big plushie and other prices, he always win on those)

If you want something more relaxed he will take you to a nice place to enjoy the view, relax, eat something and cuddle with him (don't cuddle to much he might fall sleep! good luck waking him up!), if you like something in particular he will take you there, like this man will move mountains to take you there!!

the third option is one he rarely brings... unless the person is really interested in him and likes what he does, since he knows how art is for many people and how troublesome could be he will do a small "crafty date" by this he mean he will want you to try a craft or your choose or his choose, the idea is "Doesn't matter the result what matters is that you create something without thinking, just be you" even him he will just do it for fun (finger painting, drawing with dirt, whatever), he wont take it as he seriously as he usually will do with his work, he will just do some wonky work and give it to you if you liked it haha you might not even create anything if you are just playing around with paint he just want to have fun and share something he really likes

Gabi

Have for sure he will go pick you up on his motorcycle and he will take you anywhere on it (he just like his partner to hold into him, he will try to hold your hand a loooot during the date). His date ideas usually are a "gaming arcade" he is pretty good at rythm games so he will ask you to play "DDR" with him, he wont necessary will want to win those arcade ticket just to have fun with you, if both happened to won those tickets he will ask for the most silly price, plastic sword? yep! heart glittery sunglasses? yeeep, fake mustachio? he will get it, stupid shaped hat? good luck making him to take it off for the rest of the date haha

Second option is only if the person is up to it, like a chill day at the house, movies, watching anime, games, doing make up or whatever, he wont force it but he actually enjoy cooking and baking a lot, if he makes you food or some baking good, he is reaaaaaaally into you he just want the closeness and fun of the person during this

The third option is a Disco rolling skating! remember how I said he likes closeness? well this is the perfect thing for this! dude likes dancing, he likes doing this kind of silly things, can't do any of that? no problem he will teach you how! just spend time with him. Dude likes to make you laugh but if someone makes fun of you, will tell them to F*** off and mind their own business, he got your back just be silly as much as you want with him.

Sugi

She is more of a classic date thingy, she enjoys picnics and beach dates, just take her to somewhere pretty or a special place for you and she will be super happy, picnics she will be more than happy just chatting, playing, watching the clouds under a tree eating something yummy?! yeeep that's a 100! she will also will try to make flowers crowns on you, if you choose the picnic she will bring homemade food or will ask you if you want to prepare the food with her

The beach date consist on her playing with you, walking barefoot while she holds your hand, she might tell you how wonderful of a person you are and how happy she is for having you on her life, she will also like to splash you with the water and play around with you, will love to build a sand castle or just bury you on the sand, watch the sunset or the stars with her!! please she will love you if you do that!! she will lend on your shoulder hold you hand and thank you for been how marvelous you are with her

the third date is a rare one, she is a nerd and she loves looooooves knowledge and reading if you take her to a library or a place where she can find new information about a topic she is into, how for sure she will info dump you about it, if you got her a book that you want her to read she will read It right away and discuss it with you!

#omg this is so looong I am sorry!! I talked to much about them! haha #oc sugi #oc kaede #oc gabi #but that how you can date them ;y #oc ask game #oc ask meme #Picture Oc Ask Meme

[keezybees]

Hi! I follow you across social media and I really love your art and am super looking forward to reading Hello Sunshine! I wanted to reach out because I'm also Bipolar and I really appreciate the work you do to spread awareness about it but there's something that I find kind of harmful in how you talk about it, and it's just the insistance that it absolutely can't be treated through non-medical means. I fully understand that meds are life-saving and that depending on the severity of symptoms, length, and frequency of episodes, going without medication can be lethal. However, as someone with Bipolar I but controlled symptoms (and frankly symptoms that seem a lot less disruptive than yours, I'm sorry), hearing that there's no path forward without medication would easily have triggered suicidal thoughts when I was younger. There are a lot of reasons why people can't be medicated (for me it was a combination of family control and financial struggle), but hearing at your lowest that there's no way forward without something that you can't have is really damaging. I think it's totally possible to stress the importance of medical access and the need to work with your medical provider without erasing the ways that non-medical treatments can also be life-saving, depending on a person's situation/symptoms/etc and that some people can live full lives even if their symptoms aren't fully controlled. Anyway, I love your work and I just wanted to raise this alternate perspective because I think you're helping a lot of people, but I also think a lot of people can be harmed by this rhetoric, especially marginalized people who can't seek medication for any number of factors beyond their control.

