things will change when you start to consider yourself as a person— a friend, a child, a stranger— and realize that you deserve comfort, care and love, too. you’re not the exception. practice talking to yourself, practice looking at yourself, practice thinking of yourself out of the frame you’ve been confining yourself to.

sometimes you have to pick yourself too

made a really big poster about whale falls for uni this semester. enjoy

[ID: A digital illustration, titled “Anatomy of a Whale Fall”, depicting many different sea organisms feeding on the skeletal carcass of a whale on the sea floor. A key at the bottom labels each animal. The listed animals go as follows: “starfish, sea urchin, flounder, hagfish, osedax, sleeper shark, squat lobster, barnacle, venus clam, octopus, rubyspira, sea anemone, vrijenhoekia, neanthes, shrimp, sea cucumber, lobster, bristle worm, siboglindae, eelpout, scotoplanes, giant isopod, cow shark, grenadiers, and atlantic sea nettel”. The next three images are all closeups, showing different portions of the drawing in detail. End ID.]

a collection of motivational insights regarding content creation and creative hobbies

and of course the classic

I’ve shared this story before, but some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten was from a writing professor who said, “The thing that makes your work interesting isn’t the stuff you’re good at, it’s the stuff you struggle with. Because you’ll either focus on improving those skills until you’re really good or you’ll figure out how to work around it in really cool ways.”

IDs under cut:

DO IT FOR HER

(her being you )

today’s motivation

Water yourself, even in toxic environments. Groom yourself, even in toxic environments. Pamper yourself, even in toxic environments. We are nothing if not a sum of our habits. Don't wait to escape to start being who you deserve to be.

this is a sign to stop self deprecating so much. like that shit causes so much damage to ur well being.

im serious btw. i know first hand that once u start going down that road its so hard to stop. its so hard to stop the negative self talk and self pitying especially when you’ve been doing it for a long time. feeling bad abt urself all the time and insulting yourself doesnt do anyone any good, it just makes you feel worse in the long run. quite frankly self deprecation is one of the worst things u can do to urself. no one should feel burdened by their existence. you deserve better.

i read something once that has stuck with me for years:

never say anything about yourself you wouldn't say to a friend.

not saying shit out loud honest to god helps your brain quiet down too.

Another thing that helps me quiet down my brain sometimes: Observe yourself having the self-deprecating thought. No judgment, just “Hmm, I’m having the thought ‘I’m useless.’ Yup, that thought sure is happening.”

It’s weird, but it can help sometimes.

I think it’s a way of reminding myself that my brain just… makes thoughts all the time, but that doesn’t mean those thoughts always reflect reality. Sometimes they’re just thoughts.

click read more to get a

[mysterious achievement]

when you find yourself in Panic Mode and you got to get yourself out, or just feel like a change of pace right now, some steps to follow:

It's very hard to not compare myself to others nearing their 27th birthday. But when I compare myself to myself, I can recognise that going out with friends for a nice evening of food, laughing and a film, is miles and miles away from the quivering mess of destroyed mental health I used to be. Someone who was trapped by a failed school system, multiple grooming incidents, a believe my neurodivergence was just personal failings and the totally unknown OCD.

I am the best 26, nearly 27 year old I could possibly be. And by 28, I will be better still, because I love every single version of myself I have ever been. Those girls deserve how I am, and how I will become.

So please, this disability awareness month. Look at yourself, and see the things you've grown in to. Look at how you've blossomed. It doesn't matter if you're still budding in a potted plant while others are huge rose bushes. Your roots are spreading, your petals are growing, and you are the best you can be right now. No matter where that is, THAT is a good thing. All your pain is valid and how you feel is real, but please don't give up. No matter how hopeless if feels, please stay alive another minute. An hour. A day. You really don't know when you'll suddenly stop wanting to die, because being alive got a bit better.

things I didn’t know were symptoms of OCD that lead me to believe something was genuinely wrong with me

• fixating on breathing patterns, heartbeats and other senses

•always feeling dirty on the inside. feeling like I pollute the air around me with bad emotions and negativity (and believing no one likes my personality for this reason)

•health anxiety, constantly thinking I was dying from an undiscovered illness. (I.e having a headache and genuinely believing I have a cancerous brain tumor) and sounding completely insane when expressing concerns to others

•insomnia from being scared to go to sleep with the fear (that felt like knowledge) of not ever waking up

•seeing a word, reading an article or thinking about something and becoming fixated on it for months with the idealization that something is going to go terribly wrong if I w know every single fact about the specific topic or event that triggered me

•constantly thinking everyone around me tolerates me because they have to and never feeling like i’m the first pick for anyone (including my spouse) in a lineup of peers and loved ones

•constant fear of losing control and hurting myself or someone on accident even though i’ve never had a violent outburst before

Reminder for those who need it. Don’t google that symptom, AHT. I see you! Stop it. Put the google down.

to all my hypochondriacs/people with health anxiety the smartest thing I’ve ever done for my hypochondria is use a period tracker to keep track of my “symptoms” and mood

like genuinely helpful to be able to look back during an episode when I’m afraid my heart is going to give out or I’m going to faint or I have brain cancer or something, look at the same symptoms I felt several weeks ago and see that I was fine/nothing happened (the knowledge that it’s just repeated obsessions on sensations in my body seriously helps)

[ID: a TikTok by @notmichelleelman, the video is a series of short clips of her doing a wide variety of exercises and sports. NARRATION: I’ve been working out consistently since I was 19 years old. That’s a whole decade of working out. And someone this week said to me “Well it’s clearly not working, because you’ve not lost any weight.” That’s not why I work out. I started at 19 because I was bedridden in a hospital bed and I had spent my whole life focusing on what my body couldn’t do. And for the first time I realised just how much it could do. I had the urge to run for the first time, probably because I want to get out of there so badly and so I did and that’s where I started. Oh by the way, the last decade has worked. I can carry a handbag for the first time without chronic pain. I did my first sit up last year after three years of hard work. And most of all my body has allowed me to do everything I enjoy, from squash to paddle boarding. It’s time we see exercise as so much more than aesthetic results, because more than anything I want people to understand I don’t do it because I hate my appearance. I do it because I find it fun. And that’s the best reason to work out.]

Unrestrained summer fun

This is strangely soothing.

You mean stealing office supplies before security escorts him out.

Eh, potato potato or whatever

x x x | x x x | x x x

Tonight’s encouragement… Save this for later

And the most important thing to remember is that you have time. Time to discover new people and new projects and new places; time to heal from your past and your wounds. You might feel like you’re getting nothing done and nothing is happening, but you have time to discover your soul. It will happen for you <3