Hi Anon! I totally hear what you're saying, and so I just wanted to run through a few things to clarify my stance, both for you and for others who might be reading this (omg I am SO sorry this is so long though haha):

I do emphasize treatment a lot, because I think it's really important for people to work with professionals to find ways to manage their illness. This is partly due to my own experience (I avoided treatment for a looong time) and anecdotally, but also because the research we have is pretty clear--untreated bipolar has much, much worse outcomes for a vast majority of people. However! When I say treatment, I don't necessarily mean medication, and certainly not only medication! I absolutely think some people (though it is sadly rare) can find ways of managing their illness medication-free. I just feel that it's best to do this work with the help of professionals + peers (whether that's a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, social worker, support group, etc) who can help you find your way, and help you manage symptoms that do crop up (this is especially true if you're currently on medication and choosing to go off of it, since that can come with physical risks). I could definitely stand to make this distinction a lot clearer though, and I'll try to be more mindful of it in the future.

I also can definitely see how my words could imply that I think non-medication ways of treating bipolar aren't valuable, and I'll work on my phrasing going forward, because they absolutely are! My aim is not to dismiss stuff like self-help or lifestyle changes or meditation or exercise, because I think they're great--for example, that kind of stuff has helped a ton with my anxiety and overall quality of life, and I know for a lot of people they help with their bipolar symptoms. But for me, these things simply don't have much of an impact on the bipolar, and our culture's emphasis on them frustrates me because it prevented me from getting proper care for a very long time, and made me feel like a failure for not being able to control my symptoms despite working so hard. So I'll also try to be more clear in the future about whether I'm venting about my own situation vs speaking broadly.

I also definitely hope I've never said anything that implies that our symptoms are inevitably life-ruining! My symptoms aren't completely controlled (particularly my lows), either, and I like to think I live a pretty good life. I think for many people un-treated bipolar can be life-ruining, and I've just heard too many stories about people who thought they could manage on their own only to have an absolutely devastating manic episode to not warn people of the risk. But most of us will continue to experience some degree of symptoms throughout our lives, absolutely.

I totally understand why someone would want to go med-free, or at least try it, and I in no way think the medications we have now are flawless haha. Side effects are awful, life-changing, and can even be life-threatening (I've had some horrible experiences with side effects myself); the meds we have now aren't very effective against depressive episodes for a lot of people (myself included), and for some people they're not effective at all; meds for most people don't completely eradicate symptoms, etc. I'm fully on board with the med struggle, and I honestly spend a lot of time criticizing the options available to us, though less so publicly, since I don't want to further stigmatize the idea of taking psych meds in general!

One of the reasons I emphasize medication (when I do emphasize meds, specifically) is because when I was younger, I was terrified of even the idea of them. I avoided it for years and really, really suffered because of it. I think our culture does in general look down on psych meds, particularly the kind we usually take, so I'm trying to destigmatize the concept of them, and emphasize for people with similar fears that taking meds can be just as life-saving and healing as they are harmful and frustrating, and that it's at least worth trying.

I'm a YA cartoonist (and former teacher, barista at a youth coffeehouse, tutor, I worked for a kids' gaming website...actually all of my jobs apart from dishwashing have involved kids, now that I think of it lmao), so a lot of the time when I'm talking about this stuff on social media, my target audience is sort of...very young people and kids who think they have bipolar (or may have even been diagnosed) but are afraid to seek help and/or don't think they need help and/or don't think help is going to actually help. So my goal is to demystify and normalize the idea of taking meds and/or seeking treatment for those people, and to emphasize that just because they're able to manage their illness now, that might change in the future, and imo they need to be aware of the very real risks, which includes things like an incredibly high suicide rate for unmedicated individuals, and the reality that the illness can be progressive (episodes can get worse and harder to treat the more you have them--they certainly did for me, and I wish I had been more open to the idea much earlier).

On a similar note, it's also important to recognize that a lot of things can look like bipolar, and a lot of people don't really know what bipolar actually looks like to begin with (particularly if you're getting your info from tiktok or similar). So if you've self-diagnosed and never explored treatment options (emphasis on options!) you can easily be missing stuff like thyroid issues, epilepsy, brain tumors, vitamin deficiencies, or a myriad of other treatable mental illnesses that mimic bipolar, and I strongly believe that people deserve care and help for whatever they're struggling with, including the possibility that it isn't bipolar at all!

Finally, I truly hope I've never said anything that comes off like I'm looking down on or judging people who choose to not be medicated for whatever reason! If it works for you then that's phenomenal (I'm jealous tbh) but it's honestly none of my business haha. When I talk about this stuff I do try to stress most people, because we're of course not a monolith, and when I say something like 'a majority of people with bipolar will need some form of medication to flourish' I don't mean to dismiss those who aren't in that majority. It's more that I want people to be open to the idea that they're not failures for needing meds, that they're actually in very good company, as well as to combat the 'just meditate! or try harder!' narrative that's so prevalent in our culture.

Edit: one last thought, which is that part of my target audience is also parents or guardians whose kids might be struggling--kids are obviously the group with the least access to treatment on their own terms. My hope is that talking about my experiences and discussing the risks will help motivate guardians to get help for their kids, and also help motivate kids to seek their own treatment as soon as they're able. Most people develop bipolar in their late teens and early 20s (though my first hypomanic ep was at 16), so it's a relatively small percentage of folks in this situation, but I do see how a kid whose parents aren't willing to help them could take my words badly, so I'll try to keep that in mind!

I'm definitely going to be more careful about how I phrase things going forward, because I can absolutely see how my intent could be lost. Hopefully this clears things up a bit (although it's also possible that we simply disagree, and I think that's okay too--like I said, our community is not a monolith, and a lot of these conversations are fundamentally ongoing)!

tldr; I'll make an effort to watch my words so that it's clear that my target audience really isn't my bipolar peers, and that the target of my criticisms is anti-medication wellness culture + psych med stigma, not the concept of non-medication alternatives or additions in general. And I'll try to do a better job of highlighting when I'm speaking only for myself vs our community as a whole!

#once again i am so sorry this is so long #i just felt your message was really heartfelt and thoughtful and i want to make sure i respond in kind #! #bipolar #bipolar disorder #mental illness #replies

[smallest-sunbeam]

HELLOOO!!! i’m so sorry if this is weird but i read in your pinned post that stuffies are your main special interest aaand… i just really really really really want to see some of them, if that’s okay!!

also… do you have any favourites? ohh, maybe some of your toys have stories behind them? like, one of my favourite toys is a plush bunny (their name is toffee!!) who has a very special meaning to me because they were handmade by my dear friend! she made toffee to comfort me while she’s in another country <3

again, i’m sorry for asking so much questions, but i’m just so excited omg i’ve been looking for someone who shares my love for stuffies! most of my friends just aren’t into this stuff lol

thank you !!

(@/duckling-duckling-goose)

Hi @duckling-duckling-goose! I’m so sorry, I only just saw this ask D: I know you sent it a while ago and I’m really sorry if you thought I’d ignored it… but I’ll answer it now! Thank you for asking stuff!!

I think I’ll put the rest of the stuff under a read more thingy cos it’ll be pretty looong xD haha

These pictures include most of my stuffies! I do have a few in a different room too, but if I tried to include them all there would just be like 10 million pictures 😅 as far as favourites go, I adore them all! But a few of them do have an extra special place in my heart:

This is Cuddles the Lion! He’s extra special to me because I’ve had him since I was 7 (which means he’s 20 years old this year :o wow). Cuddles has helped me through so much… I love him a lot

~

This is Honey! The main reason she’s extra special to me is because she was my 1st ever build a bear! But she’s also super good at for cuddling as well!

~

And this is Donut! He’s just so chunky n squishy! Also absolutely adorable ^-^ he’s just perfect!!

~

Thank you again for sending this ask @duckling-duckling-goose! Talking about my stuffies was lots of fun and I am really sorry that it took me forever to notice you’d sent this ask 😅

#sunbeam answers #stuffies #sunbeams pics #sunbeams stuffies #agere #age regression

[louisamariella]

Sunrise, dogs, laugher

Thanks for asking! ♥Sunrise - What is something you are looking forward to?I struggled with this question a lot because I always thought I’m looking forward to having a family, a precious husband/wife and kids, a dog and a house. But I realized that this is just the building I made up in my head. After I read the question, the first thing that came into my mind was the Simple Plan concert on next Sunday in Berlin. And the second thing that I’m looking forward to is to finish University just to walk into the classroom every morning and see big smiles on the childrens faces because they are excited for my classes I’ll give them today. And of course it’s the wish to accept myself and my Borderline Personality Disorder much more than I’m doing right now, no matter how many years it will take.Dogs - What do you look for in friends?I’ll just answer this question with things that came into my mind randomly, so that’s not a real order.1. loyality 2. honesty (even if it’s not the honesty I want to hear everyday)3. a huge pot full of humor and loud laughter4. acceptance (I know I’m kinda fucked up and sometimes I have problems. Well, not sometimes, more like everyday. but I’ve grown to the point of asking myself for friends who accept my disorders. Of course, I can’t ask anyone to deal with it (!), I can’t even do that myself. But I need friends who don’t condemn me but look behind the facade.Second thing is to accept that I can be a very loud but also a very quiet person. It’s okay for me to just sit in a corner and my friend sitting in another corner of the room, reading and not talking. sometimes this kind of conversation gives me way more than talking the whole day to each other.beside the disorder thing accpetance means to tolerate my hobbies (containing fangirling af for example). I can’t deal with friends who burn down my love for animes or other shows (including the ships I love). On the other hand I’ll accept everything my friends like to do or to love. everytime. like I fangirl with them over shows I don’t even watch, so what’s the point? :D 5. sharing food (@ourunchartedlove​  thanks for giving me all of this)Laughter - List 5 things that make you happy1. food (sushi, chocolate cake, nougat, Subway cookies, peanut butter, pineapple pizza, Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream (peanut buttercup, chocolate fudge brownie)2. a good book or fanfiction that won’t let me ecape out of the story and brings laughter, tears or a mindfuck, haha3. seeing my mother smile or crying tears of happiness (she deserves the world)3. picking up flowers and admire the beauty of nature4. One Piece in general (but most of you might have noticed I fckn love the CP9, they’re kind of a family to me omg ok I’m fangirling right now, let me die in peace for a moment ok, I need more Kalifa fanarts helpppp), huh, The Big Bang Theory (give me all the Shamy (Sheldon and Amy ftw) love), I guess the whole anime world and japanese stuff, Simple Plan as my all time fav band (Pierre pls take off your shirt on Sunday, I’ve waited 1 year and 1 week since the last concert, just to see this scenario again)5. the fact that I answered all these questions and a nice anon reminded me how grateful I am to have such precious friendships, what my goals in life are and what I could be happy about in life (man, I guess I’ll eat some cookies now and maybe draw Kalifa fanarts, haha)I’m sorry for that looong answer but I had a lot of fun and some kind of struggle, I won’t lie. so again thanks for asking and making me smile! ♥

#man this made me so happy #anon #ask #one piece #food #simple plan #kalifa #cp9